Tak 76DC v Starbase 80

[IB20]

Copied last night’s targets with the 76DC in Orion with the Starbase 80 tonight. Conditions and transparency seemed similar to last night but the moon was 6-7% more illuminated so there is that to take into account.

After letting the scope cool for 10 minutes I started off with the 17.5mm Morpheus on M42 (46x) and honed in on the trapezium cluster - showing all 4 stars nice and clearly. Tried to match the lowest mag I used last night so swapped in the 25mm BST, again all four showed, but in both EPs I’d say the stars looked slightly dimmer than the Tak. There was also no sign of the E star after multiple re-visits, the 7XW also resulted in dimmer images purely due to the smaller exit pupil in the f10 system.

Going through the mags, it was obvious that the nebulosity of M42 wasn’t as defined and contrasty as in the Tak, and it appeared as more of a smudge than the shapely wings I observed yesterday. 

Moving to Rigel, I got a nice split at 80x but the diffraction rings weren’t as well controlled and a small arm of CA and stray starlight tried to obscure the dim secondary, although visible it wasn’t the doddle it was in the Tak. Mintaka and Nair al Saif proved nice and easy splits and all stars presented clean airy discs.
Betelgeuse however was a lot messier, nice colouration but just not as well controlled as the Tak. 

On to Sigma Orionis, the Tak showed all 4 stars easily yesterday and tonight the Starbase displayed all 4 but the lowest mag secondary companion occasionally dipped in and out of view. 

Finally, a crack at Sirius but presented with what seemed like a lot more diffraction rings coupled with a purplish glare, no where near as controlled as the Tak!

I guess it’s not a surprise result, a £1200 premium fluorite scope being better than a £300-350 achromat, but not by much, there wasn’t a lot I didn’t see with both scopes. Look forward to comparing both under the same conditions when I sort out a nice mount and tripod for the Tak. The white light comparison could be really interesting too.

If anything, tonight’s session reminded me how much I love this scope and it’s nice to have a grab and go I can use if I’ve had a beer or two. 

 

Edited January 14, 2022 by IB20

[John]

Interesting comparison. The Starbase 80 is clearly a very good achromat

[JeremyS]

Sounds like the starbase is doing a good job 👍🏻
Cracking looking scope too!

[IB20]

One of the biggest differences, literally, is the length of the OTAs. Being nearly 25cm longer than the Tak, it makes manoeuvring as a grab n go and observing higher altitude targets that little bit more uncomfortable and cumbersome. 

[IB20]

6 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

Sounds like the starbase is doing a good job 👍🏻
Cracking looking scope too!

It’s a keeper for sure. The two systems are interchanging nicely, got the Tak on the Starbase tripod and currently using the Starbase finder on the Tak.

[Mike Murphy]

Had my Starbase 80 since last Friday (5/8/22). M57 looked great, even saw central darkening. Last night split Epsilon Lyra with 6mm and got a look at M13, kind of granular like my old 4” Unitron. I did exchange the longish alt lock and slow motion controls with hardware store knobs. Regardless of the observers experience level I think this scope is a very good value for the money.