Big Vixen having a run out

[Stu]

The forecast is good tonight, although there is plenty of high cloud around. Regardless, I have put the Vixen out as it has been ages since I used it.

I bought a Losmandy clamp for my Ercole recently so that it gives me a simple Alt Az option to get more use out of it, without the hassle of setting up the Atlux.

The whole thing feels reasonably stable, vibrations damp out after focussing quite quickly, although you can feel the moment and weight in the tube at 14kg, probably nearer 16 with accessories.

I'm setup with the 2" Zeiss prism, Leica Zoom and my home brew 80mm RACI finder.

The moon is already looking very nice at somewhere mid zoom ie x110 ish. Bit wobbly with the seeing, but plenty of detail visible. Going to have a go at a few doubles and the comet then see how I go, although the moon won't help tonight.

Hope the cloud clears

Stu

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[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Great looking set-up. I am probably going to set up the 80 mm on the mini-giro

[nightfisher]

No go here, as per usual, itching to try my Vixen on Lunar work

[F15Rules]

Love the look of that scope Stu!She is just beautiful!

Hope to have some news about my big frac (Andromeda) soon, watch this space

Had the Vixen 80M out for quick views a couple of times this week, it's so light and easy to move about. Had a lovely view of the double cluster last night with the Leica Vario using an Agena Blue Fireball 2" to 1.25" adapter which allows big eps to be used in the Vixen's 1.25" focuser - and it comes to focus no problem too  . At about 9mm I was getting x100 with black sky and nice afov of c 65 degrees. Of course the little Vixen can't resolve what the D&G can but lovely views all the same.

Look forward to hearing how the big grandmother Vixen performs later tonight!

Dave

[Daniel-K]

mmmm very nice stu

[jabeoo1]

That looks like an awesome setup.  I would love a good frac & nice big mak to go with the dob.  Then I could pick one depending on the situation and the targets.  Oh yeah and a really nice large hydrogen alpha Lunt too.  Its not much to ask is it?  When does it end?    haha

Nice one Stu looks really cool.

What year/decade is that vixen tube? The fonts / text look retro!   

[Stu]

Love the look of that scope Stu!She is just beautiful!

Hope to have some news about my big frac (Andromeda) soon, watch this space

Had the Vixen 80M out for quick views a couple of times this week, it's so light and easy to move about. Had a lovely view of the double cluster last night with the Leica Vario using an Agena Blue Fireball 2" to 1.25" adapter which allows big eps to be used in the Vixen's 1.25" focuser - and it comes to focus no problem too . At about 9mm I was getting x100 with black sky and nice afov of c 65 degrees. Of course the little Vixen can't resolve what the D&G can but lovely views all the same.

Look forward to hearing how the big grandmother Vixen performs later tonight!

Dave

Thanks Dave, she is rather a lovely scope I must say :-). Felt very nice on the Ercole, a little more wobbly than the Atlux perhaps, but I guess only because you are touching it to move it. It settled down in around a second I suppose, so not bad.

I'm intrigued to hear about Andromeda :-), a 6" perhaps?

The Vixen 80's are lovely little things aren't they? I wish I hadn't sold mine sometimes, but the Tak 76 now sits quite nicely in that space and like yours is so quick and easy to setup.

That adapter sounds handy, I think I looked into getting one once. If it works well then why not :-).

I'll write a bit about tonight later, suffice to say the scope was lovely but the skies weren't unfortunately. Clear, but not many stars visible!! :-(

Stu

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[Stu]

That looks like an awesome setup. I would love a good frac & nice big mak to go with the dob. Then I could pick one depending on the situation and the targets. Oh yeah and a really nice large hydrogen alpha Lunt too. Its not much to ask is it? When does it end? haha

Nice one Stu looks really cool.

What year/decade is that vixen tube? The fonts / text look retro!

Thank you :-)

The scope is a Vixen Atlux 150ED and was made around 1992 I believe. I think this one had problems with the coatings and was sent back for a complete rework in Japan and came back in 93. I have quite a lot of history in it, it was featured in a magazine article around that time.

Mine has been upgraded to a very nice AstroPhysics Traveller R&P focuser, very smooth and accurate.

I do have a Quark coming soon, and at some point would love to get hold of a D-ERF to pop on the Vixen, would be an awesome Ha scope!!

Stu

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[Stu]

Quick iPhone shot of the moon which was looking very nice tonight.

Stu

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[Stu]

So last night was unfortunately not great, the skies were clear, but transparency was awful and the seeing was quite patchy too. It made star hopping a bit of a challenge so I was quite limited in what I could see.

I spent some time panning along the lunar terminator which looked pretty amazing.

Having followed the threads on 52 Cyg and 90 Her I gave these both a go. 52 Cyg I found quite easy once I'd got the correct star! The secondary was a tiny point of light but quite clearly separated at over 6". It looked great at a whole range of magnifications.

90 Her I found much harder, and would class this as a probable split but definitely needs another look. Having read the CN post I am doubting that I could gave got it.

Pi Aquilae was a very nice split last night though, clean at higher powers, coming and going with the seeing at lower mags.

I was switching between a number of eyepieces during this time, mainly orthos but also the Leica which I must say was impressive in this scope. It was sharper towards the outer edges than in my faster scopes and performed well on the doubles. I suspect the issue I saw before was related to using the Barlow at x1.5 where I know it can introduce problems (astigmatism I think). At x2 and above it should be fine. Without Barlow the double double was splitting even towards the edge of the field so it was working well I would say.

M57 looked nice, but M13 was a washed out blob!

The DC was also a shadow of its normal self, but was beautifully framed in a 17mm Ethos, definitely a combination to be tried again under dark skies.

Finally, and mainly because I couldn't think of anything else to try, I thought is give the Veil a go! I didn't think I would see it given the moon and such poor transparency, but with 21 Ethos and OIII I could see a ghostly stream running through 52 Cyg, tricky but definitely there. I panned across and found the Eastern Veil which was more defined, but little/no detail present. I think it is a positive indication of the contrast of the scope that I could even see it, have not done from home before if my memory serves me right (which it often doesn't!)

So, a somewhat frustrating night, although with some successes. Actually the main success was proving that the Vixen is certainly useable on the Ercole so I will start to use it far more now. It is better on the Atlux, but often that is a step too far in terms of setup for what are often only hour or so long sessions.

Stu

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[Moonshane]

It's a peach mate.

[dweller25]

Hello Stu,

Out of interest how does the 6" Atlux compare to your previous OMC200 on the planets ?

[Stu]

Hello Stu,

Out of interest how does the 6" Atlux compare to your previous OMC200 on the planets ?

Hi,

Tricky question to answer because of the variability of seeing conditions and planetary positioning. When 'on song' ie cooled properly with the collimation sorted (which I finally managed to do not long before I sold it), and in good seeing conditions the OMC200 is an awesome scope. I think it would make a cracking imaging scope when the long focal length would come into play, and the seeing conditions could be compensated by the stacking of frames. Visually the problem is that you are almost always using well over x100 with a small fov, fabulous for planets, globs and PN's etc but challenging for other targets. Strangely I didn't actually find it brilliant on doubles, I much prefer refractors for that.

My best views were of Saturn some years ago at x300 and x400 on nights of excellent seeing, quite amazing. M13 was also always stunning in it.

So, the Vixen I would say is more reliably good in varying conditions but ultimately doesn't quite have the resolution of the mak under good conditions . At 6" it cuts through the seeing very well, and gives images which are very appealing. My 12" dob beats it comfortably for planetary resolution and gives a real wow, but somehow doesn't warm the cockles of my heart as the refractor images do.

I love how the vixen performs on doubles and clusters, plus the contrast on faint nebulae means it is able to stage out stuff that belies it's 'small' aperture.

I quite like it ;-)

Stu

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[Stu]

It's a peach mate.

Cheers Shane. I do need to sort an observing seat out though! Had the dreaded 'Shane refractor neck/back ache' at times last night!!

I have some plans which hopefully I will get finished soon, in time for PSP hopefully

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[dweller25]

Hi,

Tricky question to answer because of the variability of seeing conditions and planetary positioning. When 'on song' ie cooled properly with the collimation sorted (which I finally managed to do not long before I sold it), and in good seeing conditions the OMC200 is an awesome scope. I think it would make a cracking imaging scope when the long focal length would come into play, and the seeing conditions could be compensated by the stacking of frames. Visually the problem is that you are almost always using well over x100 with a small fov, fabulous for planets, globs and PN's etc but challenging for other targets. Strangely I didn't actually find it brilliant on doubles, I much prefer refractors for that.

My best views were of Saturn some years ago at x300 and x400 on nights of excellent seeing, quite amazing. M13 was also always stunning in it.

So, the Vixen I would say is more reliably good in varying conditions but ultimately doesn't quite have the resolution of the mak under good conditions . At 6" it cuts through the seeing very well, and gives images which are very appealing. My 12" dob beats it comfortably for planetary resolution and gives a real wow, but somehow doesn't warm the cockles of my heart as the refractor images do.

I love how the vixen performs on doubles and clusters, plus the contrast on faint nebulae means it is able to stage out stuff that belies it's 'small' aperture.

I quite like it ;-)

Stu

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Thanks for the info

[cotterless45]

Superb ! I use an ironing chair and a tiny collapsible stool for frac observing. Fracs certainly do warm the cockles . Very much looking forward to PSP,

Nick.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Lovely afocal shot of the moon.

[John]

Great posts Stu and it's lovely to see some more photos of the big Vixen

Sounds like it's weight is more or less the same as my Istar 6" F/12 but the length of that one makes Giro-type mounts unfeasible, unfortunately. Even the mighty Bray Tablet Mount was out of it's depth with the big Istar.

I'm glad the Vixen is getting some photons through it's optics - it sounds an excellent performer even in less-than-ideal conditions