Gearing up for solar observing with the Tak

[JeremyS]

Now the Sun is awakening, I wanted to prepare for some white light observing with the Tak FC 76 DCU and/or FS 60Q. However, neither would reach focus with the Lunt 1.25-inch Herschel wedge. There was not enough "in" travel - the Lunt wedge has a longer path length than the standard Tak diagonal.

Taks are famous for the variety and flexibility (or complexity!) of "back end plumbing" (i.e. you can spend huge sums on various adapters), so I dropped Ian King an email for advice and within minutes he suggested a different back end configuration, using items I already had. Now reaches focus and still quite some travel left. Works with he Quark too.

Ian King is a real star!

New config with Lunt Herschel wedge:

Standard config with Tak diagonal:

With Quark:

[andrew s]

Very nice. You may need a sun shade and a bottle  of white on ice. It's hot today. 

Regards Andrew 

Edited August 11, 2020 by andrew s

[JeremyS]

30 minutes ago, andrew s said:

Very nice. You may need a sun shade and a bottle  of white on ice. It's hot today. 

Regards Andrew 

Sun shade? 👌

Bottle of white wine? 👌

Ice bucket? 🤔

I know: if I drink it fast enough, it won't have a chance to get warm 👌

[Alan White]

17 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

Sun shade? 👌

Bottle of white wine? 👌

Ice bucket? 🤔

I know: if I drink it fast enough, it won't have a chance to get warm 👌

If you drink it fast enough, you wont need the scope or sun to observe as you will be soundo.

[Highburymark]

Looks like you have an elegant solution Jeremy. I never really mastered all the Tak bits (and obscure threads) that come with the scopes - I took the coward’s way out and changed everything to T2.

A good quality barlow’s also useful for white light if you’re struggling to reach focus. FC76 should be able to reach high magnifications in good seeing. Lovely scope for Quark too I imagine.

[astro_al]

I use the 2" Baader Herschel wedge. This requires a very specific configuration to work in some of my Taks with my binoviewers. It needs the Baader Clicklock instead of the Tak visual back and then a 2" to T2 adapter on the Herschel wedge to connect a bayonet fitting for the binoviewers instead of the standard 2" Clicklock fitting. On top of that it needs the top filter cell in the wedge to be empty to accommodate the length of the 2.6x GPC.

It works with a few mm to spare in the FC-76 DC, FC-100DC and in the FS-60.

 

 

[Solar B]

On 11/08/2020 at 16:09, JeremyS said:

Sun shade? 👌

Bottle of white wine? 👌

Ice bucket? 🤔

I know: if I drink it fast enough, it won't have a chance to get warm 👌

I'm trying to work out what the vino is (im a terrible wine snob 😀) my guess is old world ..

as for whites I think countless drink Sav Blanc and don't even realise that on the palate 

its mainly gooseberry (boring) I see many loading their trolleys with 6 or more of the

same bottling meaning they just don't care (which is fine i suppose) but i,m always 

trying different grapes and never buy 2 the same .... anyway don't get me started 😅

Brian 

Edited August 15, 2020 by Solar B

[JeremyS]

12 minutes ago, Solar B said:

I'm trying to work out what the vino is (im a terrible wine snob 😀) my guess is old world ..

as for whites I think countless drink Sav Blanc and don't even realise that on the palate 

its mainly gooseberry (boring) I see many loading their trolleys with 6 or more of the

same bottling meaning they just don't care (which is fine i suppose) but i,m always 

trying different grapes and never buy 2 the same .... anyway don't get me started 😅

Brian 

Old world. Picpoul de pinet. Excellent for hot afternoons 🙂

 

[Solar B]

A French classic if ever there was one ... my fav for hot days would be a modern 

trocken Riesling 💛

Brian 

Edited August 15, 2020 by Solar B

[JeremyS]

Another sunny afternoon with some appropriate wine. Just a few sips whilst the Quark comes to temperature 

[Solar B]

Very nice ... I thought you'd be more of a Le Montrachet man Jeremy & that's Le not 

Chassagne or Puligny 😀 ... no Sun here yet !

Brian 

[JeremyS]

Just after this I brushed against the SkySurfer III RDF and it fell off 😞 Part of the attachment base came apart. Looks like it was held in by a small amount of glue. Same thing happened a couple of years ago, but with a different base on the same SS III. In fact I think that was the last time I had the need to use UHU and of course now I can’t find the tube.
Another reason why I dislike the SS III.... I got it as I thought it would be better built than other RDFs.

[mikeDnight]

On 11/08/2020 at 16:09, JeremyS said:

Sun shade? 👌

Bottle of white wine? 👌

Ice bucket? 🤔

I know: if I drink it fast enough, it won't have a chance to get warm 👌

Thats the best observatory ive seen in quite some time Jeremy. The Sun somehow seems much more appealing. Thanks! 

[Highburymark]

On 15/08/2020 at 15:01, JeremyS said:

Just after this I brushed against the SkySurfer III RDF and it fell off 😞 Part of the attachment base came apart. Looks like it was held in by a small amount of glue. Same thing happened a couple of years ago, but with a different base on the same SS III. In fact I think that was the last time I had the need to use UHU and of course now I can’t find the tube.
Another reason why I dislike the SS III.... I got it as I thought it would be better built than other RDFs.

I fell for the Germanic allure of the “Skysurfer“ too Jeremy. Thought all my finder troubles would be behind me.
In fact it’s only marginally less cr*p than most of the other RDFs on the market. Have gone back to 6x30 SW RACI - though not for solar of course.

[JeremyS]

1 hour ago, Highburymark said:

I fell for the Germanic allure of the “Skysurfer“ too Jeremy. Thought all my finder troubles would be behind me.
In fact it’s only marginally less cr*p than most of the other RDFs on the market. Have gone back to 6x30 SW RACI - though not for solar of course.

Sorry to hear your frustrations, too, Mark. Pity really.

However, it makes a pretty good solar finder, just using the shadows of the rings to line up, so I don't have to bother with the red dot 🙂

Anyway the UHU glue arrived, so I mended it earlier.

[andrew s]

7 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

Sorry to hear your frustrations, too, Mark. Pity really.

However, it makes a pretty good solar finder, just using the shadows of the rings to line up, so I don't have to bother with the red dot 🙂

Anyway the UHU glue arrived, so I mended it earlier.

You need a finder for the Sun. Are Takahashi scopes so magical they don't cast a shadow?

Spooky 😉

Regards Andrew 

PS no Peter Pan Neverland jokes intended!

Edited August 18, 2020 by andrew s

[JeremyS]

14 minutes ago, andrew s said:

You need a finder for the Sun. Are Takahashi scopes so magical they don't cast a shadow?

Spooky 😉

Regards Andrew 

PS no Peter Pan Neverland jokes intended!

There are many ways in which Takahashi scopes challenge our understanding of physics, but I’m not at liberty to discuss them

 

🙂

 

[paulastro]

So, it's not true then?  Fluorite lenses dont melt if the sun shines on them? 🤭.

[paulastro]

29 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

There are many ways in which Takahashi scopes challenge our understanding of physics, but I’m not at liberty to discuss them

 

🙂

 

In a similar way, tak owners challenge our understanding of psychology 🙂.

[JeremyS]

7 minutes ago, paulastro said:

So, it's not true then?  Fluorite lenses dont melt if the sun shines on them? 🤭.

My reading of declassified papers from the PSIA (Japanese equivalent of MI6) and the Tokyo institute of Quantum Physics suggests some kind of “Weird” (my translation from the Japanese, but it’s more like “weirder than weird”) interaction between Takahashi objectives and Vixen HR eyepieces. I think @mikeDnight is aware of this but perhaps not @andrew s, who is currently researching optical and visual effects in post WW2 scientific literature.

Can’t say anymore at the moment....

[Chinapig]

On 11/08/2020 at 15:24, JeremyS said:

Now the Sun is awakening, I wanted to prepare for some white light observing with the Tak FC 76 DCU and/or FS 60Q. However, neither would reach focus with the Lunt 1.25-inch Herschel wedge. There was not enough "in" travel - the Lunt wedge has a longer path length than the standard Tak diagonal.

Taks are famous for the variety and flexibility (or complexity!) of "back end plumbing" (i.e. you can spend huge sums on various adapters), so I dropped Ian King an email for advice and within minutes he suggested a different back end configuration, using items I already had. Now reaches focus and still quite some travel left. Works with he Quark too.

Ian King is a real star!

New config with Lunt Herschel wedge:

 

With Quark:

Apologies for waking up an old thread.  I have a 76DCU, and had the same problem with focus in-travel and a Daystar Quark.  Keen to know which Tak adapter solved your problem.  Not 100% sure which back-end plumbing part you’re using.  

Would appreciate your advice.  Many thanks!

Cheers, Simon

[JeremyS]

28 minutes ago, Chinapig said:

Apologies for waking up an old thread.  I have a 76DCU, and had the same problem with focus in-travel and a Daystar Quark.  Keen to know which Tak adapter solved your problem.  Not 100% sure which back-end plumbing part you’re using.  

Would appreciate your advice.  Many thanks!

Cheers, Simon

This is the 2-inch adapter: https://www.firstlightoptics.com/takahashi-adapters/takahashi-2-inch-eyepiece-holder-for-fs-60-and-fs-78.html

Then I used a 2 to 1.25-inch reducer to accommodate the Tak 1.25-inch diagonal 

[Chinapig]

1 minute ago, JeremyS said:

This is the 2-inch adapter: https://www.firstlightoptics.com/takahashi-adapters/takahashi-2-inch-eyepiece-holder-for-fs-60-and-fs-78.html

Then I used a 2 to 1.25-inch reducer to accommodate the Tak 1.25-inch diagonal 

Oh, that simple - many thanks Jeremy!  I thought it might be the 2” adapter, but wasn’t convinced it could be that easy.  I have one of those in my Tak box - came with my little FS-60C.

Really appreciate your help.  Many thanks.  Cheers, Simon