The TAL2M 'Siberia' F8 Equatorial Newt.

[Les Ewan]

Hope this helps John.

[Les Ewan]

My much neglected Tal 2 seems to sparked some  interest,so more about this tractor technology telescope

I bought it in 1994 mail order for around £630.

I came in 2 wooden boxes,when I moved the main box yesterday I had use a sack barrow!

[Les Ewan]

Here it is being set up after 20 years.(I know criminal)!

[Les Ewan]

It is supplied with 3 eyepieces,achromatic X4 Barlow and a reticule.

The 15mm is a Kellner and the 25mm is Symmetrical. The 42mm is unknown.

The eyepieces barrels seem to be some Russian dimension and are slightly oversized and are too big fit into a normal 1.25" focuser.

[Les Ewan]

The spherical mirror give stellar images a slightly blobby appearance but resolution for doubles such a Epsilon 1 and 2 Lyrae are perfectly fine. From memory the primary give a somewhat soft view of the planets.

[John_D]

@Les Ewan Thanks for this information. I've maybe found a copy of the manual online - https://www.manualslib.com/manual/1386910/Npz-Tal-2.html#manual I'm not sure if this is the one you've got.

From my measurements the eyepieces are 32mm rather than 1.25" / 31.75mm. This is a pain when you want to attach a camera.

When I got mine it had a different ( 1.25" ) focusser with it and I modified an old Barlow lens to make an adaptor so that the Tal eyepieces fitted in the alternative focusser.

[Les Ewan]

One odd feature of this Newtonian is its supplied with a Solar projection screen that attaches to the counerweight shaft. This screen is one of the few items that is made of plastic. 

A Newtonian that is designed to allow solar projection must be a rear beast and I had it up and running again yesterday.

I had forgotten just how potentially dangerous Solar projection can be-but great fun.😎

I even managed to image the projected image(after some tweaking with Faststone).

[John_D]

I wondered how well the solar projection screen would work but never had the courage to try it 😁 I also have a second end cap with a hole in it presumably for a solar filter? ( Although it's probably not a common diameter size ☹️ )

Thanks again for all this. I'll print the relevant pages and try some tweaking.

[Les Ewan]

19 minutes ago, John_D said:

I wondered how well the solar projection screen would work but never had the courage to try it 😁 I also have a second end cap with a hole in it presumably for a solar filter? ( Although it's probably not a common diameter size ☹️ )

Thanks again for all this. I'll print the relevant pages and try some tweaking.

My scope came with the off axis aperture cap but the UK supplier had removed the highly dangerous Suncap from the filter set,not that I would have used it anyway and would of thrown it away.

The manual has much in common with mine although the eyepiece selection is differant with the 15mm replaced by a 7mm.

The filter set fits externally by clicking them over the the ridges on the top of the eyepiece body. 

As for the use of the Solar screen I would only use it using the drive manual controls as balancing is a big issue and using the electric drive without the OTA properly balanced could damage the drive mechinism.

Edited April 28 by Les Ewan

[part timer]

Ahh, happy memories of the 2004 venus transit using just this set up. I remember being nervous that I would melt the eyepice but ended up using this to observe the sun for several years after.

Mine had a more standard focuser and eyepieces, although they never really completeley standardised.  I had to use emery cloth on the inide of the focuser to make the eyepieces fit. I mean the bit that unscrews to allow camera use.

I still have a range of Tal Plossls and none of them are quite the same diameter barrel size! (they do all fit in 1.25" focusers, but some of them involve a struggle!)

Edited June 15 by part timer

[woldsman]

Great scope and pictures. The aperture on the Tal2 is on the large side for solar projection without the cap that stops it down. That’s the cap with the hole in it you mention.  It’s used to reduce mirror heating. 
 

Speaking of Mirrors, has anyone cleaned a Tal2 primary?  

Edited June 15 by woldsman

[part timer]

They came with, (or at least mine did), a screw in eyepiece black filter. These were meant to be used in conjunction with the stopped down cap. This is obviously eye-meltingly dangerous! Some shops took them out before sending on to customers and most had some sort of warning not to use them, especially as you were also supplied with the screen for projection. In fairness, quite a lot of telescopes supplied such filters in the past and I can remember Patrick Moore warning about them in most his books and shows.

I usually used the stopped down cap with the screen also, as the image was more than bright enough and I was always a little scared of heating the eyepiece too much.

[Alan White]

Thanks for the share and all these images, wow that brings back memories, 
not of a Tal 2, but a Tal 1 and always lusting after one,
sadly it for me did not become reality as a mortgage did instead.

[Gonariu]

It must be said that the instrument is really "massive", there must have been very little plastic, unlike today!
A question to Les Ewan: did you photograph the projection screen with a smartphone? When I show the sun by projection to my students I also have it photographed with their smartphones, but the photograph that comes out is poor. Using the photo editing program present on Windows makes the sunspots stand out more but overall the image it's worse.

Edited June 15 by Gonariu

[John_D]

On 15/06/2024 at 10:02, part timer said:

I still have a range of Tal Plossls and none of them are quite the same diameter barrel size! (they do all fit in 1.25" focusers, but some of them involve a struggle!)

From what I've read, and measured on mine, the TAL eyepieces are 32mm which is 1.26".

[part timer]

The older they are the less standard. Obviously they were only meant for the soviet market at first so there was no need to be standard. Eypieces would only used on the scope they were sold with. Tal scopes usually came with a very comprehensive set which fullfilled any realisic range of magnifications.

Only much later did they try to make things more commercially viable and hence internationally standard. Only really succeeding with the last waves of Plossls.

I have a few Tal eyepices from the 90's, 2000's and from just before they gave up and went back to military production. The last ones are much more standard sized. They retained they quality though, which is good. Although they did stop engraving the writing, and silk screened it instead.

 

[Les Ewan]

On 15/06/2024 at 14:21, Gonariu said:

It must be said that the instrument is really "massive", there must have been very little plastic, unlike today!
A question to Les Ewan: did you photograph the projection screen with a smartphone? When I show the sun by projection to my students I also have it photographed with their smartphones, but the photograph that comes out is poor. Using the photo editing program present on Windows makes the sunspots stand out more but overall the image it's worse.

Hi Gonariu'

No I photographed the projection with a Nikon 3200 DSLR I look backed for details of exposure and ISO details but found I used the Auto setting.

[Les Ewan]

HI Woldsman,

I assumed the off axis cap was just for use with the suncap. The few times I have used the scope for Solar projection I always used the full aperture with no problems,but thanks for the heads up regarding this.

Not much is a is said about Solar operation with the scope in the instruction manual.

[woldsman]

1 hour ago, Les Ewan said:

HI Woldsman,

I assumed the off axis cap was just for use with the suncap. The few times I have used the scope for Solar projection I always used the full aperture with no problems,but thanks for the heads up regarding this.

Not much is a is said about Solar operation with the scope in the instruction manual.

While potentially there could be some risk of damage, a large aperture may simply not be ideal for image quality as time passes. I use a smaller Tal  1 for solar projection. Its aperture is 110mm (versus the Tal 2’s 150mm).  The mirrors are only about 95% reflective so over a long session they will get hot. A large aperture isn’t really needed for solar - Lunt solar scopes can be only 60mm. If heat builds up in the optical system, it will blur the image. For these reasons, dispensing with the aperture cap for short sessions is probably ok. For longer sessions, especially with a bigger aperture, issues could arise. 

Edited June 17 by woldsman