First light new refractor

[David Levi]

I bought a Takahashi FC-100DC refractor telescope at the International Astronomy Show in Stoneleigh last Saturday and have been itching to look at the stars with it since getting it back home. So desperate in fact that I have been out cloud dodging tonight to get a first look through this well regarded telescope. 

With the change in focal length from my reflector, the maximum magnification at my disposal with the new telescope is only 149x without the use of a Barlow.

The Moon looked incredibly sharp at 149x magnification although the seeing wasn't good. There was a little bit of turbulence even at this magnification.

Saturn was too low and very wobbly. Mars however provided a suggestion of what is possible with this telescope. I could make out the north polar cap and some grey shading on the surface. The view was far more pleasurable than my reflector in that there was much less glare/halo around the planet.  However, the reduction in glare might have been helped by some thin cloud. 

I had a look at the double star Izar in the constellation Bootes. It was a fine sight. No diffraction spikes, only a slight diffraction ring which interfered less with the split than the spikes from the reflector. I've seen the colours, yellow primary and blue secondary, standing out better but I never seem to see the colours consistently with this pair.

Epsilon Lyrae was an easy split and once again the sharpness and clarity of the stars brought a smile to my face.

I also had a look at the double cluster in Perseus and the Great Globular Cluster in Hercules. The views weren't brilliant due to the poor seeing. In addition, I normally look at these from a dark sky site and so I've been spoilt with the number of stars visible compared with the light polluted views from my back garden.

It was a real pleasure to use the telescope. It was easy to control and extremely stable on the EQ5 mount. I didn't have any trouble adapting to seeing the views the right way up.  With the 6 x 30 finderscope I had to adjust slightly my expectations of the views while star hoping due to the smaller scale than I am used to with the 9 x 50 finderscope on my reflector. I'm going to have to use a chair as well when pointing at objects towards the zenith. The clamshell clamp enabled easy adjustment of the telescope rotation when moving from one side of the meridian to the other.

Can't wait to get out again with less clouds.

[Stu]

Congrats on a fabulous scope David. Strong hints of what is to come; you will just love the purity of the stars I’m sure. The DC is wonderful under good conditions, I love picking out the tiniest of the stars buried in the centre. Enjoy!

[djpaul]

Congratulations. 

Please give a report when you get a clear night.

It's a scope I'm also considering buying as a second scope.

Paul 

[Eastman]

Congrats on your new scope,

[Kn4fty]

Congratulations on the new scope! Glad you did get some good views. Look forward to hearing about a good night with it.

Rob