Show us your Vixen Scope or mount

[JeremyS]

12 minutes ago, F15Rules said:

Stunning, Tim, just stunning.

Thanks for sharing, and I hope this scope will stay with you for the long term👍.

Dave

And just look at those handles, Dave 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

[Franklin]

54 minutes ago, F15Rules said:

I hope this scope will stay with you for the long term

I think it will Dave, I won't be buying another as I am now officially skint😁.

[Franklin]

51 minutes ago, John said:

it looks a perfectly balanced setup with that SXD2 mount 👍

Yes, they go together really well. I've had SP and GP class mounts for years but never felt they could do justice to anything over the 4" size refractor, the 115 would put them right on their limit and I've had the 115 on my wish list for longer than I can remember. So a mount upgrade it was and I'm over the moon with it all, although the StarBook Ten GoTo is new to me, I'm slowly getting the hang of it. 

[Stu]

Beautiful setup Tim. It doesn’t get much better, or better looking than that! 👍😎

[F15Rules]

2 hours ago, JeremyS said:

And just look at those handles, Dave 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

🤦🤦🤦😭🤪

[F15Rules]

Against the forecast, the sky cleared this evening at c 7pm, so I whipped outside with Luna, my  new to me old 80mm F15, for a quick first light.

Well, despite the issues with the scope that I described elsewhere on closer first  inspection, I'm pleased to say the lens set is a good 'un..

Lovely Airy disk with single refraction ring around stars. Good contrast, and the crayford focuser is now feeling smooth and solid, after I tinkered with it and tightened everything up.

I was using an Astro Tech 2" dielectric mirror diagonal of known excellence..with this in place, several of my eyepieces were very close to, or on, the in-focus limit, so I may have problems using the Maxbright II binoviewers without an OCS (I didn't try them tonight).

What was very pleasing was how, at one end of the scale the scope could deliver the entire Pleiades group with room to spare with my 31mm Celestron 2" Axiom LX 82 degree UWA, and also with the Axiom 23mm, (albeit that was close to the edges), and at the other end it can take high magnifications.

I also used the LV 8-24mm zoom that I recently bought from Tim @Franklin..it worked very nicely, and on M42 the 4 main Trap components were very well presented, with the background swirling nebula. The single diffraction rings on the stars were very obvious.

Moving to Alnitak I got a nice split at c 200x, and the image held up, although much dimmer, all the way up to 338x (Vixen LV zoom with Baader zoom 2.25x Barlow).

Finally, the solidity on my Tak Mount tonight was remarkable for such a long, thin tube..I estimated the damping time at no more than 0.5-0.75 seconds, even with the huge, c 1kg decloaked Axiom 31mm. This shows the value of taking the time to get perfect balance with the eq mount.

All in all, lovely to be out tonight, and I'm very happy to have this lovely old scope in my care👍

Dave

 

[Alan White]

My new to me Vixen SD103 in First Light, White Light today.
Very pleased as I knew I would be.

 

Also note the More Blue Vixen rail with all important stop screws in place!!

Edited March 27, 2023 by Alan White

[mikeDnight]

*

Edited April 5, 2023 by mikeDnight

[JeremyS]

55 minutes ago, Alan White said:

My new to me Vixen SD103 in First Light, White Light today.
Very pleased as I knew I would be.

 

Also note the More Blue Vixen rail with all important stop screws in place!!

That is a thing of beauty, Alan!

[Franklin]

1 hour ago, Alan White said:

My new to me Vixen SD103 in First Light, White Light today.

Looks right at home on the AZ75, very nice👍.

[Alan White]

53 minutes ago, mikeDnight said:

Your scope looks very pretty Alan. I particularly like the little bag of scented lavender hanging from your tripod spreader. 

That’s a Scentsy bag left on it by my Daughter, that I missed darn it

Mind you makes it smell nice all the same

 

[Froeng]

Vixen SP-DX with SP60l refractor and Vixen 45mm Plossl eyepiece.

I was looking at double stars tonight

the 60l is a f/15, 910mm refractor. I have recently acquired a second copy as my original one has a few dents, due to it being used in guide-tube-rings. A fine instrument, showing very nice Airy-disks and first diffraction rings. Highlights of the evening included Algieba, Castor and Tegmine...

Plus a cursory look at the moon, which took 150x tonight. Hardly any false colour in these long refractors!

Edited March 27, 2023 by Froeng

[F15Rules]

4 hours ago, Alan White said:

My new to me Vixen SD103 in First Light, White Light today.
Very pleased as I knew I would be.

 

Also note the More Blue Vixen rail with all important stop screws in place!!

Fabulous setup, Alan, you must be thrilled with it..it was worth the wait!

Dave

[F15Rules]

25 minutes ago, Froeng said:

Vixen SP-DX with SP60l refractor and Vixen 45mm Plossl eyepiece.

I was looking at double stars tonight

the 60l is a f/15, 910mm refractor. I have recently acquired a second copy as my original one has a few dents, due to it being used in guide-tube-rings. A fine instrument, showing very nice Airy-disks and first diffraction rings. Highlights of the evening included Algieba, Castor and Tegmine...

Plus a cursory look at the moon, which took 150x tonight. Hardly any false colour in these long refractors!

A lovely setup!

That wooden tripod really complements the whole rig, with the long tube really seeming to reach for the stars! 🤩

Dave

 

[sqfab]

Hello,

My 80 910 on SP mount (all Vintage😇)

[LDW1]

3 hours ago, sqfab said:

Hello,

My 80 910 on SP mount (all Vintage😇)

 

What brand, what year ?

[John]

56 minutes ago, LDW1 said:

What brand, what year ?

Well this is a "show us your Vixen ..." thread so that sorts the brand out. The year would be somewhere in the mid 1980's I reckon.

 

[sqfab]

1 hour ago, LDW1 said:

What brand, what year ?

OTA : Vixen Custom 80 910 (early 1980s)

Mount : End' 1970s)

 

[LDW1]

10 minutes ago, sqfab said:

OTA : Vixen Custom 80 910 (early 1980s)

Mount : End' 1970s)

 

A beautiful combination, you are a pretty lucky astronomer. I have the early 1990's  Celestron / Vixen model of the same size, my views are great as well. I only asked to varify what I already thought. A wonderful original ! Thanx for your reply and many Clear Skies to you !

[900SL]

There's something about these Vixen scopes...

[Stu]

6 minutes ago, 900SL said:

There's something about these Vixen scopes...

Certainly is. Must get my old Vixen FL102S out again for a play soon.

[Pixies]

Got this today:

I already had a Vixen Custom AltAz mount (with no tripod). However, although mechanically identical, these 2 mounts have different labels:

Anyone know the difference between the two?

Cheers.

[Highburymark]

On 06/11/2022 at 09:17, Saganite said:

My lovely Vixen ED103s has appeared on here before, but not looking as  beautiful as now.  The Feathertouch focuser shown was never meant for the Vixen because they do not offer an adapter to fit this model.   When this appeared for sale I immediately wanted it because of its 95mm of travel.  The adapter thread was 88.5mm x 1mm pitch, whereas it is 88mm x 1mm pitch on the Vixen OTA, but I knew it would be a simple job for Mark at Moonraker to chase the thread and that is what he did for me, in short order ....top man .

Until this year I had never used a Feathertouch focuser, and now I could never go back, they are sublime.

 

Which Feathertouch model is that Steve? Looks like one of the 3” range - and looks wonderful. Didn’t realise Moonraker provided bespoke adapters.

[mikeDnight]

2 hours ago, Pixies said:

Got this today:

I already had a Vixen Custom AltAz mount (with no tripod). However, although mechanically identical, these 2 mounts have different labels:

Anyone know the difference between the two?

Cheers.

Vixen made an excellent Custom C mount that looked very much like your mount. The custom C had a counterweight arm that extended forward at about 45° from memory from the mounts altitude section.  In a different league to Skywatcher!

[Saganite]

3 hours ago, Highburymark said:

Which Feathertouch model is that Steve? Looks like one of the 3” range - and looks wonderful. Didn’t realise Moonraker provided bespoke adapters.

Hi Mark,

The FT 3" is on the 6" APM at the back.  The Vixen has the 2.5" FT 2525 HD focuser.  This can be bought with the adapter ring shown. The problem is it has an 88.5mm x 1.0mm pitch thread. It was this adapter that I sent to Mark along with the Vixen focuser shown.  The Vixen tube is threaded 88 mm x1mm pitch, so it would not fit, but I knew that a competent machinist could 'chase ' the thread and make it fit, which is what Mark did, superbly well.

Edited April 16, 2023 by Saganite