Libra Scales & TV Zooms

[Nightspore]

 

 

The Sun is in Libra now and as Samhain approaches the nights are getting damp and humid. This can be problematic in astronomy with some technical issues concerning dewing. On October the 22nd the forecast was clear between around 22:00 and 04:00 and the weather was mild. I was initially sceptical about lucid conditions, and wasn’t far out. What was far out was that the jet stream had shifted and most of the Midlands had placid non-turbulent air. I had a session with the Titchy Sixty, on balance it was successful, until disaster struck and the Libran scales tipped against me.

 

I decided to give my Tele Vue 6-3mm zoom a go, as I couldn’t find my Baader Hyperion Zoom. No doubt it will turn up, after all, I put it somewhere ‘safe’. The TV is heavy for its small size, although lighter than the TV Barlow and Takahashi ortho’s it replaced. It also has a virtual parfocal 50° of field with click stopped magnifications of between 60x to 120x on the 60 EDF.

 

 

I also swapped the Takahashi prism for a TV 1.25” ‘Enhanced Aluminum’ diagonal. The TV diagonal mirror was probably less likely to introduce any false colour at f/6 and had far less technical gremlins.

 

 

The weight difference was negligible. I mainly used the 2” Baader Maxbright in the session, even for planetary.

 

 

My first target was a ‘sky-dominating’ Jupiter. The zoom gave a bright and sharp image of Io transiting the planet. Jovian surface detail was very good and any contrast loss compared to the ortho’s was not noticeable enough to ‘swing the balance’. I couldn’t find the Ring Nebula or the Double Double in a low Summer Triangle, which I attribute to hazy conditions in the west. I did find a magnificent Zeta Cass however. At 120x the system’s three stars were easily visible. I also found the Owl Cluster quite stunning at 60x. I had a quick peek at a rapidly setting crisp and clear Saturn and Titan with the zoom. 

 

 

As I waited for Io to transit across the Jovian surface after watching it disappear in front of the planet I switched to the 24mm Panoptic and eventually the 36mm Baader Aspheric. Now I spent some time looking at open clusters like the Pleiades and the Alpha Persei Moving Cluster. These were quite spectacular at 10x and 15x with the wide angle EP’s. The 24mm Panoptic is legendary for its acuity and edge sharpness. Many find the 36mm Baader Aspheric a tad streaky near the edge of field. On balance (see what I did there?) though, the sheer FOV of the Aspheric at 10x compensates for any edge distortion. Who looks at the edge of field with a wide angle EP anyway?

 

 

The Serpent Cluster between Alnilam and Mintaka was also quite beautifully intriguing. M42 and the Trapezium were equally pleasing considering how low Orion was for me. Eventually I went back to Jupiter with the zoom, although this time with the 1.25” TV diagonal with a Baader Neodymium filter in the nosepiece. I witnessed Io becoming a bright satellite again on the other side of Jupiter. I was thrilled to see the GRS. Near the end of the session I switched back to the Maxbright and 36mm Aspheric for viewing more clusters. This time though the Libra scales of justice and balance dramatically tipped against me, then metaphorically kicked me up the jacksy. It’s never been my favourite astrological sign anyway.

 

 

The rotating visual back mechanism had a serious malfunction and would not rotate properly. So I had no alternative to packing up. On further inspection it appears a nylon shim or gasket has become loose or unseated. I’ve been told that it can be fixed and re-seated (thanks Adam at RVO). Whether I can disassemble the back and fix this gasket with my left hand remains to be seen. I’ve finally found my toolbox. I’d put it somewhere safe! The Titchy Sixty is now out of commission for the foreseeable future. I still have the ED72 however and it is ready to go. The TV zoom works very well on that as it is f/5.8 and the zoom gives 70x to 140x on the 72. Which is a nice balance of magnifications. High powered Zooms are fine unless you are unbalanced and overdo it (I’m talking about you Saffron!). 

 

 

 

[+Bino-viewer]

Saffron's looking great and still rocking it at 55 !  Nearly as old as me, lol ! 😀

 

I really enjoy your reports, and i'm also a fan of low power, rich field, wide angle views.

I've often thought about adding a smaller scope to my current just for that.

Light pollution for me here in the proverbial fly in the ointment though.

 

Have you thought about putting a clicklock on the back of the scope or do you really need the rotator.

My own scope has a built in focuser rotator, but don't use it much, as i find with an alt-az mount setup i don't need it. Its nice to have though...

 

 

[The Fellas on Google Plus]

Great report! Sorry to hear about Titchy Sixty but you still have plenty of glass to play with 😉 Republica ROCKS!! 

[Nightspore]

17 minutes ago, Bino-viewer said:

Saffron's looking great and still rocking it at 55 !  Nearly as old as me, lol ! 😀

 

I really enjoy your reports, and i'm also a fan of low power, rich field, wide angle views.

I've often thought about adding a smaller scope to my current just for that.

Light pollution for me here in the proverbial fly in the ointment though.

 

Have you thought about putting a clicklock on the back of the scope or do you really need the rotator.

My own scope has a built in focuser rotator, but don't use it much, as i find with an alt-az mount setup i don't need it. Its nice to have though...

 

 

 

Yeah, Saffron's aged well and still jumps about a lot. The rotator is a necessity for me really due to my disability. 

 

 

I can get away without a rotator on the 72 Evostar (later models have one) as the Baader adapter I use combined with a 1.25" Tele Vue diagonal's undercut holds it quite safely. It can be set to be virtually impossible to fall or pull out and yet still be rotated. Possibly the only time an undercut has actually been useful!

 

 

I have a custom 2" visual back with a compression ring.

 

 

I'm still not totally convinced a 2" diagonal won't accidentally fall out though. So I tend to stick to 1.25" accessories these days/nights. A 24mm Panoptic gives me nearly four arc degrees of FOV with the 72ED (17.5x). The 35mm Baader Eudiascopic even more. Most of my other fracs have rotating focusers. Including my ST80's.

 

 

It's been a lot of trial and error though!

 

[Nightspore]

20 minutes ago, The Fellas on Google Plus said:

Great report! Sorry to hear about Titchy Sixty but you still have plenty of glass to play with 😉 Republica ROCKS!! 

 

Thanks Reggie. I may be able to repair the Titchy. I'll get back out under the stars, one way or another.

 

 

[+Glafnazur]

Another great report Dave. 

 

@Bino-viewer Go on Rob, get yourself a smaller scope 🙂 I love the views through my little ZS61, it is probably my most used scope these days, although I do occasionally still show symptoms of aperture fever 😰

[+Streetbob]

I like your detailed reports. A good read. Thanks for sharing.

[Nightspore]

Well, we must be in Scorpio now.

 

 

I got all tooled up and fixed the Titchy Sixty!

 

 

I feel this good now.

 

 

[+Glafnazur]

I'm glad you managed to fix it 👍

[Nightspore]

5 minutes ago, Glafnazur said:

I'm glad you managed to fix it 👍

 

Thanks, the grubs were a tad tricky initially. The gasket itself wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be, it had a tendency to spring out at first. I'm pretty pleased with the result. It'll probably fall off lol!

Edited October 25, 2023 by Nightspore