First light with Vixen Atlux 150ED done!

[Dude_with_the_tube]

After failed first attempt on friday evening due to cloud coverage (why that doesnt surprise me) i finally managed to do it yesterday and here is the summary report of it:

Start time of observation:23:05,end of observation:2:18

1.Star test. 

Star for this was chosen:Altair.Eye piece used:7mm ortho and 5mm ortho giving magnifications of x192 and x270 . Scope was left cooling for over an hr just to make sure OTA is thermally stabilized.On both eye pieces in and out focus presented perfectly round shape rings,moving further out of focus both ways,rings formed a perfect round "ball",racking back into focus i was presented with multiple rings equally spaced between each other on both in and out focus.

Test on Spherical Aberration showed that there are NONE.

Test on Astigmatism and Chromatic aberration same result:NONE.

Very pleased with these results,meaning despite scope being 21years old,optics are still top notch and off high quality.

2.Mount test.

Once start test was completed,it was time to test the mounts go-to accuracy and tracking abilities.(Mount:Skywatcher AZ-EQ6 GT,current software version 3.35,mount used in AZ mode)

Moon obviously was very bright as such,viewing of DSO`s was limited to clusters only with exception of M31 Andromeda (i had to look at it lol) 

After inputting coordinates,alignment stars chosen where: Capella and Vega.Alignment done,first target: Pleiades or M45. Eye piece used 30mm ES 82 deg.mount found it putting Pleiades perfectly in the middle of the eye piece.thats promissing,running a bit ahead of the things,mount was slewed to different targets across the sky during the observation and later,30mm eye piece was replaced with 28mm ortho,20mm erfle and eventually with 18mm ortho and each time,target was if not dead center then slightly off,but always within FOV of the eye piece.As such,accuracy is spot on.Test was also done on the decoders of the mount by: releasing the clutches and slewing the scope manually to different target and then engaging the go-to again and asking to slew to a different target.Once again, success. 

Now for the most interesting part:

3.views.

What can i say,seeing stars as nice,sharp pin points without diffraction spikes is new experience.I was starting to miss the dobsonian diffraction spikes!

M45 Pleiades was presented beautifully in 30mm with nice,sharp round stars, main stars nicely presented in conjunction with other stars.Shame moon is so bright,will try next time to drill into Pleiades with higher powers to see if i can reveal the stars behind when moon is not present.Will be a great object for binoviewer.

I had to visit Andromeda (M31),despite the moon,i was still able to see the central part of nebulousness,and to be honest,i was expecting to see far less of it as i actually saw.

I did also visit my old friend double Albireo,there is no need to talk about the split as it is achievable even with a normal pair of binoculars,i wanted to see the color presentation,and darn,i wasnt disappointed there.Nice Amber A star with beautiful blue B companion.Again both stars nice round balls.Superb!

It was then time to travel down Milky way,so scope was slewed back up to Double Cluster (NGC884) just to be smacked in the face with loads and loads of stars.How good this can get? Only better! 20mm erfle goes in and double cluster now fills the whole FOV.Wow,this is amazing to see both clusters staring at you like 2 cats eyes. Soo many stars,so beautiful and pitch black background.Again note to my self,re-visit with binoviewer.

i visited many more clusters and each time it was truly stunning experience and pleasure to look at. just naming a few:m2,m15,m34 (spiral cluster) beautiful stars lined up as arms of spirals (another binoviewer object for sure),moving on:M37,M35,M36,NGC2281,the only one i didnt manage to observe is m13 (hercules) as it was already behind the house.this one will be my next target for sure.Also i cant wait for my old friend Jupiter and orion nebulae to appear on the scene.

And lastly i had to re-visit my all time favorite:Moon. Despite some hate for spoiling the views on deep sky,i still love Moon.It was my first object i saw in my first telescope and i love to just look at moon in low powers or go in at full wack and look into craters.there is soo mutch to see there.With 28mm ortho Moon is very sharp 3D object floating out there.I had to do it so my sadomasochistic 4mm ortho goes in giving me wopping x337 magnification.Nope,scope just laughs at me,image is stable,no signs of degradation,nothing,just sharp views of Moon.Even eye relief doesnt seem to be that bad! i am struggling to believe that i am actually enjoying that eye piece!

Through out the session,i used both Meade Rg orthos and BGo`s, and to be perfectly honest,i was struggling to see any difference between these eye pieces.Very marginally Meades where a tiny bit sharper,but maybe that was my imagination? i will have to do another go at this.

Overall impressions from the first session>

It is an absolutely cracking instrument optically,giving very nice,sharp images,no false colours,artifaction or any sort of image degradation was observed at any time.I am not convinced on 4" focusser unit.Not that it is bad,but the point of perfect focus is at a very small point of turn and you can easily miss it.I am seriously considering removing it and replacing with my  trusty 2 speed Moonlite,by doing that,i will loose some weight,will need to re-balance the scope on the mount,but i am really missing that fine tuning ability of Moonlite.will give another couple of sessions a go before making final decision.Even with OTA being as it is,i didnt find any challenge to mount and dis-mout OTA and can do it on my own without any assistance in dark.Optics are top notch,i havent worked out yet the cooling times,as such,i am giving 1 hr for OTA to cool,just to be on a safe side,but i dont think you need that much.I hope Stu and other owners will chip in on cooling times from they experience.

Clear skies.

[Fozzie]

Lovely review, enjoyable envious read.. Sure is a glorious scope you've got there..

[John]

Great report Dude

Vixen certainly know how to make a good objective lens. The performance of your scope sounds like a scaled up version of my Vixen ED102SS

[Dude_with_the_tube]

Great report Dude

Vixen certainly know how to make a good objective lens. The performance of your scope sounds like a scaled up version of my Vixen ED102SS

cheers Jonh,

certainly Vixen is great for optics,it is my second Vixen frac and i cant find any faults in they optics. Unfortunately also a second scope where i am finding focuser being the weakest link.But then again,it is only my own thoughts and doesnt necessarily have to be taken for granted as someone else might find they focuser units perfectly fine.Well,i think i need to correct my self by saying weakest link,i didnt mean they are completely rubbish! they are perfectly fine functional units,but i just dont like single speed focusers and being perfectionist i want to achieve the best possible views i can get out of instrument.

I would love to have a peak through your Vixen John and definitively through your big beast Istar.I was so close to pull a trigger on a custom built Istar,if not this scope,i would have a Istar 6"  F12 r35 any time! 

[John]

The focuser on my Vixen is a good, smooth R&P but it does need a tweak now and then to give it enough tension to hold my heaviest eyepieces. I've never been particularly fussy about focusers though but I do like them in line with the optical axis of the objective. The Vixen's collimation and optical alignment has always been spot on but some of the chinese refractors I've owned have needed a fair amount of adjustment in that department.

Perhaps one day we will be able to have a look through each others scopes - that would be fun

[Dude_with_the_tube]

that would be truly awesome if we could do that John.Who knows,it might happen one day.

i might actually remove the 4" focuser and strip it,do a little re-grease and see if that improves the whole thing. it is a very strange unit itself. has 3 yes 3 tension adjustment screws.One big massive one and 2 tiny screws.So far i can make out the small ones actually help by holding the focuser tube in line to avoid any side to side/up/down movements of the focussing tube. I think it is aimed more for imaging purpose as it is for visual.Also the focus travel is only like 3",still sufficient for any eye piece i have and also for binoviewer,its just too big for my needs necessary and adds that extra kilos.

[F15Rules]

Great First light report Gaidis. It sounds as if the big Vixen is all you had hoped it would be!

It will be interesting to hear how you find it with the Moon absent..I'd expect the great contrast on a dark night to make lots of very faint stars "pop" into view..I've found that myself with M13..prolonged steady viewing in a dark sky background definitely makes many more stars visible and these really add to the pleasure of the whole view.

I know what you mean about the focusers...my SP102 had quite a nice R&P but at the highest powers on a good night you just find it difficult to get the very sharpest point of focus..since I got my Moonlite its so much easier to get to essentially perfect sharpness- if you can't, it either means you're pushing the power too much for the scope or for the conditions, usually the latter, I find.

Look forward to hearing how the bino views are too!:-)

Dave

[Dude_with_the_tube]

cheers Dave.

You are correct on everything.I really enjoyed the views i had and I am looking forward to the sessions when there is no moon.Scope is seriously capable of deep sky and can take a lot of magnification without compromising the views and thats what i really hoped for.

I do agree with what you are saying about the powers,but this wasnt the case in my instance.I was just struggling to find that "pop" moment when you focus on any eye piece,it was so easy to miss.As i said,i will give a couple more sessions to see if i can get the hang of this unit or not.I have the moonlite focuser anyway,all i need is flange to be made up so no big investment.

Bino review will be next month Dave,you might beat me to it let me know how your project is developing.

Gaidis

[cotterless45]

Lovely report. The views in a class refractor are just astoundingly crisp and clear. Folk sometimes overlook open clusters for more exotic and fainter targets. They are well worth searching out out, especially the dense star fields identified by Herschel,

Nick.

[Stu]

Great report Gaidis, though no surprise you are pleased :-)

My scope has a single speed AstroPhysics Traveller R&P on it, and whilst it is very strong and smooth, I do miss the dual speed for fine focusing I must admit.

I thought the R&P on my TV85 was good, but is still improved by fitting the Feathertouch micro focuser upgrade to it. It really does give you that extra accuracy for critical focus, and also avoids too much vibration on the scope.

So, as we had discussed, I am going to get a Moonlite for my Vixen, I'm sure it will be a big improvement.

As for cooling time, I guess around 30 minutes would be sufficient but I normally leave it longer. The only time I have been slightly disappointed with the scope was when I somewhat rashly started observing at highish powers straight after putting it out.

The scope is wonderful on a wide range of targets, but tight doubles are amazing in it as are a wide variety of clusters. It is essentially colour free in most conditions, just occasional atmospheric CA caused by poor seeing. The lunar limb is lovely through it as you will have seen :-)

I'm hoping to give mine a good run out at PSP this weekend coming, weather permitting of course!

Stu

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Dude_with_the_tube]

you hit the nail right one the head Stu. this is exactly what i am missing too.that tiny extra of perfection

I am getting more and more convinced that i will be swapping out that big lump to much more perfected Moonlite but i will have to leave it for next month after this month`s spending spree.i also need to get measurements done for focus points as if i do go for a change,i want the scope to be bino friendly.have you placed an order with Mark or it is still in the stage of idea? i will need an adaptor made for my moonlite and he is the man i will be speaking to.

And thanks for heads up on cooling times.Much appreciated.

looking forward to read up how your one performs at PSP.but yeah,it is a cracking instrument and i am very pleased with it if that is the correct word to describe it.

Gaidis

[Stu]

The other thing I invested in with the Vixen in mind was a Baader Zeiss prism. I have the T2 and 2" versions and I do think they give just that bit extra, allowing the image to hold up better at high mags. Worth considering if you haven't got one

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Dude_with_the_tube]

nope,i dont have the Zeiss prism and was thinking about one.currently i am using william optics dielectric in 2" and i am quite happy with its performance.zeiss prism will have to be 2" version as my denks have 2" nose piece.

[Daniel-K]

great first light report glad your happy with the frac. after speaking to you on the phone its hard not to read this in your accent lol quite funny take it easy dude and rest that wallet

[Dude_with_the_tube]

ha ha Dan,was nice speaking to you too mate.

Looking forward to read up about your new toy

[A McEwan]

Sounds like the scope lives up to its reputation. It's great to hear that for you, it is a usable setup too. Many times a scope can be absolutely "ideal" on paper, but just not so right under the sky. The mount/scope combination sounds good. I expect if there are any teething troubles, you'll run into them early on in your ownership and find workarounds/solutions to them, but it sounds like you have a great foundation to build on.

Globular clusters will be great in that scope. I was surprised how well my old ED120 resolved globs, and having the full 150mm aperture will be even better!

Also, Orion is only a little round the corner...  not only for the Great Orion Nebula of course, but for all the other superb nebulae in that region and for the multiple star systems: that scope will excel!

Congrats!

Ant

[Dude_with_the_tube]

Thanks Ant,

scope is deffo living up to its expectations and even beyond.i was initially worried about the star test and performance,but after the outing i had with the scope,all my worries are gone for good.Mount+OTA combo is perfect,not really that mutch of a teething issues at the moment.Just the usual things in likes of:getting finder sorted so it is easily removable as i store the scope in its box,added telrad as i really like it,get all old dust off,i have actually made my mind up and i will change the focuser to Moonlite,but thats a thing to do for next month.Other than that,there is really nothing else.Just get the scope out,use it and enjoy the views.Only shame is that due to work,i have not had any chance of going up north this year so far,still hoping i will be able to,but chances are slim.Will be in touch as soon as i have the opportunity.

[cotterless45]

Superb, you just beat the optics of old Vixens, hurrah ! I use a Telrad on my refractors, it's so handy,

Nick.

[Pig]

Excellent report Dude, great read

[Dude_with_the_tube]

glad you enjoyed it Shaun.