11536 replies to this topic

[highfnum]

orange tube c8

watching Jupiter moon drift across the  planet

 

seeing was real good for second shot

 

 

Edited by highfnum, 31 October 2024 - 03:44 PM.

[Paul Sweeney]

We're having a lot of fog lately, but the other night we had a clear patch. All around was fog, but above 45° it was clear. Knowing that it would not stay clear for long, I grabbed a quick cooling scope, my Tasco 9t 60/700 on a GP mount, and was out in 5 minutes.

Jupiter was first up. The air was pretty steady, and I could see a lot of detail.

I went on to Orion, which was just coming out of the fog. M42, the Trapezium, and some doubles were observed.

Saturn was next, sinking in the West. I could see some banding, and the rings were really sharp. Very nice.

Saturn started getting dim, and when I looked up, I saw that the fog was rapidly blocking out the sky.

I know that this scope is far from perfect, but I am always amazed at how sharp the optics are. It was a short but fun observing sesson.

[scout]

   post-2597-14073834301145_thumb.jpg

It's amazing how a long vintage refractor can be just as colorless as an expensive modern achro. Vega is blazing white in my 65-year-old Asahi-Pentax 60mm f/13.3 (a CA-free 5.6 on the Conrady scale). I don't even know if the doublet lenses are coated, but the views are sharp, the colors in double stars are vivid and the contrast is excellent. 

 

It makes me wonder if many of the '80s, '90s and '00 department store 60mm f/15 refractors that people shun are actually excellent "apochromatic" scopes when used with a decent diagonal and some good Kellner, Plossl and Ortho eyepieces.

[highfnum]

The advantage of an apo is its shorter FL

For photos 

And still be color correct 

 

Otherwise your right long FL achromat are

Just fine

[Paul Sweeney]

It's amazing how a long vintage refractor can be just as colorless as an expensive modern achro. Vega is blazing white in my 65-year-old Asahi-Pentax 60mm f/13.3 (a CA-free 5.6 on the Conrady scale). I don't even know if the doublet lenses are coated, but the views are sharp, the colors in double stars are vivid and the contrast is excellent.

It makes me wonder if many of the '80s, '90s and '00 department store 60mm f/15 refractors that people shun are actually excellent "apochromatic" scopes when used with a decent diagonal and some good Kellner, Plossl and Ortho eyepieces.

The old Japanese scopes were (often) made to high standards, especially regarding polish. The mass-produced scopes being excepted.

The modern mass-produced scopes from China are made to a price point, not to a quality standard. A few years back I came upon an advertisement from a Chinese manufacturer of 60mm achro lenses. They still had available capacity and could deliver 2700 lenses per month. I cannot imagine that any of those lenses could come close to yours.

[Corcaroli78]

I took a photo of the comet yesterday evening with my 63mm Zeiss:

 

 

Comet 2023 A3, October 24th, 2024, 18.24 UT. Zeiss C63/840, 42mm GSO Erfle, 20x magnification, 3° field of view. 7 x 30 seconds at 6400 ISO. OnePlus Nord CE3, ProCam X Lite app. Stacked in DSS, processed in Windows.

 

Visually, the comet was invisible to the naked eye from the somewhat light polluted location just north of Jelling, Denmark. There were some drifting clouds and fog banks, which didn't make matters easier. With the phone camera or my 10x50 Zeiss binocular, the comet was easily and well visible, though. In the 10x50 binos I estimated the tail to be around 4° long. I had hoped to be able to capture the antitail, but it was apparently too faint for my little scope, or perhaps I just needed much more time than what was available between the clouds and fog. 

 

 

Clear skies! 

Thomas, Denmark

 

PS: I really like taking astrophotos with my old Zeiss'es and my smartphone. It's the perfect mix between classic observing and modern, easy astrophotography, that can go surprisingly deep. Naturally, I take a visual peek at the objects between each new object, because I need to find and center them manually. It's just a lot of fun! And I thought I'd never say that about astrophotography.  

This is a tremendous testimony of the capabilities of classic optics at "small" apertures. It makes me consider to unmount the Intes and set the Telementor this night (if weather allows) :-)

 

Carlos

[Cavs56]

Rained last night but was clear thin morning. Took the Meade 826 out I wanted to try out the 2 inch adapter I made. M42 was beautiful 70 degree 26mm eyepiece. It’s amazing how large it is. Trapezium was very clear at just under 50x. Pleiades was very nice I was surprised how much of it fit in my field of view. I moved to Jupiter and higher power eyepieces best view I have ever had. Will try again tonight the sun started coming up and I quit for the morning.

[Terra Nova]

The advantage of an apo is its shorter FL

For photos 

And still be color correct 

 

Otherwise your right long FL achromat are

Just fine

I think the comparison holds quite true with the smaller long focus achromats (apertures ranging from 40mm to 65mm and f.l. of F12 and above), especially with excellent figure and polish and as said above, when paired with quality eyepieces and diagonals. However, such comparisons veer further from the mark as the aperture increases beyond the 65mm limit. This was easy to see when I compared my F8 Takahashi FC76 fluorite doublet apo, to excellent 75mm to 80mm long (F15 and 16) achromats in my collecion. This is why, when I decided to quit collecting, I sold them all. Even with the ~60mm scopes, I kept only the best and most transportable specimen. And even so, while it’s images compare well with my TV60, it’s very hard to beat it’s transportability of the TV60 (F6 apo).

Attached Thumbnails

• 
• 

[Paul Sweeney]

Quite right, Terra!

I remember reading, a long time ago, that the f/15 focal ratio is for 60mm scopes. Larger apertures require even longer f-ratios. It is also interesting to note that some of the old classics were f/16 and even f/20.

[Terra Nova]

Quite right, Terra!

I remember reading, a long time ago, that the f/15 focal ratio is for 60mm scopes. Larger apertures require even longer f-ratios. It is also interesting to note that some of the old classics were f/16 and even f/20.

Yep! The 3” Unitron was F16 (75mm x 1200mm), and the 3” Goto I had was F17 (76mm x 1300mm).

For comparison, here’s my old F8 Tak in comparison with my old F17 Goto. Both of which have now been replaced by my current 80mm F6 triplet (bottom picture).

Attached Thumbnails

• 
• 
• 

Edited by Terra Nova, 01 November 2024 - 02:45 PM.

[scout]

I took a photo of the comet yesterday evening with my 63mm Zeiss:

 

 

Comet 2023 A3, October 24th, 2024, 18.24 UT. Zeiss C63/840, 42mm GSO Erfle, 20x magnification, 3° field of view. 7 x 30 seconds at 6400 ISO. OnePlus Nord CE3, ProCam X Lite app. Stacked in DSS, processed in Windows.

 

I really like taking astrophotos with my old Zeiss'es and my smartphone. It's the perfect mix between classic observing and modern, easy astrophotography, that can go surprisingly deep. Naturally, I take a visual peek at the objects between each new object, because I need to find and center them manually. It's just a lot of fun! And I thought I'd never say that about astrophotography.  

Your photographs always have a unique 3D quality to them that I don't see in other photographs. Really cool effect.

[Bomber Bob]

The advantage of an apo is its shorter FL

For photos 

And still be color correct 

 

Otherwise your right long FL achromat are

Just fine

Yes... note that I've kept my 1975 Tak TS-50 F14 achro, but sold my FC-50 F8.  Great APO, but I don't make DSO photos; and, is a 50x700 refractor a hassle... nope.  And the views are extraordinary.  But... I gotta say, if you want / need a top-notch small Moon scope, Tak was really onto something with the TS-65 D/S 1000mm Triplets.  You will see more detail than a TS-50; and, I doubt you'll see false color - even on the brightest parts of crater walls & ridgelines.  Pair either with used Tak Orthos, and a Tak prism... Perfect.

 

Almost Forgot:   Tough to Beat a TAK.

 

No Rain - just nights & nights of low-moisture haze at The Swamp... got spoiled by the previous 5 straight weeks!

Edited by Bomber Bob, 01 November 2024 - 05:24 PM.

[davidmcgo]

Caught Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS last night right in the middle of the horns of Poniatowski’s Bull with my Astroscan from my patio table.  Small but fuzzy with the 28mm RKE. Much nicer with a 16mm Type 5 Nagler with a bit of a tail still showing  Also checked out Saturn briefly with an old 4mm University Zebra ortho, pretty nice view for a 4.25” RFT and better than the orange C90 Astro I recently got.

I had sworn off C90s due to less than stellar views, but saw this Astro model for $160 and already have the rest of almost everything Celestron made in the US in orange from the C5 to the 14 and a Comet Catcher.  Lucas Red and Tacky grease is THE STUFF to regrease to focuser on these, a little firm but can stop and start with precision and no slop in the threads.

 

Dave

[oldmanastro]

Quite right, Terra!

I remember reading, a long time ago, that the f/15 focal ratio is for 60mm scopes. Larger apertures require even longer f-ratios. It is also interesting to note that some of the old classics were f/16 and even f/20.

The 76mm Astro Optical telescopes are f/16 like the Unitrons. Interestingly the 80mm Towa 339 (Sears 4454) is an f/15 like the equatorial mounted 60mm Towas. A lot of the altazimuth mounted 60mm were f/11, the standard first telescope of the 60s.

[highfnum]

just slap me silly

comet

jaeger 80mm f5

 

[Piggyback]

Took out my 1975 Telementor for solar, yesterday. Steady air and dark blue skies. In came old trusty, good ole Zeiss 16mm Ortho. My favorite for good balance of mag and field. The current number of spots is amazing. Weather prevailing, H-Alpha will be next.

[Piggyback]

 

Fiery furnace with my Zeiss Telementor 1 and Zeiss full aperture solar filter installed in front of objective lens. Use caution when viewing the sun. Make sure you use a proper and certified solar filtering device. 

 

 

[Piggyback]

 

My various Telementor solar observation outfits. 

 

[Bomber Bob]

AAaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.........  Zeiss!  Puts a smile on my ole face, recalling my T2.

[Terra Nova]

 

 

 

 

 

My various Telementor solar observation outfits. 

 

Beautiful T1 Stefan! I have fond memories of mine!

Attached Thumbnails

• 

[AllanDystrup]

.

Zeiss 100/640 APQ

On Zeiss pillar with Ib mount

     

 

 

 

     Here the telescope is setup for solar white light (ND5 + Zeiss bino with 25mm OPMI eyepieces), but many overcast weeks lately, so I have mostly observed the Milky Way fall OB-associations and nebulae, when we have had clear nights.

 

     I've shared some of my observations with this classic scope in the form of downloadable PDFs here: https://www.cloudyni...2#entry13785238

 

     -- Allan

 

 

[oldmanastro]

Only Saturn was observed today with Scruffy the 1990s Celestar 8. It was not a great night. The seeing was steady but there was haze. Saturn looked sharp with a Meade 2x apochromatic Barlow and a vintage 1/2" (about 12mm) Edmund eyepiece. The combination produced about 333x. The haze allowed me to see only Titan and Rhea. The rest of the brighter satellites were too near the planet. I tried some images and these two are the best ones. It was a short session. Clouds were back at 10:00pm and with rain in the forecast, that was all for the night. 

Attached Thumbnails

• 
• 

[ccwemyss]

Had the Pentax 85 out tonight. It's much more grab-n-go than the 100. The extra 5 lbs of counterweight on the mount makes it uncomfortable to hang the counterweight shaft over a shoulder. With just the two weights it's easy to carry. 

 

Alberio was lovely. Unfortunately, M57 had just gone behind an obstruction. Tried for M31 but it was nearly straight up and I was hitting a tripod leg with the diagonal. First look at the Pleiades this year, which were beautiful as always. The 85 frames it nicely with a 32mm Plossl. Enjoyed drinking in the familiar asterisms in the double cluster. Then on to M36, 37, and 38, all beautiful pinpoints. M1 is just visible with averted vision. 

 

Also my first look at Jupiter this season, using an OR6. All four moons on one side. Seeing is a bit wobbly, but with moments it was possible to make out some good detail in the NEB and SEB. No GRS. Chris Go's latest image shows the GRS has gotten quite small, so I was hoping I might catch it. Saturn was also beautiful, with the ring shadow clearly visible behind the ring. The Pentax finder is such a joy -- no need to move to a wider field eyepiece. Just point it and there's Saturn in the center of the 6mm's field. 

 

Quick look at the moon, with some wonderfully ragged deep shadows having small peaks popping through. 

 

Would have kept going, but it was below freezing, and the dog kept circling me. Since he caught his second skunk this fall, we're only letting him out at night on a 50' lead, and now I have to worry that he'll wrap it around the tripod and pull it over while I'm not paying attention. I have to figure out where to set up so he can still reach me and be happy, but not cause a crash. 

 

Chip W. 

[andylsun]

I posted some pics in the vintage telescope finds. First [test] light!

 

kenko. 60/300 with astigmatism but good colour. Svbony SV305 camera.

 

about 1050 frames at 30s per frame.

technically a poor image but I do like the colour if not the spikes.

 

also a very small sensor so not really the best pairing for a scope planned for wide field.

I’ll try it with a APC sized sensor when my 34.6mm to T-2 adapter arrives.

Attached Thumbnails

• 

[davidmcgo]

Set up my 1995 Astro Physics 130 EDT on my old stepper G11 with the new clutch pads this evening and got fantastic views of the Moon, Saturn, and some other objects.  Seeing was good enough for my Pentax XW3.5mm eyepiece and I noticed for the 1st time 3 very prominent domes in Capuanus a bit South from Kies Pi and Mercator.  The Hortensius dome field was also coming into daytime and really sharp and contrasty.  Saw a bit of the Alpine Valley Rille, and one of the best views of the Hadley Rille in a long time.

 

Saturn was etched and really sharp with best cloud belt contrast with an old Zebra top University 4mm Orthoscopic.  The 3.5 started to dim it a bit and 5mm wasn’t quite enoug.  The 4mm UOhad some stray light issue with the very nearby Moon with a bit of glare across about 1/3 of the field.  The more modern Pentaxes were completely free of any such issues.

 

It just started to get really humid so the 130 is safely back inside.  The mount is waiting with smaller counterweight and a towel over if for Jupiter to climb high enough to see and I will go back out for a bit before bed time with my Takahashi FC100DC.

 

Dave