My first view of Jupiter!

[Neil M]

Set up my Tal-1 for the first time last night, I recently purchased an unused ex-display example for £65 off ebay. I wasn't sure how much the local light polution would hamper viewing, but at £65 it was worth a go, rather than spend a couple of hundred quid on something that wouldn't get used.

I aligned the finder scope on Arcturus which was pretty straightforward and then waited for Jupiter to rise above my daughter's primary school. First view was with the supplied 25mm plossl - I was immediately blown away to see the four moons pin sharp and the planet itself, albeit just a small-ish disc at low magnification.

Next I tried the 15mm Kellner eyepiece which was also impressive, but I was itching to get the 3x barlow in on the action! Got the barlow in place but no image, so I spent 5 minutes or so swapping EPs to try to re-aquire Jupiter. I started to wonder whether the barlow was defective until I caught sight of a couple of stars.

After another 5 minutes or so I got my first proper look! I could make out two bands of colour and was chuffed.

I then noticed the moon had also made an appearance and was suitably blown away - for the second time that night! The next quest now is for a better EP to achieve higher magnification, my combination reaches 160x. I've posted in the beginners section for advice on this.

I can see how this hobby could get expensive, and I haven't even got my mid-life crisis sports car yet!

Looking forward to getting a peep at Saturn....

[Doc]

If I remember right your TAL has a 110mm mirror and focal length of 805mm. The general rule of thumb is to not go above x50 per inch of aperture. So your scope with good seeing should be able to use approx x220 mag.

So the most you would get away with on those exceptional nights would be a 4mm eyepiece to give you x201.

I've looked through the 5mm Hyperion eyepiece before and it's a very good performer with plenty of eye relief.

I've also got a 4mm UO Ortho and whilst it's sharp and gives great contrasty views the eye relief sucks big time.

Hope this helps

[Doc]

Actually a thought has just occured to me.

How about a 2-4mm Nagler zoom. A bit expensive but then you have a range of x200 to x400.

x400 will be to much I'm sure.

[Astro_Baby]

Congrats - glad its all working out. Doc is right on the magnification though. YOur max will be about x200 but the fact is the UK seldom has stable enough skies for much more than x250 and the harder you push the magnification the worse the image quality of the view.

Eye relief by the way is how far away your eyeball can be from the eyepiece - in a nutshell with a small eye relief your eyeball has to be closer and closer to the lens making it uncomfortable - it becomes like looking through a tiny pinhole.

I have a 5mm Baader Hyperion as welll and while its ok its never really wowed me - maybe my other EPS shade it or maybe I just havent had the skies to really see it working at its best - I'll reserve judgement.

[Neil M]

Thanks for the comments, I've been meaning to ask what eye relief relates to and now I know.

The 2-4mm Nagler sounds great, just a tad outside my budget! Interesting to hear that an eypiece of this quality would be suitable for my cheap Tal, I would have thought it would require a better scope to do it justice?

[Astro_Baby]

Well scope versus EP is really as long as its short. A better EP will improve any scope no matter how humble but obviously in a de-luxe (or bigger ) scope will give better views than the same EP in a lesser scope.

Something to bear in mind is that TAL scopes have a reputation of having some of the best optics around so although the scope will be limited by its light grasp (as any scope is by its aperture) the actual views its receiving at the front end so to speak will be pretty good - as good as it gets probably.

Theres nothing wrong with TAL stuff and I was trying to bag a bargain one at christmas myself.

[acharris77]

congrats on seeing jupiter, a wonderful sight aint it. I got my 2nd look at him the other night, and the conditions were good this time, as my 1st time I had a boiling effect view of him.

I could get my 3x barlow with my 10mm eyepiece which was a 195x mag and wow, I could see the 2 main bands and make out a bit more detail on the planet, like thinner bands, and of course his 4 moons.

[Neil M]

Can't wait for clear skies again! I've also just read a great article on setting up an equatorial mount (the instructions that dome with the Tal leave a bit to be desired) so I should be able to properly track it now.

[mdstuart]

I used to have a TAL 1 and a TAL 150p. They are so solid and well built.

You are going to love the scope when the dark winter skies are here...

You will be surprised how much you can see with the 4.5 inch mirror.

Regards

Mark

[nitram100]

My first view of Jupiter was through a 4.5 " Tal 1 also, i still remember it to this day! They're cracking little scopes.

[Neil M]

I'm looking forward to the winter months now. Staying up until 2am is not the best preparation for a day at work - as I'm sure most ppl here can testify to!