First Grab & Go Adventure with a Tak FC 100 DC.

[SuburbanMak]

I wasn't sure whether to head out last night & made one of those deals with myself  after a long day at work - "If it's clear when Kathy goes to bed I'll go out, if not I'll give it a miss."  The Met office cloud cover forecast had showed it clear all night from around midnight for my part of Hampshire so I had this down as 50/50 for around 11.    Sure enough there were stars out and no moon so it was time to test my grab and go plan for the Tak.  

My only slight glitch packing was in getting the Tak twist ring to let go of the diagonal, in the end I had to take the visual back off and unscrew all the bits separately & then put it back together. I might look into if there's a 1.25" Baader Clicklock part I can fit instead, even though the silver does look all very Tak-original. Once solved & with the tube, clamshell and vixen bar nestling snugly in a Geoptik f7.4 refractor bag I was happy to find this fitted neatly alongside my Berlebach 312 inside the huge backpack I use to cart stuff around safely (130l Eagle Creek wheeled duffel bag if you're interested, I can recommend.) I then slide in some foam and pop the AZGTi, counterweight, seat cushion and EP tray in, well cushioned from the 'scope in it's own padded bag.  EP's go in the top pocket - a minimalist approach tonight with a Baader Hyperion 24mm 68 degree, Morpheus 12.5mm, Hyperion 8-24mm Zoom IV and its dedicated 2.25x Barlow, all in all giving me powers from 31x up to 208x. 

It was midnight as I shouldered my pack, picked up the observing chair and set off for the ten minute walk to the halfway line of the rugby pitch in Winchester's River Park. All in all, not too heavy and the chair was an easy carry, although in my excitement to get out I'd forgotten to bring gloves, which I regretted on the way home! 

A lovely still, moonless night then with Auriga, Perseus & Cassiopeia dipping West above the houses - this part of town douses the streetlights after midnight and I always think the stars look great over the rooftops. Walking in I noted that even before dark adaptation I could see the Beehive in AV and some indication of the Auriga clusters, very exciting! 

I took my time levelling the tripod and then, slightly nervously and very carefully, attached the Tak to the mount - checking the vixen plate was properly clamped with a torch before going to night vision mode! 

North aligned using Polaris and then level by eye (having used the bubble gauge on the tripod this is usually accurate enough for the model to correct). And then, a true sign of spring, aligned on Vega & Arcuturus up to high mag & enjoying Artcurus' rich golden light and neat rings either side of focus. Seeing was good up to around 120x and slowly swimming in and out at higher power. Outside of a couple of bands of haze to the East, transparency looked pretty good. Lots of damp around though. 

Right, what to look at?   I opted to sweep round and look at some familiar favourites to test out the views in the Tak. 

M3 - Super in the 24mm & even better in 12.5mm Morpheus. Individual stars not resolved but glittering in AV and the high contrast view pulling out a wider extent than I am used to. Great start.

M13 - Wow.  What a superb view in the 12.5mm Morph at 59x with individual stars winking in and out of a glittering background. Stepping up with the Barlow to 133x (I think) and the image retained its quality with a number of stars standing direct vision and a real spectacle in AV. I wouldn't say a darker "propellor" leapt out at me but certainly in AV there were moments where darker bands were apparent and a good view of tendrils of stars in almost 3D.  The view is certainly brighter in my 10" Dob but I think what makes this view so stunning is that those stars that do resolve, do so down to tiny points - its not just the number of stars but the contrast and rendition of the spaces in between that give such a great picture. I dropped in the Zoom & Barlow and experimented all the way up to 208x, at which point focussing was more challenging as the brighter sentinel stars were no longer in the frame, I slewed slightly to find one, focussed on that and then back to the cluster,  the view wasn't breaking down, which was amazing, but wasn't quite as punchy & pleasing as with the Barlowed Morpheus. 

I could have stopped there and gawped all evening but wanted to check out some other object types too. 

Epsilon Bootis (Izar) (Sep 2.8", Mag 2.4 & 5.1) - I picked Izar as a test because its always challenging in my Mak 127 as a result of how the Mak's diffraction rings (or "cone") falls, in fact I've seen it better in my 3 inch Towa 339 f15 than in the Mak.  This was showing a "snowman" with the 12.5mm at 59x and just splitting at 133x with the Barlow. Racking up the power I wanted to look to see if the image would hold up to 208x and it was stunning - swimming in and out somewhat with the seeing as I was really above what the sky was supporting for a steady view. But in the stable moments I was looking at 2 discs of differing size, the larger a rich golden colour, the smaller secondary a pale turquoise, lovely!   

Epsilon Lyrae "The Double Double" (Sep 2.6" & 2.3", Mag 4.7, 6.2 & 5.1, 5.5) Always a good test star this was a nice clean and stable split at 133x in the Baader Morpheus.  In all my scopes I look to see how well or otherwise I can see the 10th magnitude star that is offset from the two main pairs, last night I could see a chain of fainter stars and the whole field looked richer in the Morpheus - limiting magnitude with a 100mm 'frac is theoretically 12.5 I think and some of these must have been approaching that. 

 M57 - Not brilliantly placed as still quite low and there's an industrial estate to the North East that kicks up some nasty white light - however, found clearly at 31x and a nice crisp ring at 59x & at 133x.  

Time to try for a galaxy....

M81/2 - GoTo didn't land me bang on at this higher elevation & the finder had fogged over, however with the 24mm giving a 2.2 degree field I found them after minimal searching & again a superb view of both galaxies in a single field. Stepping up to 59x in the 12.5mm framed them even better and revealed spiral form in M81 and, intermittently, the dark bar in M82 in AV.  Another really cracking view that I got lost in for quite a while. 

Stepping back from the eyepiece and looking around, high cloud bands were building up into Virgo & Leo and looking quite general so I probably didn't have long. 

Hopped to the Double Cluster (NGC 869 & 884) which was stunning, again the pinpoint stars even at the edge of resolution and increased contrast delivering a fabulous view with a few yellow among the white, looked like an astrophotograph. 

Beehive M44 - even through the leading edge of the encroaching high cloud a great view, best with the 24mm to take in the whole cluster, subtle colour differences again apparent.

M65/66 - a gap allowed a shot, more hopeful than anaything, at the Leo Trio. I could find M65 & M66, which was showing some extent & form at 59x, but not NGC 3628- even so a good result from the park. 

M105 - just detectable as the haze gathered. 

Finished up with a punt at Markarian's chain starting on M86 - my last view of the night before being clouded out and the host of smudges in the eyepiece were a tantalising hint of great views to come some hoped-for transparent evening out at my dark spot on the South Downs!  

It was probably a good job the cloud rolled in as it was by now gone 2 am on a school night, frost on everything and finder already misted. I carefully packed everything away (10 minutes, not bad!) and trudged home happy. 

Today I have mainly been drinking coffee...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 15 by SuburbanMak

[mikeDnight]

That's quite an adventure and a nice read. It's a nice collection of lollipops you managed to bag throughout the night. I love that you saw the spiral arms in M81 and the notch in M82. I'm jealous you saw M65 & 66. I tried for them myself last night, but after searching for some time found that I was enshrouded by mist. Then on packing up I also found that my lens had fogged over too, and so had to leave my scope uncapped over night to dry off. It's really nice also that you're enjoying your Tak. 

[SuburbanMak]

Thanks @mikeDnight  - I was keen to get the new 'scope out in my normal way of observing, which is to go mobile, whilst a precious thing it also has to get used  

Hope your kit has all dried out - similalry I opened everything up when I got in last night. It was a damp evening here too, will have to look at some kind of dewshield for the finder. (I have to confess I have not been averse to giving my SW finder the odd wipe in extremis but couldn't quite bring myself to do that).   I'll persist with the straight through finder for a bit, with the wider field its slightly less critical, although I was missing the RACI a bit. 

Can't wait to get it out somewhere darker, although looking at the forecast I may be waiting a while...   

[josefk]

I enjoyed that report -  it's been 2 1/2 weeks wall to wall cloud here in S Lincs now (at least in the evenings and nighttime) so your observations were a nice stop gap 🙂 - thanks!

[wookie1965]

Wish I had a 10 minute walk to get a dark site it's looking like at least a 45minute drive to an hour and a half. 

I am so jealous you got M65 and M66 I have not even got them in my 10" from home. 

Great read thank you for posting. 

Paul

[jetstream]

1 hour ago, SuburbanMak said:

M65/66 - a gap allowed a shot, more hopeful than anaything, at the Leo Trio. I could find M65 & M66, which was showing some extent & form at 59x, but not NGC 3628- even so a good result from the park. 

Congrats for a fine session!

Yes, NGC 3628 can be a ghost, actually listed as "bright"  but its surface area makes it hard. Bang on using the 12.5mm Morph on it- the only thing left to try is an ortho, or something like a 14mm Delos- these eyepieces are extremely good for this kind of thing IMHO. They have ortho like contrast and transmission. Upping eye illumination a squeak might help ie 14mm.

[SuburbanMak]

20 minutes ago, josefk said:

 2 1/2 weeks wall to wall cloud here 

It has been dismal this last few weeks, one of the main motivators that got me off the sofa last night, hang on in there! 

[SuburbanMak]

19 minutes ago, wookie1965 said:

 10 minute walk to get a dark site 

Thanks Paul - it's not dark dark, (Bortle 5) but it gets me out of the "Blackpool Illuminations" zone of my neighbours' decorative and security lighting.  I can get to a good Bortle 4 with 15 minutes in the car, any darker (which I am yet to make) is a couple of hours. 

[SuburbanMak]

7 minutes ago, jetstream said:

the only thing left to try is an ortho, or something like a 14mm Delos

Thank you  I normally stick my 18mm Baader Classic Ortho in my pocket (which is in my opinion the best astro fifty quid I've spent to date) but for some reason last night didn't. 

Delos might have to wait a bit, I think I have pushed "the treasury" about as far as I can for a wee while...

[John]

2 hours ago, SuburbanMak said:

....My only slight glitch packing was in getting the Tak twist ring to let go of the diagonal, in the end I had to take the visual back off and unscrew all the bits separately & then put it back together.

 

 

Excellent report 👍

I have exactly the same issue with my Tak FC100-DL that you describe above. At some point I guess I will change from the Tak twist ring adapter so something that grips well when needed but also lets go when asked to !

Luckily I don't need to remove the diagonal from my scope very often 😏

A good test of how faint a star the scope can pick up is the mag 13 star just outside the ring nebula. On a decent night I have seen that one with my Tak FC100.

 

[jetstream]

2 hours ago, SuburbanMak said:

(which is in my opinion the best astro fifty quid I've spent to date)

👍👍

Same here, they are very good for sure.

[SuburbanMak]

Thanks @John - I’ll have to have a look out for that M57 outlier some decent night soon.  
Good to know I’m not the only one with a case of the sticky diagonals! 

[IB20]

Great list of targets and report. Yep, the collet on my 76DCU has been swapped over to the clicklock. Used to drive me nuts swapping the Herschel wedge over.

Info here if you’re interested.

 

[step_hen]

Great report and a good read. I never thought of River Park as an observing location. I'm at the bottom of the hill in Badger Farm which is Bortle 4, maybe 5, but I struggle more getting an unimpeded view- too many tall trees on the slopes around my garden! Whereabouts is your dark sky site on the downs?

Stephen

[SuburbanMak]

On 16/03/2023 at 12:39, step_hen said:

Great report and a good read. I never thought of River Park as an observing location. I'm at the bottom of the hill in Badger Farm which is Bortle 4, maybe 5, but I struggle more getting an unimpeded view- too many tall trees on the slopes around my garden! Whereabouts is your dark sky site on the downs?

Stephen

Hi Stephen - great to hear from a local! 
I often head up onto the downs along the A272, there’s a pull in & big double gate on the right just past the Cheesefoot Head car park.   I can park there without blocking the gate and there’s a track that runs straight along the downs from there, I head far enough down that to get out of the headlights and set up there.  
Also if looking N or W the field with the trig point at Cheesefoot head is good. 

[step_hen]

I know the spot. There is also a field opposite the cheesefoot head carpark with part of the south downs way cutting through that I've tried before. Have you ever tried the Science Centre? Its supposedly a dark sky site but always looks heavily light polluted when I've passed by after dark 

[SuburbanMak]

9 hours ago, step_hen said:

I know the spot. There is also a field opposite the cheesefoot head carpark with part of the south downs way cutting through that I've tried before. Have you ever tried the Science Centre? Its supposedly a dark sky site but always looks heavily light polluted when I've passed by after dark 

No, for the sake of 5 minutes more or so driving you can get well clear of a lot of ambient light. 

[mikeDnight]

On 16/03/2023 at 11:37, IB20 said:

Great list of targets and report. Yep, the collet on my 76DCU has been swapped over to the clicklock. Used to drive me nuts swapping the Herschel wedge over.

Info here if you’re interested.

 

 You can get a 2" adapter for the back of the DC.  I did this with mine, and to keep the light path as short as possible I used a low profile 2" to 1.25" reducer, so I didn't need the Tak locking ring on the scope.  I still use the low profile 2" to 1.25" reducer on my FC100DZ, and it's an amazing piece of kit. Attached are some pic's of the DZ extension tube with the low profile adapter. It locks solid enough to hold a binoviewer at any angle without the use of excessive pressure on the locking screws.

 

Edited March 21 by mikeDnight

[SuburbanMak]

On 21/03/2023 at 23:18, mikeDnight said:

 You can get a 2" adapter for the back of the DC.  

@mikeDnight @John@IB20  Thanks for the advice and solutions which set me thinking. Looks like I have a fix for the sticky diagonal problem, I realised that I had fitted a Baader 1.25” Focussing EP holder as the visual back on my old Hilkin 60mm when I converted it to 1.25”, had a lightbulb moment when I remembered it was a Vixen/Tak 36.4mm male thread.   Looks to be about the same light path and uses 3 locking screws on a compression ring, will test focusing later but it is adjustable by about 10mm. 

 

Edited March 24 by SuburbanMak

[John]

Good solution !

Baader publish accurate light path lengths for their products so you should be able to work out quite accurately if there will be much of a difference over the Tak 1.25 clamp in that area.

 

[mikeDnight]

46 minutes ago, SuburbanMak said:

@mikeDnight @John@IB20  Thanks for the advice and solutions which set me thinking. Looks like I have a fix for the sticky diagonal problem, I realised that I had fitted a Baader 1.25” Focussing EP holder as the visual back on my old Hilkin 60mm when I converted it to 1.25”, had a lightbulb moment when I remembered it was a Vixen/Tak 36.4mm male thread.   Looks to be about the same light path and uses 3 locking screws on a compression ring, will test focusing later but it is adjustable by about 10mm. 

 

There is just one minor issue that may arise during use, which is that with the helical micro focuser, you could very easily defocus slightly by a slight left or right tilt of your diagonal unless you lock the microfocuser so it can't rotate.

[SuburbanMak]

Thanks @John - it’s quoted as 29-35mm & I measure the Tak part at 25mm so an additional 4mm.  Just had a church spire test and to the extent that I can achieve focus through my bobbly old windows it all appears fine with all the EPs I regularly use, with & without Barlow. 
 

@mikeDnight - good point, I think this will be mainly locked, those extra few MM of back focus might be needed on the 18mm Ortho but otherwise can’t see me touching it.