1447 replies to this topic

[Scott in NC]

Just need to get a mount and finder for this bad boy and I'll be right to go...

Hope you’ll be able to get outside with it soon.  I had a lot of fun with a small refractor just like yours last night!

[selenograph]

My beloved Takahashi FC-60 on the altazimuth mount BP 60

 

Greetings Ralf

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[stevenf]

Just got in from a quick session on the balcony with my little 80mm Orion Goscope. Just took it out of storage yesterday. Even though it's not supposed to be any good on planets seeing Jupiter and the 4 moons (could even make out the banding on the planet) inspired quite a feeling of joy. I love this little thing!

[41lat]

Hi guys,   First post for me.   To the op,   You are so right about the beauty of a small refractor.  
I’ve had an ap traveller for over twenty years and it’s been fabulous.     Was my only scope. 

               But I’ve always lusted after a used pronto or something similar..

My friend just bought a small es 80,  and after reading the great reviews here about the at80ed I ordered one a few weeks ago.

I’ll be honest,  I’m totally shocked how similar the views are compared to my traveller.  
              The quality of this scope and its optics @ $399 is an eye opener.

 First light I used it on my ball head and it actually worked very well   Saw Europa eclipsed 

          But then I ordered a tele pod head. 
I can’t even put a price on now having the ability to run out with this setup in one hand in mere seconds and use it comfortably seated .     I’m in la la land.        Kudos Astronomics.

 

Edited by 41lat, 01 January 2023 - 01:07 PM.

[stevew]

I also just received an AT80ED.

I really haven't had a chance to use it yet due to bad weather, but it's nice to know that someone is enjoying theirs.

Edited by stevew, 01 January 2023 - 03:21 PM.

[41lat]

I also just received an AT80ED.

I really haven't had a chance to use it yet due to bad weather, but it's nice to know that someone is enjoying theirs.

     Let us know your thoughts on it Steve ,    When your skies clear.

[MarkMittlesteadt]

I think my new signature pretty much sums up where I'm at now after 30+ years in the hobby. I really wasn't feeling the joy any longer, but found it again in using small scopes now...

 

"I wish I had known what I couldn't see then, I still wouldn't see now.

 

30 years spent resolving dim, fuzzy objects into dim, fuzzy objects."  

[Vertigo]

I really wasn't feeling the joy any longer, but found it again in using small scopes now...

Hello Mark,

 

yes, small optics can be so much fun, that obstacle enjoying the small optics is the constant thought of "bigger, further, faster...

 

Andreas

[MarkMittlesteadt]

Hello Mark,

 

yes, small optics can be so much fun, that obstacle enjoying the small optics is the constant thought of "bigger, further, faster...

 

Andreas

The dim fuzzies are still dim fuzzies, and I'm totally fine with that now, having tried for so long to make them anything but. If I can see them at all it's good enough. If I can't, then I just won't bother with them. So much out there to see. It's not like I'll ever run out of things to look at, even with a smaller scope. 

 

Everything is just easier and more fun now. 

[rerun]

Yes small optics are great fun. Today I watched mars and the moon together in my  little FOA60 and my Nagler20mm T2 eyepiece. 

Very beautiful.

 

Edited by rerun, 03 January 2023 - 03:28 PM.

[Vertigo]

Yes small optics are great fun. Today I watched mars and the moon together in my  little FOA60 and my Nagler20mm T2 eyepiece. 

Where in Germany could you see mars and the moon in the last four weeks, nothing works here, only clouds and rain...

The FOA is certainly great!

 

Andreas

Edited by Vertigo, 03 January 2023 - 03:49 PM.

[rerun]

Where in Germany could you see mars and the moon in the last four weeks, nothing works here, only clouds and rain...

The FOA is certainly great!

 

Andreas

Hi Andreas,

 

thank you .

Here in western germany we had bad weather the last few weeks ,too. But from time to time we had short times of clear skies .I try to use these short hours of clear skies 

Edited by rerun, 03 January 2023 - 04:22 PM.

[Vertigo]

Hi Andreas,

 

thank you .

Here in western germany we had bad weather the last few weeks ,too. But from time to time we had short times of clear skies .I try to use these short hours of clear skies 

How, where in the west of Germany?

I'm in the city that doesn't actually exist.

 

Andreas

Edited by Vertigo, 03 January 2023 - 04:40 PM.

[Jon Isaacs]

Hello Mark,

 

yes, small optics can be so much fun, that obstacle enjoying the small optics is the constant thought of "bigger, further, faster...

 

Andreas

 

I enjoy my small refractors for what they are and what they can do. They inspire thoughts of easier, wider, and faster to setup.

 

I have bigger, further, faster well covered. If the skies are dark and clear, it normally means just moving from one to the other.

 

 

Jon

[rerun]

How, where in the west of Germany?

I'm in the city that doesn't actually exist.

 

Andreas

Very good  You are from Bielefeld    I am from the west of the ruhrarea , Mülheim Ruhr .

[rerun]

 

I enjoy my small refractors for what they are and what they can do. They inspire thoughts of easier, wider, and faster to setup.

 

I have bigger, further, faster well covered. If the skies are dark and clear, it normally means just moving from one to the other.

 

 

 

Jon

 

Hi Jon,

 

you have a very nice observing place , seems to be very dark there.

[Jon Isaacs]

Hi Jon,

 

you have a very nice observing place , seems to be very dark there.

 

Markus:

 

That photo was taken on a camping trip. The skies were quite dark. 

 

The American southwest has many virtues from the amateur astronomer. One of them is that much of the land is government land and open to observing. In my county, there are about 3 million people but most live along the coast, much of it is unpopulated. 

 

The area is about 11,000 square kilometers and of that about half is national forest, federal land and state park, all open for observing.

 

 

Jon

[Vertigo]

 Very good  You are from Bielefeld   

psssst...

 

Andreas

Edited by Vertigo, 04 January 2023 - 10:37 AM.

[rerun]

This is my standard mount for my little FOA60 .  The Vixen Porta II with the slow motion controlls  is a very good match to the little TAK . In changeable weather, the small telescope is quickly set up and even short observations are worthwhile. Sometimes the observation ends after 30 to 45 minutes. But in a short time you can see a lot of beautiful things. That's why I love this little telescope.

 

[rerun]

 

Markus:

 

That photo was taken on a camping trip. The skies were quite dark. 

 

The American southwest has many virtues from the amateur astronomer. One of them is that much of the land is government land and open to observing. In my county, there are about 3 million people but most live along the coast, much of it is unpopulated. 

 

The area is about 11,000 square kilometers and of that about half is national forest, federal land and state park, all open for observing.

 

 

 

Jon

 

Jon

 

I love your observation places , very cool.

[GGK]

I really enjoy my small refractors.

 

My smallest one is an AT60ED and I use it often.  I like that it can show me ultra-wide fields beyond all of my other scopes, and that it shows unique views of mid-sized open clusters.

 

I do a lot of observing above 4^o and the 360mm focal length allows me to reach 7.4^o field of view with a 40mm XW.  I know that many people don't play in that area, but it's quite entertaining and often a real challenge.  Rather than searching for small details on a single object, I'm searching to identify the many objects or asterisms that might appear in a larger field. 

 

This little scope gives me more challenges with the long focal length wide-field eyepieces than my other scopes because edge astigmatism and soft focus are aggravated with the high field curvature.  My own eye astigmatism also interacts with the image at the large exit pupils. I'm able to tame the field curvature pretty well using a TSFlat2 flattener, but not all eyepieces like this optical environment.

 

I use mostly 2" heavy eyepieces in this scope, and I found that the DiscMounts DM4 is able to hold position even when I remove a 2-pound eyepiece (the scope is short with a relatively light objective lens, and the eyepiece is close to the mount axis).  Therefore, I can swap the large 70^o to 100^o eyepieces easily.  It's stable enough that I can use an ultra-light Gitzo Traveller Series 2 carbon tripod with no spreader or stone bag.

 

In some skies, I often prefer this scope for bright clusters because of the smaller exit pupil.  For example, in my NP101is, a 13mm 100^o eyepiece will show a 2.3^o field with a 2.4mm exit pupil.  In the AT60ED, I need an 8mm 100^o eyepiece for a 2.2^o field, and that drops the exit pupil to 1.3mm.  When using the AT60ED for a bright cluster like the Beehive, the faintest stars visible in the NP101is disappear, the background sky gets darker, and the remaining bright stars have a real sparkle on black look.  I'm not saying it's better than my NP101is, it's just different and really quite beautiful to look at.

 

I've looked at small Petzval options, but the Askar FRA300 does not have enough back focus for a diagonal and the Askar FRA400 is stuck between the max fields of my 60mm f/6 and 101mm f5.4, so I stay with the AT60ED for now.  I'm not willing to lose the maximum field of view that the AT60ED provides. 

 

I also use a TV-85, which is a one-handed carry scope.  I prefer that on the Tele-Pod mount but use it on the DM4 too.  The 600mm f/7 of the TV-85 allows me to better match the exit pupil with my dark-adapted eye pupil diameter at the widest field of view, which is great for a richest field observing at 4.4^o.

 

I'll also put these refractors on a GEM when I want to surf on RA and Dec lines.  The slip clutches of the GM-8 work very well for that and hold easily when changing eyepieces.

 

Gary

[Chilihead]

I got my 8" Edge about 10 years ago. Then picked up the AT102ED three years ago. Then adopted the AT72EDII two years ago.

 

My usage is approximately: AT72 70%, AT102 25%, Edge 5%.

 

Can't argue with the facts!

[lwbehney]

As GGK mentioned in post #171, one of the overlooked advantages of a small aperture telescope is that competing dim stars drop off. This feature is useful when one is trying to identify a particular star in a field. For example, if I were trying to locate the 8th magnitude WR-134, which is noteworthy for being the one of the first recognized Wolf-Rayet stars, it is much easier to find it in a 60 mm refractor, because I can set SkySafari to display no stars brighter than 10.5 M and more readily differentiate WR-134 from the rest of the field.  Furthermore, the small aperture nicely diffracts the stars into perfect tiny pinballs of light, which covers a few more cones in the macula to enhance the colors of the stars. Also sometimes forgotten is that perfecting a small lens is easier to accomplish so that the execution of the design is closer to the ideal. 
Another ideal target would be Barnard’s star at M9.5. or the T Tauri protostar at M 9.81 or the Methuselah star in Libra of M 7.2. 
Lots of fun targets to hunt for in these wide field scopes. 

[Jon Isaacs]

As GGK mentioned in post #171, one of the overlooked advantages of a small aperture telescope is that competing dim stars drop off. This feature is useful when one is trying to identify a particular star in a field. For example, if I were trying to locate the 8th magnitude WR-134, which is noteworthy for being the one of the first recognized Wolf-Rayet stars, it is much easier to find it in a 60 mm refractor, because I can set SkySafari to display no stars brighter than 10.5 M and more readily differentiate WR-134 from the rest of the field.  Furthermore, the small aperture nicely diffracts the stars into perfect tiny pinballs of light, which covers a few more cones in the macula to enhance the colors of the stars. Also sometimes forgotten is that perfecting a small lens is easier to accomplish so that the execution of the design is closer to the ideal. 
Another ideal target would be Barnard’s star at M9.5. or the T Tauri protostar at M 9.81 or the Methuselah star in Libra of M 7.2. 
Lots of fun targets to hunt for in these wide field scopes. 

 

I like my small refractors but I'm not on board with this stuff. With a larger scope, I just use a 50 mm RACI to find it. It provides a 5.2 degree AFoV at 12.5x and has optics sharp enough to split Porrima. So I'm using a small refractor to find the object.

 

But once I find it, I'll switch to the main scope. In my experience, colors are enhanced by brightness, not dimness. The orange-red of Barnard's star is much more apparent in a larger scope.

 

Jon

[Upstate New Yorker]

Many faces of a small refractor….

Looking at this point feels like heaven.  Certainly it reminds you of the best days in your life.