SW120ED/lunar ability

[jetstream]

Tonight turned out to have some excellent seeing for us. The grand daughter and her 130 Heritage did really well, from set up to collimation through observing. The little newt took all the Nagler 3-6 zoom had, 216x on the moon, not bad!

This episode prompted me to get the SW120ED out with a few goodies alongside... the Docter 12.5 UWA/VIP , the 2.4mm HR2 and the 3-6 NZ zoom. I'll cut to the chase- the 120mm accepted the 2.4mm HR2 tonight giving totally usable, sharp lunar views at 375x! This eyepiece shows many flaws up in my mount and tripod however, they are not enough for the 120ED. All the rest of the eyepieces did a great job as well, the flexible zoom, while not quite as sharp as the others (this scope and larger ones begins to reveal the NZ's limitations) gave a very nice presentation of the terminator, and now the Doc, well it just worked superbly.

The SW120ED sure works great, and 79x aperture in inches seems pretty darn good for any scope.

We had a really fun night

[cotterless45]

Brilliant , good to hear some excellent optics are still being made and enjoyed !

Nick.

[Pig]

Nice one Gerry, good to see you are involving the grandkids ?

[Ben the Ignorant]

My 80mm triplet can take 240x, I was thinking any good apo can do 3x the aperture, and you confirmed it.

[Joe G]

Hi Gerry

Glad to hear you had a good viewing session.  I had a short session around Orion this morning with an 80mm scope & keep thinking about getting a bigger refractor like yours. Would you say what mount you have & would it be good enough for x180 max?

Thanks in advance for any replies

Joe

[Stu]

Nice one Gerry, great session. The 120ED is a cracking scope!! I'm intrigued by the Vixen HR, always been tempted to try one in the Tak.

[John]

Super report Gerry

I'm another member of the ED120 "fan club". The objectives on these scopes are really fine

I've read rumours that Synta went to great lengths to get the 120mm FPL-53 doublets "right" including aspherical figuring of one or more of the lens surfaces which is apparently difficult and time consuming for a mass production item. Either way they sure made a winner

[iPeace]

Nice one!

The 120ED is a great scope, and both the Nagler 3-6 Zoom and the Vixen HR 2.4mm are truly fine eyepieces.

I do sympathize with the 120ED needing a hefty mount at high magnification. Just how beefy the mount has to be seems to be a matter of preference, but the optics certainly merit employing whatever is necessary - within the boundaries of what you personally can live with, of course.

[jetstream]

7 hours ago, Joe G said:

Hi Gerry

Glad to hear you had a good viewing session.  I had a short session around Orion this morning with an 80mm scope & keep thinking about getting a bigger refractor like yours. Would you say what mount you have & would it be good enough for x180 max?

Thanks in advance for any replies

Joe

Hi Joe, my set up is from Stellarvue- an M2 mount and their aluminum tripod. It works well with my little 90mm f7 but the length of the SW120ED needs a much more substantial mount. There are many on SGL that do have this figured out though and maybe some can chime in with their set ups.

[iPeace]

I used my 120ED on a full-sized Ercole mount atop an extension pillar on an EQ5 tripod, later on a Losmandy AZ8. Both worked well, but neither held that scope absolutely rock steady while focusing at high magnification - something you either require or can do without, according to your preference.

My own plans and foreseen observing circumstances led me to downsize to more portable equipment; as I prefer alt-az mounts, I can hardly even speculate on what the absolutely ideal mount would have been.

[Stu]

1 hour ago, iPeace said:

Both worked well, but neither held that scope absolutely rock steady while focusing at high magnification - something you either require or can do without, according to your preference

I'm not sure many mounts will achieve that. The best option in thoses cases is to opt for remote focusing so there is no need to touch the scope. That's what I did with my Vixen 150ED on an AZEQ6. A 20kg f9 frac, the mount coped ok but did wobble when focusing.

[Piero]

Great report Gerry! Glad to hear that you could use the HR with your 120mm!  

I was out with the Tak this morning watching the Sun, but it was just too windy for the HR. It would be nice to compare the Nagler Zoom with the Nikon+Zeiss barlow (and extension) at some point. The latter gave me some lovely views of the three sunspots today. 

[Joe G]

Hi Gerry & others

I saw some images of your mount. It looks studier than my AT Voyager1, which I bought , partly due based on  a review I seen on Cloudy Nights of approx 5 years ago showing an image of  my mount & an ED120.  I've since beefed up the mount & as others have said best to buy a scope & check if it's worth upgrading the mount. Anyway health to enjoy

Again thanks

Joe