Show us your Frac

[John]

9 hours ago, swag72 said:

Oh yes!!! Original paperwork and serial number 109

My 130 F/9.2 is number 40. Since 2006 they will have made 114 in total when production finishes this year, I'm told by Markus Ludes of APM. It's a visual scope primarily though, with that focal ratio.

 

 

Edited March 30, 2017 by John

[nightfisher]

15 minutes ago, John said:

My 130 F/9.2 is number 40. Since 2006 they will have made 114 in total when production finishes this year, I'm told by Markus Ludes of APM. It's a visual scope primarily though, with that focal ratio.

 

 

Looks lovely John, whats the best target you have acquired to date with it 

[Alfian]

A thing of beauty is a joy for ever / Pouring unto us from the heaven's brink. Please excuse the selective quote, but that is really quite something John. Nice observatory too.
 

[John]

1 hour ago, nightfisher said:

Looks lovely John, whats the best target you have acquired to date with it 

Thanks Jules

So far, I think spotting Neptune's moon Triton, splitting Sirius and a lovely split of the close pair of the triple star Tegmine (Zeta Cancri) are the highlights.

Much more to come I hope

[nightfisher]

Wow, triton, thats good going, what apparent magnitude  would that be, im guessing at 12.3 ish

[John]

3 hours ago, nightfisher said:

Wow, triton, thats good going, what apparent magnitude  would that be, im guessing at 12.3 ish

Yes, it was around that. I've seen a couple of Uranian moons with my 12" dob but they are another magnitude fainter again (closer to 14th mag actually) so beyond the 130.

[tooth_dr]

After scanning through this thread I doubt this is even worthy of posting, but here they are:

ST80 / Lunt 60mm / ED80 Pro

 

 

 

 

[PaulC-I]

Finally! The first public airing of my self built 8" F12 frac and alt-az mount.     Information and build log to follow when time permits. Aplogies in advance for not being able to comment often  to responses. (Oh and one person set up!)

Paul

[Chris]

Paul that is awesome! Any details or pics of the lens up top? I know you say it's the first public airing but I'm sure I've seen a pic of this before? Are you the chap that once sold me a Skylight 60mm f/16?

Edited April 2, 2017 by Chris Lock

[Stu]

1 hour ago, PaulC-I said:

Finally! The first public airing of my self built 8" F12 frac and alt-az mount.     Information and build log to follow when time permits. Aplogies in advance for not being able to comment often  to responses. (Oh and one person set up!)

Paul

Fantastic Paul, glad that you've got it finished finally. Having seen the craftsmanship first hand, I'm sure it's wonderful to use, and to look at!

How does it perform?

[PaulC-I]

1 hour ago, Chris Lock said:

Paul that is awesome! Any details or pics of the lens up top? I know you say it's the first public airing but I'm sure I've seen a pic of this before? Are you the chap that once sold me a Skylight 60mm f/16?

Hi Chris, Yes that was me. I must have sent you a pick of it. It has been finished for a couple of years but have had numerous other projects at hand so Keep meaning to post it officially. Will put a build thread up soon. The lens is an R35  istar and works really well. Luna is amazing with just a slight colouring on the bright limb but none on the surface details.

[PaulC-I]

1 hour ago, Stu said:

Fantastic Paul, glad that you've got it finished finally. Having seen the craftsmanship first hand, I'm sure it's wonderful to use, and to look at!

How does it perform?

Thanks Stu, Bino with both eyes in the Baader Mk V with a pair of Brandin 24's. Nirvana!

[Chris]

22 minutes ago, PaulC-I said:

Hi Chris, Yes that was me. I must have sent you a pick of it. It has been finished for a couple of years but have had numerous other projects at hand so Keep meaning to post it officially. Will put a build thread up soon. The lens is an R35  istar and works really well. Luna is amazing with just a slight colouring on the bright limb but none on the surface details.

 

Ah that's right I think you sent me a pic during our email conversations Paul  I was leaning towards guessing it might be an Istar, I know they sell big lenses in cells and there can't be many others that do? 

That big anastigmatic long focus lens plus BV's really must be quite something on the Moon and planets! Great craftsmanship Paul, maybe I'll build a frac (smaller mind  ) after I've finished grinding my mirror and building the Dob to put it in   

[Stu]

36 minutes ago, PaulC-I said:

Thanks Stu, Bino with both eyes in the Baader Mk V with a pair of Brandin 24's. Nirvana!

Sounds fabulous. Might have to pop round one evening  

[DRT]

1 hour ago, Stu said:

Sounds fabulous. Might have to pop round one evening  

Sounds like it's time for a a Star Party at Paul's ?

Lovely looking scope, Paul. By coincidence, I was the next owner of the Skylight 60 after Chris. A lovely little scope that has moved on to pastures new. 

I look forward to reading more about this monster. 

Derek 

 

[Tyson M]

Great looking building PaulC

 

I want to make an ATM ISTAR, for my first project I want to go large with either the new 8.7" f15 or 9" f7.7 lens.  The 9" would be a killer solar scope so I am leaning towards that.

Edited April 2, 2017 by Tyson M

[mikeDnight]

Here are some pics of three little siblings all playing nicely together on the night of 2/4/17.

They are a Tak FC76, a FC100DC and a FC100DL.

After almost seven hours of very careful scrutiny and comparison between the DC and DL under excellent seeing conditions, while using a range of eyepieces from a TMB Super Monocentric 5mm, Ethos, Naglers, Baader Zoom and ortho loaded binoviewers, we all came to the conclusion that the DL is slightly longer than the DC! 

The FC76 was simply stunning! 

Mike

 

[Stu]

What an excellent way to spend an evening

The 76 is certainly a little gem isn't it?

Comparing Gavster's DL with my DC we did think that the fourth star in Sigma Orionis was perhaps a little easier in the DL under the conditions, but perhaps the longer focal length coped with the seeing better? We do need to repeat the exercise  

[John]

I suspect it's alsways going to be a case that these 2 are incredibly closely matched. My DL stayed inside last night though - the 12" dob was delivering superb Jovian views AND showing 8 or 9 Markarian's chain galaxies to boot

 

[mikeDnight]

1 hour ago, Stu said:

What an excellent way to spend an evening

The 76 is certainly a little gem isn't it?

Comparing Gavster's DL with my DC we did think that the fourth star in Sigma Orionis was perhaps a little easier in the DL under the conditions, but perhaps the longer focal length coped with the seeing better? We do need to repeat the exercise  

It certainly is a gem Stu! The 76 was very impressive and revealed some great detail very easily on Jupiter. There were three of us observing last night, myself, paulastro and Roger Vine who writes some excellent reviews. We probably didn't give the 76 the attention it deserved as we were all so focused on trying to detect the difference between the DL and DC. We were not trying to review the scopes but rather just try to notice where the differences lay. On the Moons limb, the two scopes appeared identical. Lunar detail was equally sharp, well defined and with equal contrast in both scopes. We had to wait until late on when jupiter was high enough to give a great view. I felt Jupiter was better in the DL until I noticed that the DC had fogged over slightly, so it brought our session to an end. Next time on a long session I'll add a longer dew shade sooner!

Mike

 

[Stu]

29 minutes ago, mikeDnight said:

It certainly is a gem Stu! The 76 was very impressive and revealed some great detail very easily on Jupiter. There were three of us observing last night, myself, paulastro and Roger Vine who writes some excellent reviews. We probably didn't give the 76 the attention it deserved as we were all so focused on trying to detect the difference between the DL and DC. We were not trying to review the scopes but rather just try to notice where the differences lay. On the Moons limb, the two scopes appeared identical. Lunar detail was equally sharp, well defined and with equal contrast in both scopes. We had to wait until late on when jupiter was high enough to give a great view. I felt Jupiter was better in the DL until I noticed that the DC had fogged over slightly, so it brought our session to an end. Next time on a long session I'll add a longer dew shade sooner!

Mike

 

It's always possible that's exactly what had happened to mine. We will revisit again soon hopefully.

[John]

How far is the objective down the dew shield with the F/7.4 Tak FC100's ?

On my DL the the front surface of the objective is only about 4 inches down the shield. I've not had dewing issues so far with it but it has crossed my mind that it could happen.

Edited April 3, 2017 by John

[mikeDnight]

6 hours ago, John said:

How far is the objective down the dew shield with the F/7.4 Tak FC100's ?

On my DL the the front surface of the objective is only about 4 inches down the shield. I've not had dewing issues so far with it but it has crossed my mind that it could happen.

Hi John,

The lens cell is 77mm from the edge of the dew shield which is not nearly far enough. Having said that, the scope has only dewed over twice in two years. I definitely need to extend it for prolonged sessions!

Mike

Edited April 3, 2017 by mikeDnight

[GavStar]

6 hours ago, Stu said:

What an excellent way to spend an evening

The 76 is certainly a little gem isn't it?

Comparing Gavster's DL with my DC we did think that the fourth star in Sigma Orionis was perhaps a little easier in the DL under the conditions, but perhaps the longer focal length coped with the seeing better? We do need to repeat the exercise  

It's fun comparing scopes and eyepieces and all part of the hobby. But sometimes I feel I get too focussed on getting the best performance and obviously it's the observing conditions that have the biggest impact. My New Years resolution (well April resolution) is to observe a greater variety of objects with my existing equipment (apart from Jupiter that is ?). The stunning solar views I had over the weekend are a step in that direction. Not completely convinced I will succeed though...

Edited April 3, 2017 by Gavster

[JonC]

Just joined the frac club Bog standard SW 100ED on a HEQ5 that was upgraded to a pro. Have also slung my radio antennas up, meant to be a local net running tonight.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 3, 2017 by JonC