Show us your Tak

[Sunshine]

On 01/11/2022 at 07:18, JeremyS said:

Yup, F15 rules 😊

If something dreadful happened and I had to shift my larger Tak scopes, I think I could be very happy with my FOA 60Q. Especially when I look at these drawings: https://www.fzu.cz/~kupco/astro/equipment/FOA60.html

perfect, I'll take your TSA120! I mean not if something dreadful happens, of course but if you'd be happy with the 60 I could find a use for the 120 🤣

Edited November 2, 2022 by Sunshine

[IB20]

Now a f12.75 super apo. 😃

[JeremyS]

Just now, IB20 said:

Now a f12.75 super apo. 😃

Lovely 👍🏻

[MalcolmM]

9 hours ago, JeremyS said:

Lovely 👍🏻

That's exactly what I was thinking! Lovely looking scope

Malcolm 

[F15Rules]

On 31/08/2022 at 13:51, Telescope40 said:

Looking forward to looking thru this thread. Fraid I am a "lesser mortal " as a Tak is not in ownership and never has been. SW and Stellarvue ATM. Always nice to look at kit of all types. 

Thought crosses my mind here and there. 

Sell the 3 scopes I have and go Tak. TSA 120 seems like a nice number??   LOL  Time will tell. One day maybe.  

John 

John, 

Just 4 months back, and now you have a lovely FS128 of your own..kind of a prophetic post, eh?😉👍

Dave

[Telescope40]

42 minutes ago, F15Rules said:

John, 

Just 4 months back, and now you have a lovely FS128 of your own..kind of a prophetic post, eh?😉👍

Dave

Hey Dave. This post has gone thru my head more than a few times over the last few weeks. Talk about crystal ball dreaming and then. My SGL signature is somewhat shorter than it used to be.  The 3 scopes I had at the time have now been sold over the last couple of months. Still knocked out the 128 is in the conservatory.  Views have been just what I dreamed of.  I'm done but then I have seen the @mikeDnight ad for his SKY 90.  Burnley ain't that far away. I'm joking !!!    You cant look thru 2 scopes at once ( as my late Mum once said to me)  although it would not be for the lack of trying. 

Trust "Trinity" is in fine fettle  ??!! 

 

John  

Edited December 14, 2022 by Telescope40

[F15Rules]

46 minutes ago, Telescope40 said:

Hey Dave. This post has gone thru my head more than a few times over the last few weeks. Talk about crystal ball dreaming and then. My SGL signature is somewhat shorter than it used to be.  The 3 scopes I had at the time have now been sold over the last couple of months. Still knocked out the 128 is in the conservatory.  Views have been just what I dreamed of.  I'm done but then I have seen the @mikeDnight ad for his SKY 90.  Burnley ain't that far away. I'm joking !!!    You cant look thru 2 scopes at once ( as my late Mum once said to me)  although it would not be for the lack of trying. 

Trust "Trinity" is in fine fettle  ??!! 

 

John  

Hi John,

Yes, Trinity is fine, thanks, am just keen to get her out more..the past two nights were pretty good, quite clear, but at minus 5 or worse it was just too cold to be comfortable. Tonight is shaping up the same, I'll have to see if I can bear it!❄️🤔😊..

Here's a couple of nice pics of her on the original Tak tripod from the  warm and sunny weather of summer a couple of years back.

 

I normally use my home built fixed height wooden tripod with Trinity (shown above carrying my then Moonraker 80mm F15 achromat)..it's shown below, this time carrying Trinity..

The original tripod shown below is an extending hardwood Tak one, identical to the one which originally came with Trinity as a new scope in c 2000..it's very lovely to look at, but in truth, the big FS128 is happier on the more solid, less glamorous, fixed tripod.. it's quite a big tube (almost 6" diameter), but only 7.5kg in weight.

Here's another Tak library pic of the same Tak Tripod carrying an FS128 on an EM1 mount back in 1994..

This Tak tripod would be just perfect for any 4" Tak, including the TSA102, and I may move mine on soon as I'm just not using it much.

Good to hear you're getting good observing with yours, John👍

Dave

Edited December 14, 2022 by F15Rules
Photo added

[Telescope40]

2 hours ago, F15Rules said:

Hi John,

Yes, Trinity is fine, thanks, am just keen to get her out more..the past two nights were pretty good, quite clear, but at minus 5 or worse it was just too cold to be comfortable. Tonight is shaping up the same, I'll have to see if I can bear it!❄️🤔😊..

Here's a couple of nice pics of her on the original Tak tripod from the  warm and sunny weather of summer a couple of years back.

 

I normally use my home built fixed height wooden tripod with Trinity (shown above carrying my then Moonraker 80mm F15 achromat)..it's shown below, this time carrying Trinity..

The original tripod shown below is an extending hardwood Tak one, identical to the one which originally came with Trinity as a new scope in c 2000..it's very lovely to look at, but in truth, the big FS128 is happier on the more solid, less glamorous, fixed tripod.. it's quite a big tube (almost 6" diameter), but only 7.5kg in weight.

Here's another Tak library pic of the same Tak Tripod carrying an FS128 on an EM1 mount back in 1994..

This Tak tripod would be just perfect for any 4" Tak, including the TSA102, and I may move mine on soon as I'm just not using it much.

Good to hear you're getting good observing with yours, John👍

Dave

Dave. Some great pictures there.  Is the final one out of a Tak catalogue of some kind ?? 

Fraid I have to agree with you about the weather of late. I've cheated a little. Been going out shortly before sunset to view Jupiter and Saturn. Been rewarded with nice steady skies.  Was able to last for about 90 mins then the feet start to be the issue rather than any other part of the anatomy. Some of the detail on both planets have been a joy. 

I did a late session last week with Mars in my sights.  Still struggle with Mars. Mr Luna wasn't helping - LOL.  The conditions weren't the best. Thinking that the "seeing" will finally give me a good session before this opposition starts to wane. Time is with me so far. 

John 

 

[Telescope40]

Hello. Just come across this photo. 
FS 128 with a Sky 90 piggybacked on top. EQ6 ???? 
Have your cake and eat it !!!! 
John 

 

[mikeDnight]

1 hour ago, Telescope40 said:

Dave. Some great pictures there.  Is the final one out of a Tak catalogue of some kind ?? 

Fraid I have to agree with you about the weather of late. I've cheated a little. Been going out shortly before sunset to view Jupiter and Saturn. Been rewarded with nice steady skies.  Was able to last for about 90 mins then the feet start to be the issue rather than any other part of the anatomy. Some of the detail on both planets have been a joy. 

I did a late session last week with Mars in my sights.  Still struggle with Mars. Mr Luna wasn't helping - LOL.  The conditions weren't the best. Thinking that the "seeing" will finally give me a good session before this opposition starts to wane. Time is with me so far. 

John 

 

 I could be wrong but the Tak pic of the FS128 on an EM1 may have been one of the pic's I posted on SGL a few years ago. I have a collection of photo's showing the history of Tak scopes and their development over the years. I think i posted many of those pic's, so you should be able to search for them if you know how.

[Telescope40]

33 minutes ago, mikeDnight said:

 I could be wrong but the Tak pic of the FS128 on an EM1 may have been one of the pic's I posted on SGL a few years ago. I have a collection of photo's showing the history of Tak scopes and their development over the years. I think i posted many of those pic's, so you should be able to search for them if you know how.

Mike. Thanks for your update. I’ll take a look around the site as you suggest. 
 

John

[F15Rules]

50 minutes ago, mikeDnight said:

 I could be wrong but the Tak pic of the FS128 on an EM1 may have been one of the pic's I posted on SGL a few years ago. I have a collection of photo's showing the history of Tak scopes and their development over the years. I think i posted many of those pic's, so you should be able to search for them if you know how.

That's quite possible Mike, I found the image with a Google search a good while back..

John, the pic of the FS128 with piggybacked Sky 90 in a dome was posted by Roger Vine on his scopereviews.co.uk site - which has some fine reviews of many scopes, not just Taks..you can find it here:

http://www.scopeviews.co.uk/

Ref Mars, I tried an orange/red filter last week in poor seeing, and it definitely improved contrast and brought out a large land mass clearer than the unfiltered view..

HTH,

Dave

[JeremyS]

1 hour ago, mikeDnight said:

 I could be wrong but the Tak pic of the FS128 on an EM1 may have been one of the pic's I posted on SGL a few years ago. I have a collection of photo's showing the history of Tak scopes and their development over the years. I think i posted many of those pic's, so you should be able to search for them if you know how.

Your album is here Mike. I look at it every night before I go to bed. Then I thumb the Tak catalogue 

 

[mikeDnight]

35 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

Your album is here Mike. I look at it every night before I go to bed. Then I thumb the Tak catalogue 

 

That's brilliant Jeremy. And I believe you when you say you look at it every night before bed. 

It's difficult to turn away once you start looking at those images. I'd forgot I'd posted some photo's of my friend Derek with his, now my Sky 90. Happy memories! Perhaps I should keep it!!??

[jock1958]

16 hours ago, F15Rules said:

Hi John,

Yes, Trinity is fine, thanks, am just keen to get her out more..the past two nights were pretty good, quite clear, but at minus 5 or worse it was just too cold to be comfortable. Tonight is shaping up the same, I'll have to see if I can bear it!❄️🤔😊..

Here's a couple of nice pics of her on the original Tak tripod from the  warm and sunny weather of summer a couple of years back.

 

I normally use my home built fixed height wooden tripod with Trinity (shown above carrying my then Moonraker 80mm F15 achromat)..it's shown below, this time carrying Trinity..

The original tripod shown below is an extending hardwood Tak one, identical to the one which originally came with Trinity as a new scope in c 2000..it's very lovely to look at, but in truth, the big FS128 is happier on the more solid, less glamorous, fixed tripod.. it's quite a big tube (almost 6" diameter), but only 7.5kg in weight.

Here's another Tak library pic of the same Tak Tripod carrying an FS128 on an EM1 mount back in 1994..

This Tak tripod would be just perfect for any 4" Tak, including the TSA102, and I may move mine on soon as I'm just not using it much.

Good to hear you're getting good observing with yours, John👍

Dave

Hi Dave, agree your wooden Tak tripod looks really nice compared to my rather mundane AZ4 steel leg tripod.
You mentioned about the stability of it compared to your fixed leg tripod, what about adding a lightweight extension tube and leave the legs up or not fully extended?
That’s what I’ve done with my setup and it’s rock solid with virtually no vibrations.

Cheers Iain 

Edited December 15, 2022 by jock1958

[JeremyS]

17 hours ago, F15Rules said:

Hi John,

Yes, Trinity is fine, thanks, am just keen to get her out more..the past two nights were pretty good, quite clear, but at minus 5 or worse it was just too cold to be comfortable. Tonight is shaping up the same, I'll have to see if I can bear it!❄️🤔😊..

Here's a couple of nice pics of her on the original Tak tripod from the  warm and sunny weather of summer a couple of years back.

 

I normally use my home built fixed height wooden tripod with Trinity (shown above carrying my then Moonraker 80mm F15 achromat)..it's shown below, this time carrying Trinity..

The original tripod shown below is an extending hardwood Tak one, identical to the one which originally came with Trinity as a new scope in c 2000..it's very lovely to look at, but in truth, the big FS128 is happier on the more solid, less glamorous, fixed tripod.. it's quite a big tube (almost 6" diameter), but only 7.5kg in weight.

Here's another Tak library pic of the same Tak Tripod carrying an FS128 on an EM1 mount back in 1994..

This Tak tripod would be just perfect for any 4" Tak, including the TSA102, and I may move mine on soon as I'm just not using it much.

Good to hear you're getting good observing with yours, John👍

Dave

Nice pics, Dave. But they seem to have something missing…though I can’t quite put my handle on it 🤔

[MalcolmM]

Twotaks this morning on the moon. Mewlon, Maxbrights and 28mm Erfles is a wonderful combination. Very relaxing viewing. Took my best yet phone moon pics, hovering the phone over one of the eyepieces. No post processing. No idea why the colour differences but very pleased regardless!

Malcolm 

 

[JeremyS]

Getting the Mewlon ready for Jupiter tonight, whilst the C11 is gathering photometry on variable stars

[HollyHound]

3 hours ago, JeremyS said:

Getting the Mewlon ready for Jupiter tonight, whilst the C11 is gathering photometry on variable stars

Ha ha... snap, I've just popped the Mewlon (with MaxBright binoviewer) and DZ out on the AZ100 for Jupiter, Mars and some other stuff later this evening... Had a quick look at Jupiter now with the DZ, but left them both outside for the Mewlon to properly cool 😁

Good luck and stay warm 🤞

Edited December 15, 2022 by HollyHound

[HollyHound]

Two Taks tonight (FC-100DZ and Mewlon 180) … great sessions (between keeping warm) 😃

It really is freezing 🥶

[Sunshine]

7 hours ago, JeremyS said:

Getting the Mewlon ready for Jupiter tonight, whilst the C11 is gathering photometry on variable stars

Beautiful scope! I take it you are warming up to the mewlon, are the planetary views impressive? and what's with the palm tree in England? 😂

Edited December 15, 2022 by Sunshine

[IB20]

I am getting bad Mewlon envy coming in here 🤣

[Sunshine]

5 minutes ago, IB20 said:

I am getting bad Mewlon envy coming in here 🤣

You and me both!

[Franklin]

17 minutes ago, Sunshine said:

what's with the palm tree in England?

It's a Yucca tree.

[JeremyS]

28 minutes ago, Franklin said:

It's a Yucca tree.

Thanks. I wondered what it was. I cut it down a few years ago.it then sulked for a few years, then shot up again. Its days might be numbered. Very difficult to cut with a saw as it’s more fibrous than woody.

Edited December 15, 2022 by JeremyS