All The Telescopes You Want?

[jetstream]

I'm still snooping around for a 1 meter primary...

[Captain Scarlet]

20 hours ago, John said:

Agreed - highly impractical. Imagine where that eyepiece would be observing Jupiter and Saturn from the UK ? - "ladder time"

In my case I would also need to explain to my neighbour why half the length my scope was hanging over his garden

 

… or maybe he wouldn’t wait for the explanation and would simply prune it as would be his right 😄😄

[bomberbaz]

1 hour ago, jetstream said:

I'm still snooping around for a 1 meter primary...

Biggest mirror I have actually seen is a 750mm  at tod obs, still not had chance to use it. Hopefully if there is an open day next year I will get that chance.

[faulksy]

6 hours ago, scarp15 said:

Great, since UK citizens have lost their entitlement, that would be interesting to follow your progress Mike. Qualia used to do some interesting reports from the Barcelona area, what part of Spain are you anticipating locating to?

hi iain. we are thinking around lake negratin (granada) this area is the most sensible with local amenities and great skys for our astrotourism

[scarp15]

16 hours ago, faulksy said:

hi iain. we are thinking around lake negratin (granada) this area is the most sensible with local amenities and great skys for our astrotourism

Looks pretty good Mike, lake Negratin reservoir; a kind of Kielder in the sun. Looks like there is quite a lot of recreational stuff around there as well, cycling etc. A potential good location for your 20" dob. Do you plan on using your 90 day visa to live out there whilst looking for a property? 

[faulksy]

39 minutes ago, scarp15 said:

Looks pretty good Mike, lake Negratin reservoir; a kind of Kielder in the sun. Looks like there is quite a lot of recreational stuff around there as well, cycling etc. A potential good location for your 20" dob. Do you plan on using your 90 day visa to live out there whilst looking for a property? 

maybe iain. i will message you about it. like you say kielder in the  sun. this will be our astrotours 😁. will need volunteers of course

anyone interested in looking through a 20" dob with 21.7 average skys ?

Edited December 18, 2021 by faulksy

[DaveS]

Realistically I have all the telescopes I'm likely to need, but still have a hankering for a fast astrograph. A RASA 11 with QHY 600C would get me the whole of M31 at a decent 1.2"/px. Unfortunately floppy mirrors don't play nicely with ASA mounts.

I do actually have my Megrez 90 still for a bit of Mk1 eyeball, and a few eyepieces.

[Mark at Beaufort]

46 minutes ago, faulksy said:

maybe iain. i will message you about it. like you say kielder in the  sun. this will be our astrotours 😁. will need volunteers of course

anyone interested in looking through a 20" dob with 21.7 average skys ?

Mike are you going to set up an Astro holiday arrangement?

[faulksy]

4 hours ago, Mark at Beaufort said:

Mike are you going to set up an Astro holiday arrangement?

hi mark. yes with accommodation. 2 scopes. a 10 dob for personel use and my 20" with my tour  😁

but didnt want to talk about it on here

[wookie1965]

I have never been abroad furthest I have been is the Isle of Man😁. 

But that may change as I am getting fed up with this British weather. 

[F15Rules]

22 hours ago, wookie1965 said:

I have never been abroad furthest I have been is the Isle of Man😁. 

But that may change as I am getting fed up with this British weather. 

+1 for that Paul.

Dave

[Dave1]

Well I wouldn't mind trying an ED doublet 4", 5", or 6" between F11-F15. And the observatory to go with them. I already have the mount, to mount them on! I do dream after certain lines of eyepieces. Pentax SMC Ortho line, ZAO I and ZAO II. The Pentax SMC are rated up there with the ZAO II. 

I do have a Pentax 6mm Ortho but its there normal none SMC version...Still suppose to be an excellent eyepiece.

[F15Rules]

7 minutes ago, Dave1 said:

Well I wouldn't mind trying an ED doublet 4", 5", or 6" between F11-F15. And the observatory to go with them. I already have the mount, to mount them on! I do dream after certain lines of eyepieces. Pentax SMC Ortho line, ZAO I and ZAO II. The Pentax SMC are rated up there with the ZAO II. 

I do have a Pentax 6mm Ortho but its there normal none SMC version...Still suppose to be an excellent eyepiece.

I've only ever had one really negative experience with a Pentax product..it was an XF zoom 7-21mm eyepiece which had truly horrible chromatic aberration at night. However, I am aware that many users of this eyepiece love it for solar viewing..🤔

By contrast (sorry), their XL SMC 8-24mm zoom is truly excellent for astronomy, and every other Pentax product I've used has been of very good quality overall👍.

How do you find your "normal" Ortho in use, Dave?

Dave

[Dave1]

12 minutes ago, F15Rules said:

How do you find your "normal" Ortho in use, Dave?

 

I have yet to use the Pentax 6mm Ortho in action. I only have a 60mm telescope at the minute. Which with an 6mm eyepiece will give an exit pupil of 0.36mm. Will have to give it ago, image will probably be to dim. 

[F15Rules]

1 minute ago, Dave1 said:

I have yet to use the Pentax 6mm Ortho in action. I only have a 60mm telescope at the minute. Which with an 6mm eyepiece will give an exit pupil of 0.36mm. Will have to give it ago, image will probably be to dim. 

Worth a try though..as it's an old eyepiece it might be worth carefully cleaning it with a cotton bud lightly dampened with Baader Wonder Fluid, just to ensure its clean..🙂

Dave

[jetstream]

On 18/12/2021 at 10:03, faulksy said:

will need volunteers of course

Maybe I'll paddle over in the mirror box of my 24"

[faulksy]

21 hours ago, jetstream said:

Maybe I'll paddle over in the mirror box of my 24"

you would be more than welcome . bring your wife of course 😁

didnt think anybody had read that bit

[jjohnson3803]

On 17/12/2021 at 13:08, jetstream said:

I'm still snooping around for a 1 meter primary...

😁  I used a 1-meter for some uni classes, but never used it visually.  😕

[Deadlake]

On 17/12/2021 at 19:08, jetstream said:

I'm still snooping around for a 1 meter primary...

http://stellarzac.fr/t1000.html

[SuburbanMak]

Upgrade ST80 to Tak 76 DCU. 

Buy something bigger to look at faint things (C9.25/C8, CC8 or else a 10 inch Dob.   

Then I'll stop buying them, honest...

 

 

[L8-Nite]

On 16/12/2021 at 11:34, Highburymark said:

All I dream about are darker skies. Sounds trite, but they are more valuable than any telescope. 

Exactly, dark clear skies, and more often than not.  Then I made the mistake of bringing my dream scope to the UK. 

[dannybgoode]

I have one of my dream scopes in my TMB 105/650 LZOZ. A bit like @John a good part of my interest in this scope is the background and mine is a Thomas Back built one as opposed to a later APM one and I enjoy the history that goes with that.

Plus it's just a joy to look through and use. That huge, massively over-engineered focuser, enormous CNC rings, the choice of Kruppax for the tube and of course that LZOZ objective can. A commercial failure because nothing but the best would do. A total no compromise approach. The only downside to it is weight. Nearly 10kg for a 105/650!

Until I got this scope though a frac had been of limited appeal but now I can't see me spending serious money on anything else and a 130 Tak of some description or a longer 4" is highly tempting. Of course if a 130 TMB came up...

Maybe a Mewlon as well if I were going to have something spendy with a mirror.

[Stu]

7 minutes ago, dannybgoode said:

Of course if a 130 TMB came up...

Errrhmmm, you were saying? 😉

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TMB-130-SS-F7-by-Thomas-M-Back-TRIPLET-REFRACTOR-with-FEATHERTOUCH-FOCUSER-/393296224851?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l49286&mkrid=710-127635-2958-0

 

[dannybgoode]

Nice. I'd want one with an LZOZ cell though. Although in any event my buying the 105/650 nearly led to divorce. A purchase like that would seal the deal 🤣

[Space Hopper]

22 minutes ago, dannybgoode said:

The only downside to it is weight. Nearly 10kg for a 105/650!

 

That seems a lot ??

Mine is closer to 7kg  if i remember correctly.