First light with Tak FS-60C

[eeyore]

Had an opportunity to spend about minutes with the Tak FS-60C. The seeing was pretty good in my suburban backyard. I used all my EP (see signature). Some early thoughts.

Generally, a very nicely made scope and the mechanics are first rate. I didn't have as diagonal, do it was straight through, which was not very comfortable, so it may affect some of my comments. I basically looked at two objects, Jupiter and M42, in detail. The rest was just randomly looking. Through the sky. Just a preface, I am really quite a beginner in terms of observation...

M42. I could see 4 stars of the trapezium with a 15mm Plossl and higher power. I could see some structure within M42, but I could see the shape and was a distinct light grey patch.

Jupiter. 4 moons and two bands. It was pretty low in the sky, and it was just above my neighbour's house, so not great viewing conditions. In certain moments, I thought I saw another band.

Overall, very impressed with the 60mm aperture. I found that I liked it very much with the 32mm TV Plossl, 25mm Ortho and 10.5mm Pentax XL. I thought the UO HD 5mm would be bad, but it was quite nice on Jupiter. However, I found the 15mm Plossl a little uncomfortable. I think the use of a diagonal and more comfortable viewing position is needed to further evaluate.

No trace of colour! But slight green on one side of focus and red on the other. Nice diffraction rings, appeared quite round. Well, thats my first thoughts. The Tak prism diagonal arrived and hopefully have more thoughts when it's a clear night!

[Kunama]

Congratulations on getting it out into the night David. I am very impressed with the little Tak, it will easily take a 3.5mm eyepiece for 101x views.

I have a Tak 1.25" Prism Diagonal which is excellent, however I have now converted mine fully to 2" visual back, diagonal and eyepieces to avoid hassles when using the Baader Herschel Prism.

Now you just have to post pics of your setup. What mount do you have it on David?

[FlashDrive]

David...glad to hear you are pleased with your Tak60.

They are superb for their size and can take a lot of magnification thrown at them without any degrading of what your looking at....that's what I have found with my Tak60CB.

I use Denkmeier Bino's with a Power Switch on mine and the view of the Moon, Jupiter, M42 is breath taking to say the least, especially with good ' seeing ' conditions.
I'm ' gob smacked ' every time I pump up the magnification in this little scope...and she takes it without complaining.

Mine came with a Feather Touch Focuser, so a 2" diagonal is used all the time. Using 2 eyes is just sooooo comfortable and a ' joy ' and I stay at the eyepiece a LOT longer and can pick up ' detail ' that I might miss using 1 eyepiece.

The combination of a Tak60 and Bino's really goes together, although the downside is buying 2 same eyepieces...but that doesn't deter me...once you try them....it's hard to go back to single use.....even on DSO's.

All the Best with your Tak60.....they are certainly a ' gusty ' little Scope.

Col......:D

[eeyore]

Interested to hear that you can use a binoviewer with the Tak, given such a small aperture! I wonder if there are good quality ones that fit into the 1.25", or how do I convert it to accept 2" accessories?

[brian nordstrom]

;)RRRRR M man you guys help a lot ,

The best wide field Refractor view of the Southern Milky Way I HAVE EVER SEEN ( like flash and Matt here as a purely a visual observer ) was thru my sold :sadeyes: FS60C and Celestron Axiom LX 31mm at 14x at a dark sky night in Darwin NT a few years ago and had the 12 , 16 , 20 and 22 inch reflector owners over more than once for a look at what a Refractor ,,, abit , my 60mm Fluorite could do ,,,,,, on eta Carina at 82 perfect *'s .

I have a few photos on a hard drive here some where of that great night's viewing and will post a few here when I find them ,,,

Excellence in a scope , I took mine to 200X on the moon many times ( 3mm TV Radian and 2x , 2 inch Powermate ) .

Brian.


QUOTE=eeyore;1052238]Interested to hear that you can use a binoviewer with the Tak, given such a small aperture! I wonder if there are good quality ones that fit into the 1.25", or how do I convert it to accept 2" accessories?[/QUOTE]

[Kunama]

For binoviewing with the FS60 you're better off with a 1.25" prism as it keeps the lightpath shorter. The best system is the Baader T2, see the linky below for a setup that work (the second configuration with the 1.25" Clicklock will work with your diagonal and reduce the lightpath. You will still probably need a 1.6x GPC with the binos.

http://www.alpineastro.com/eyepiece_adapters/Tak_Configurations.htm

As for converting the scope to 2" accessories there are specific Tak adapters (TOA00060) or you can do what I did and machine down the extension tube that came with your scope (and is generally redundant if using a diagonal). I had a 2" SCT thread cut onto it so now I can attach any SCT threaded accessory. Cost me $60 to get the part machined down. The 2" conversion was only done so I could easily use the Baader 2" Herschel Solar Prism.