Show us your Frac

[Chris]

My knees go a bit wobbly when I see Moonraker scopes in C3PO livery. I bet you either love or hate scopes in gold.

Edited September 21, 2015 by Chris Lock

[John]

I think Moonraker scopes are beautifully put together but, for my taste, are overly flamboyant. A bit too much like a 1960's sci-fi film prop perhaps ?.

Any scope that shares a cover pic with Simon Cowell promoting the X-Factor has dropped a few credbility posts with me I'm afraid

Good luck to Mark for spotting a niche in the market though and I'm sure his scopes will continue to be in demand.

[Highburymark]

Is this cheating?

[Joseki]

here's the baby sister (arrived this week).  

yes that's a diy solar finder attached to the ota (total cost £0).  I also drilled and tapped the rings to attach to a standard skywatcher dovetail I already had (which means I can piggyback it on my 100ed).  I wonder when I'll snap and buy the sol-searcher.

[Uranium235]

The WO Star 71 @ work, albeit under a dodgy moonlit sky!

[kirkster501]

My FSQ85 with ST80 guide scope atop Modded NEQ6.

[Unklefunk]

my Evostar 90mm

[philj]

My knees go a bit wobbly when I see Moonraker scopes in C3PO livery. I bet you either love or hate scopes in gold.

Nope, scopes look right in that colour, once upon a time they all came in that colour, it was called brass :-)

[F15Rules]

Not made of brass nowadays Phil...but they cost a lot of it!!:-)

Dave

[John]

Here are some more pics of my two fracs. The Skywatcher ED120 F/7.5 now has a Moonlite CF2 Tri-knob focuser fitted and the Vixen ED102SS F/6.5 now has an older Moonlite CF2 Dual-knob and some CNC tube rings.

Both scopes are ED doublets and used purely for visual observing.

[Tyson M]

What tripod is that if you don't mind me asking? Looks sturdy, and i'm curious on the wood leg ones. 

[DRT]

Very nice, John. The Moonlites definitely make a big difference and I think that's my first port of call each time I buy a new scope from now on. Like Tyson I am interested in the tripod - looks like a very stable platform for that Giro III - I'm missing mine already having sold it this week :-(

[John]

What tripod is that if you don't mind me asking? Looks sturdy, and i'm curious on the wood leg ones. 

It's very similar to the ones that Oberwerk use for their really large binoculars but I've modified it to take the Giro Mount.

Prior to this I used the mount on a CG5 tripod with the 2" steel tubed legs. The wooden tripod is lighter, taller and at least as sturdy. It looks better too, perhaps, but that is subjective of course.

[Special K]

And a little background history for those interested. I only saw this in trying to find out what a Frauenhofer design is

https://www.aip.org/history/cosmology/tools/tools-refractors.htm

I like Struve's comment that he didn't know what to admire most: the look of his scope or its performance! I really get that

[Tyson M]

Edited October 8, 2015 by Tyson M

[moriniboy]

Just took a photo of my fracs for insurance purposes, rather surprised to find out that I own 10 (honest  ) so I have decided to share the photo with you.

Having a modded Skytee 2 means that I can mount two scopes at a time side by side so they all get regular use.

From left to right

120mm Skywatcher Esprit

102mm Lyra Optics

101mm TeleVue Renaissance SDF

102mm Ikharus (my workhorse scope)

100mm TAL 100R stage 2 mod

90mm Vixen Super Polaris 90M

80mm Vixen FL80S Fluorite

80mm Opticstar AR80S

66mm Altair Lightwave 66ED-R

63mm Zeiss Telementor

[Chris]

Very impressive collection of fracs, wow 10 of them!

[NigeB]

Just took a photo of my fracs for insurance purposes, rather surprised to find out that I own 10 (honest  ) so I have decided to share the photo with you.

Whoa - that's.... quite a habit you've got there!

Having a modded Skytee 2 means that I can mount two scopes at a time side by side so they all get regular use.

It's OK,  you're among friends; you don't need to justify... 

Seriously, that's a nice collection. I love the appearance of the Renaissance - in terms of general optical quality, how does it perform compared to some of the others? Does the view "through" live up to the view "of"?

Here's my contribution - not shown is the Vixen 60 mm achromat which is currently a dust magnet but might get a second lease of life as an H_alpha scope eventually.

Nigel

[vlebo]

http://www.altairastro.com/starwave-152mm-f5.9-achromat-refractor-telescope-with-3-crayford-focuser.html

Not yet but delivery soon I hope !!

Edited October 11, 2015 by vlebo

[Roy Challen]

Just took a photo of my fracs for insurance purposes, rather surprised to find out that I own 10 (honest ) so I have decided to share the photo with you.

Having a modded Skytee 2 means that I can mount two scopes at a time side by side so they all get regular use.

From left to right

120mm Skywatcher Esprit

102mm Lyra Optics

101mm TeleVue Renaissance SDF

102mm Ikharus (my workhorse scope)

100mm TAL 100R stage 2 mod

90mm Vixen Super Polaris 90M

80mm Vixen FL80S Fluorite

80mm Opticstar AR80S

66mm Altair Lightwave 66ED-R

63mm Zeiss Telementor

P1060333 - Copy.JPG

Lovely collection, especially the telementor.

Good point about insurance. Did your insurance company ask for details in addition to normal contents insurance or is this something you did off your own back?

[Bobble]

Here is my favourite scope setup. An Explore Scientific ED127 APO Refractor on an HEQ5 mount. I find that this scope /mount combination works great together on my DYI semi-portable pier. This all now stays setup and with the arrival of my TeleGizmo 365 cover it should all stay nice and dry through a Canadian winter. Connect the computer, flip the power switch and I'm good to go. 

Bob

                                                           

[parallaxerr]

My ED80 on Celestron Nexstar SE mount, yet to see first light! Nice and sturdy setup but easily transportable.

[Tyson M]

Omg!!!! Those moonrakers are absolutely stunning!!!! Holy sweet mother of pearl. I must have one some day. What an elegant beauty! 

[John]

Omg!!!! Those moonrakers are absolutely stunning!!!! Holy sweet mother of pearl. I must have one some day. What an elegant beauty! 

Mark from Moonraker took some of his scopes to the NEAF this year in the US:

I think if they had a "best in show" award he would have won it !

[Chris]

Omg!!!! Those moonrakers are absolutely stunning!!!! Holy sweet mother of pearl. I must have one some day. What an elegant beauty! 

My thoughts exactly I came close to buying one of his 4" f/11 red Rocket models for my upcoming 40th birthday, but settled on a cheaper option in the end (probably a good thing at the moment).

If I'm still lusting after one in a years time I'll have to have a word with Mark