Show us your Frac

[Paz]

Here's two refractors I picked up this year. I was only planning on getting a small scope hence the first one is a 72mm ed f6, but the second one a 102mm ed f7 came up second hand so I thought it best to take the opportunity.

Unfortunately the framing makes the little scope look the biggest!

[bottletopburly]

Tecnosky 70Q F5  nice little frac though only had the camera attached maybe one day have a 👀 though the eyepiece 

[dannybgoode]

Just looked through pretty much this while thread. There’s some beautiful scopes in here!  I only own one frac and I’ve shared pictures of it before but may as well post it here for posterity. 
 

First and only frac - my TMP Optical 105/650 CNC. Original batch, Thomas Back made. Works great for visual and imaging. I was thinking about a shorter frac for wide field but may just get the 0.75 Riccardi reducer/flattener. 
 

Shouldn’t have bought it but hey-what money for years of pleasure?

Edited December 24, 2019 by dannybgoode

[Nakedgun]

My smallest refractor, the smallest one made by Borg, called by them the Pocket Borg, is a 25mm f/7 doublet.

A novelty, I mount it on a slo-mo alt-az for views of the Moon or planets out as far as #6 for entertainment.

A 25mm Plossl acts as a finder while the TV zoom gets me up to 58x, enough to see Saturn's rings.

Focus is achieved by sliding the objective section.

 

 

 

[Stub Mandrel]

On 22/12/2019 at 17:14, Nakedgun said:

Here is the oldest scope I own, made perhaps during the 60s.

I got one of these, gives really nice views of the moon and yes you CAN SEE SATURN'S RINGS!

[willcastle]

So proud of my new scope 😆😆

[Peter77]

TS Optics 115mm triplet apo. Really like the scope  Edit: Added pic of mounted scope.

Edited January 10, 2020 by Peter77
Added mounted scope setup

[Nakedgun]

In another thread I posted images of the oldest scope I own, a Tasco 60 f/11, made, perhaps, as far back as the 60s. I found it April 2015.

My smallest astronomical scope, the Pocket Borg (posted previously), a 25mm f/7, came to me February '07.

I have a 40mm PST but will not include it here since everyone knows what they are, so that brings us to my next largest scope, a Borg 50ED f/10, owned since September '09.

It use it on a Manfrotto tripod with 410 geared head. Very sharp views from this little guy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Peter77]

15 hours ago, Nakedgun said:

In another thread I posted images of the oldest scope I own, a Tasco 60 f/11, made, perhaps, as far back as the 60s. I found it April 2015.

My smallest astronomical scope, the Pocket Borg (posted previously), a 25mm f/7, came to me February '07.

I have a 40mm PST but will not include it here since everyone knows what they are, so that brings us to my next largest scope, a Borg 50ED f/10, owned since September '09.

It use it on a Manfrotto tripod with 410 geared head. Very sharp views from this little guy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Very nice looking setup

[Peter77]

Played around a little during daytime today, tried out eyepieces + camera afocal mode. Couldn't resist to take a picture

There is something beatiful with a refractor all setup in daylight. Much more photogenic than during the time they normally come to life.

 

//P

[Alan White]

1 minute ago, Peter77 said:

Nice to see you gave it something to play with while it waited for either a clear sky or darkness 🤣

[Peter77]

1 hour ago, Alan White said:

Nice to see you gave it something to play with while it waited for either a clear sky or darkness 🤣

Just wanted an excuse to admire and touch it again 😂

Oh I see now that you probably meant the toy car under the mount, haha, forgive me for being slow. So used to have kids toys laying around that I barely even notice them anymore 😛

Edited January 13, 2020 by Peter77

[Nakedgun]

11 hours ago, Peter77 said:

Played around a little during daytime today, tried out eyepieces + camera afocal mode. Couldn't resist to take a picture

There is something beatiful with a refractor all setup in daylight. Much more photogenic than during the time they normally come to life.

 

//P

How rural are you? Dark skies, there?

[Peter77]

54 minutes ago, Nakedgun said:

How rural are you? Dark skies, there?

I live outside a small village, 2km out in the forest area. There are ca 2000ppl living in the village, so rather small. Nearest large city is 30km due south.

Skies here gets quite dark and I have unobstructed view for a large portion of it with just some trees blocking in north and east. The bands of the milky way are clearly visible. So, things could have been worse for sure

[Robny]

Nice little capture while waiting for the sun to go down...

[Nakedgun]

Moving up from 50mm aperture, I added this Borg 60ED f/5.8 to my group in July 2005:

 

 

A very fast ED doublet, it is intended more as a photographic tool and less as a planet killer, but the eyepieces I use with it get me to a little over 100x, so it is not pushed terribly hard for my astronomical pursuits.

I carry it in my Tacoma, as it is not one of my primary observing instruments and keep an erecting prism diagonal handy for daytime use as a spotter, also.

 

 

 I mount this featherweight on a Vixen Mini-Porta, for which I made an adapter, allowing attachment to a Manfrotto tripod.

 

[Stub Mandrel]

18 hours ago, Nakedgun said:

I mount this featherweight on a Vixen Mini-Porta, for which I made an adapter, allowing attachment to a Manfrotto tripod.

You get an extra like for the 'Who needs Prima Luce anyway?' adaptor!

[Nakedgun]

5 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

You get an extra like for the 'Who needs Prima Luce anyway?' adaptor!

Just a piece of scrap aluminum I had collecting dust in the garage.😎

[Nakedgun]

Last year, quite a bit of internet buzz had been generated regarding the Tak FOA-60 & Q, which prompted me to get the f/8.8 version in May '19.

The reports are true, this thing is sharp and lacks unwanted color transmission on anything I point it at. I am completely satisfied with the performance at this aperture.

If Takahashi would produce a 5-inch version I'd add it immediately.

 

Here, getting ready for some Lunar action:

 

 

Tak 6x30 finder attached.

 

[Rainmaker]

14 hours ago, Nakedgun said:

Last year, quite a bit of internet buzz had been generated regarding the Tak FOA-60 & Q, which prompted me to get the f/8.8 version in May '19.

The reports are true, this thing is sharp and lacks unwanted color transmission on anything I point it at. I am completely satisfied with the performance at this aperture.

If Takahashi would produce a 5-inch version I'd add it immediately.

 

 

The FOA60 is superb, I foolishly sold mine to friend......... I have just replaced it with the FOA60Q but it hasn't had first light yet due to our bushfires....... at the moment my scopes are all sitting around waiting for a clear night...... 

[Rainmaker]

My lucky find yesterday was this beast, the Skylight AR101/15 in full brass OTA with 2.5" Feathertouch rack&pinion, a 900 mile trip last night to collect it from Melbourne....

Now dusted and polished up (and waiting for clear skies....)

[Nakedgun]

13 hours ago, Rainmaker said:

The FOA60 is superb, I foolishly sold mine to friend......... I have just replaced it with the FOA60Q but it hasn't had first light yet due to our bushfires....... at the moment my scopes are all sitting around waiting for a clear night...... 

 

I elected not to get the Q module but don't know if that was the best decision - never looked through one with it. Whether my joy could be increased sufficiently through its acquisition will remain unknown, for now.

 

[Rainmaker]

11 hours ago, Nakedgun said:

 

I elected not to get the Q module but don't know if that was the best decision - never looked through one with it. Whether my joy could be increased sufficiently through its acquisition will remain unknown, for now.

 

I am going to try to put the two side by side for a comparison once these bushfires are under control and the skies clear.  My friend bought FOA60Q  #1D013, mine is #1D014 so all things should be good to go after I remove the Extender from mine.

I have several matches eyepiece pairs to test as well.  I thought the FOA60 was visually as good as it gets so I don't know if I will discern much difference in the Q.....

[elliot]

My first (kind of) and so far totally unused frac. Though I only got it on Thursday

[Stu]

This is my second Zeiss Telementor, a II this time, and I'm very happy with it so far. Have had a couple of sessions with it, tonight it is on the trusty GP mount looking at the Moon and Venus. It has a T2 connection on the visual back so I have been able to add a ClickLock adaptor which makes life easier.