Pushing a Tak FOA60-Q

[MalcolmM]

I had what I thought was a great idea. I've recently got a Tak Abbe 4mm eyepiece and now have all but the 32mm and so I thought I would record observations of Venus and the Moon, starting with the 25mm and working down to 4mm and then comparing the 4mm with the TOE 4mm. I was going to start with Venus in the brighter sky and then go on to the moon. I was really interested to see when/if the image broke down.

But the clouds scuppered my plans, covering Venus initially, so I had to start with the Moon, and finally covering everything just after I popped the 6mm in!

Anyway, I'll try again but here's what I recorded last night.

21.30

25mm

The Moon is filling just less than half the FOV and it is razor sharp, very contrasty, in fact it is like an etching. If I were a poet I would call it achingly beautiful 🙂 The Couchy Rille was visible as a bright streak coming out of Couchy and heading North. The Rheita Valley was obvious and five lovely, evenly spaced, similar sized craters heading East (refractor diagonal view) from the bottom of the valley. These were very striking at this magnification and were, I think, Young F, Steinheil G, Steinheil H, Fabricius J and Janssen K. Theophilus, Cyrillus and Catharina were very striking and complex. The Messier rays were appearing as a single ray and Dorsa Smirnov was appearing as a long dark double stacked backwards S's curve heading South from Posidonius.

18mm

Very similar view. No obvious evidence of seeing much more, just a larger image. The Moon is now taking up just over half the FOV. A little less contrasty and etching like than with the 25mm. Can now see the twin rays off Messier. A little heat wobble is evident and ... blasted clouds!

12.5mm

The Moon now fills the view. The etching is back so the light cloud maybe compromised the view with the 18mm. The Couchy Fault is now visible as a black thin pencil line. Messier twin rays are now very obvious. Dorsa Smirnov is now showing light on the sunward side and dark on the shadow side. There is an inky black shadow on the floor of Theophilus and very obvious terracing on the opposite crater wall. There is a hint of the Petavius Rimae and a bright streak from the central mountains heading to the NW rim (refractor diagonal view). There is what looks like an extened valley/feature heading Northish from between Metius and Fabricius. It's dark and I suspect an optical illusion.

9mm

Now we are well zoomed in and the image is getting slightly dimmer and slightly less sharp. The central Theophilius peaks look like a clenched fist. Lots of isolated bright 'jewels' on the dark side of the terminator. The double edge of Posidonius is very clear and there are hints of the rills on the crater floor.

6mm

This is x150 in a 60mm scope! Dimmer again, but still a good view. The rills on the floor of Posidonius are more obvious. Giving the scope a hefty thump and the vibrations die down in less than half a second. I find the Vixen AP a lovely solid mount. Birds are chirping all around me. I'm digressing ... there is total cloud cover. Session over ☹️

I have briefly had the Abbe 4 and TOE 4 on Venus a couple of days ago with the FOA60-Q and I found the views surprisingly sharp but I really wanted to make a better comparison in the context of the other Abbe eyepieces. Maybe next time ...

Malcolm

 

 

[JeremyS]

Great experiment Malcolm.

On the missing 32mm, I think my OCD would have kicked in by now 🤣

[MalcolmM]

Trying to resist having only recently got a bunch of Masuyama 85 degree eyepieces 🙂. Which I think are brilliant. Very light, very sharp, very easy to look through and the poor edge of field has not bothered me yet (haven't even noticed it yet!)

I thought telescopes were addictive, there's something lovely about a nice eyepiece 🙂

Malcolm 

[IB20]

4 hours ago, MalcolmM said:

Trying to resist having only recently got a bunch of Masuyama 85 degree eyepieces 🙂. Which I think are brilliant. Very light, very sharp, very easy to look through and the poor edge of field has not bothered me yet (haven't even noticed it yet!)

I thought telescopes were addictive, there's something lovely about a nice eyepiece 🙂

Malcolm 

Especially those TOEs! 

[JeremyS]

6 hours ago, MalcolmM said:

Trying to resist having only recently got a bunch of Masuyama 85 degree eyepieces 🙂. Which I think are brilliant. Very light, very sharp, very easy to look through and the poor edge of field has not bothered me yet (haven't even noticed it yet!)

I thought telescopes were addictive, there's something lovely about a nice eyepiece 🙂

Malcolm 

Something classic yet classy in the form of those Masuyamas, Malcolm.

[HollyHound]

Superb report Malcolm 😁

Sounds like you're enjoying the Masuyama too.  They're excellent eyepieces and I enjoyed my time with them, only sold them on because I wasn't really seeing anything more than my XWs were giving me, and with the new 85 degree 16.5 and 26mm, my two Masuyama were (unfortunately) superfluous 🤔 They are super light, extremely contrasty and the edge of field performance isn't an issue in an f/15 scope anyway 👍

You're pushing of the FOA-60Q reminds me very much of my first experience with mine....

I really must get back out and use it soon, with Venus so nicely placed... too much work, but I'll make a few hours spare very soon 😬

Enjoy and look forward to more reports like this 🤞

[MalcolmM]

3 hours ago, HollyHound said:

Superb report Malcolm 😁

Sounds like you're enjoying the Masuyama too.  They're excellent eyepieces and I enjoyed my time with them, only sold them on because I wasn't really seeing anything more than my XWs were giving me, and with the new 85 degree 16.5 and 26mm, my two Masuyama were (unfortunately) superfluous 🤔 They are super light, extremely contrasty and the edge of field performance isn't an issue in an f/15 scope anyway 👍

You're pushing of the FOA-60Q reminds me very much of my first experience with mine....

I really must get back out and use it soon, with Venus so nicely placed... too much work, but I'll make a few hours spare very soon 😬

Enjoy and look forward to more reports like this 🤞

I can't believe it! I'm not sure I've actually read that post. That's my bedtime reading tonight sorted. Looking forward to it 🙂

Malcolm 

[MalcolmM]

5 hours ago, HollyHound said:

Superb report Malcolm 😁

Sounds like you're enjoying the Masuyama too.  They're excellent eyepieces and I enjoyed my time with them, only sold them on because I wasn't really seeing anything more than my XWs were giving me, and with the new 85 degree 16.5 and 26mm, my two Masuyama were (unfortunately) superfluous 🤔 They are super light, extremely contrasty and the edge of field performance isn't an issue in an f/15 scope anyway 👍

You're pushing of the FOA-60Q reminds me very much of my first experience with mine....

I really must get back out and use it soon, with Venus so nicely placed... too much work, but I'll make a few hours spare very soon 😬

Enjoy and look forward to more reports like this 🤞

Lol, just re-read that post and obviously must have read it before as I've commented on it! Regardless, I enjoyed reading it again

Malcolm 

[MalcolmM]

I thought I'd add to this post as I have just spent a lovely hour or so on Venus with a range of eyepieces. My difficulty with Venus, and it's down to my lack of experience on this planet, is I find it hard to decide whether I am seeing real cloud detail or just optical/atmospheric artifacts. It is surprising how hard it is to spot Venus for the first time. Then you see it and it's obvious. How could you not notice it! Then you look away and ... where's it gone! Anyway, I'll just reproduce my unadulterated notes!

2/6/23 21:30

FOA60-Q + WO Binoviewers + 12.5 Tak Abbes + WO diagonal (thanks @HollyHound  ) + 1.6 Barlow nosepiece in the scope side of the diagonal. See photo!

Tak diagonal + 6mm Tak Abbe

Similar view to the above but no Atmospheric (?) CA. Not sure if I can still see the banding. Darkening along the terminator. Bright ring all the way round the limb. Lovely sharp image.

4mm Abbe

A little softer on the limb, but still a nice sharp image. Darkening along the terminator is obvious. It is darker on the southern half. The limb is brighter in the northern half. Blooming eyelashes getting in the way! Some floaters, but not enough to kill the view. I am seeing a little dark kink eating into the southern end of the terminator. Still seeing what looks like cloud detail, though it comes and goes a bit. Very hard to know what is real detail and what are optical artifacts. 

4mm TOE

Very similar view to the 4mm Abbe. Maybe a little less sharp? Maybe not focused as well? But much easier to look through (no eyelash problems!)

3.3 TOE

Still a good image. Now this surprised me! This is x270! Possibly a bit more detail on the (possible) clouds. Possibly a hint of horns/cusps at the N and S ends of the terminator. The terminator looks a little soft and a little 'lumpy'

2.5 TOE

The limb is definitely a little soft now, but this is to be expected at the insane magnification of x360 in a 60mm scope. Many on this forum have quoted Scotty, "ye cannae change the laws of physics". But our very own @JeremyS, or maybe it was @HollyHound said "the laws of physics don't apply to Taks"  I know who I believe and it's not the guy who thinks he can travel at warp speed! I am seeing definite horns on the N and S ends of the terminator now and still seeing the dark nick on the S end of the terminator. 

At 22.20 Venus is now a bit to bright and I'm getting glare.

I put the 6mm Abbe back in, just to compare with the TOEs. I can still see the horns. Maybe once you've seen them they become obvious. The image is sharpened up quite a bit from the 2.5TOE but the disk is too bright to see any real (or imagined) cloud detail. 

The scope was on a Vixen AP sitting on an extension pillar on a Berlebach Uni 8. Even at the silly magnification of x360 this combination is very solid and vibrations settle down in less than a second. 

Thanks for reading, 

Malcolm 

 

 

[JeremyS]

Great report Malcolm. It’s amazing how much power that Tiny Tak soaks up.

Jeremy (travelling at warp speed 😊)

[MalcolmM]

Just compared my observations with @Kon's excellent image from last night. His image shows banding, brightening at the poles, darkening at the terminator, possible explanation for my 'dark nick' but no horns unfortunately. Though possibly why I might have thought I saw horns; a sort of optical illusion? But all in all, I'm very pleased with the observation. 

Malcolm 

[josefk]

Considered observing there @MalcolmM. Good stuff.

[The60mmKid]

Yes. I've pushed mine to 360x on a few bright doubles. The view is still crisp and clean. I often use 300x without even realizing I'm doing so. What a scope...