On behalf of Phil (issdaol), Matt (Kunama) and I, we are excited to announce an event for the gathering of Takahashi Telescopes - TSP 2016.
The star party is going to be held on the 8th and 9th of April, 2016 at Phil's property located near Yass in New South Wales. Yass is approximately 3 hours drive south west of Sydney. We would really like to see as many people as possible come along with their Tak telescopes for much socialising and great observing under dark skies. It would be great to put some faces to the names and make a bunch of new astro friends. To the rest, we will keep this thread going over the coming months with information and photos in an attempt to make you as jealous as possible.
We will relay information over the coming months through this thread. I will provide a few brief details now.
There is no cost for the event. However there are no facilities on the site, so accommodation will need to be sorted in the nearby town of Yass. It is a 10 minute drive away on good roads, and there are several accommodation options available in town. We can help sort that for you if needed. The location of the actual observing site will be relayed to you closer to the date, for security reasons.
I have a few other ideas in the works, such as getting Takahashi involved in some way, which will add to the occasion. I think between the 3 of us we already have 6 or 7 Tak scopes, and there seems to be a lot of support already for the event. So I don't see any reason why we won't have a fun and special few days of all things Tak, with hopefully a whole armada of telescopes to drool over and observe through.
It will help us as we organise the star party to compile a list of attendees. If you intend to come along please let us know by posting or PM, and for interest sake what telescope(s) you are bringing.
Looking forward to this Allan. I hope that people see this as a great opportunity to come and try out some of Japan's finest telescopes both old and new.
I will be bringing the Takahashi FS102/EM10 USD3 combination with Zeiss prism and the Takahashi CN-212 on the KK T-Rex with Nexus DSC and featuring the new Baader Broadband Hard Silver 2" Hybrid mirror diagonal.
These two will be sporting some Pentax XW and Denk eyepieces.
I will also bring the 18" F5.6 "Guinevere Dobsonian" with some Tak eyepieces for those that want to observe from a ladder.
It is very easy to get to the property from Yass or from Canberra.
A couple of international Tak owners mentioned interest in attending so if people are planning to come in from longer distances the best way would be to Fly into Canberra - Australian Capital Territory
It is then a very easy 30-35 minute drive to Yass ..... which will make it easier for those interested in coming from further afield.
I thought it might be interesting to make note of what scopes people might want to bring.
I will have my Takahashi TSA120, TOA150 and Mewlon 300 setup so those that have never used or don't own any of those will get to see them up close and personal :-)
I'm hoping we can get people with Mewlon 210, 250, FSQ's, FS128's, CN's, Epsilons and the newer breed FC's on site.
Of course is someone wants to bring along a C400 or FET300 then they will be the star attractions !!! :-)
This is going crazy already after only a few hours, fantastic to see. I've had messages today of guys coming and apologising for not coming. Already we have 11 Taks confirmed in the first day. Unfortunately imposters with Tak stickers don't count on the list.
My contribution will be the TOA130 on a Dismounts DM6 mount with the Nexus DSC for push to observing.
There are a few ideas I've been working on, and I want to mention the first one to motivate as many people as possible to come along to the party.
I have applied to the Guinness World Records for the "Most Takahashi Telescopes Observing From The Same Location". How great will it be to have a world record to go with a fantastic observing weekend.
Now if Takahashi comes on board with a TOA150 door prize, we will really get this party rocking.
Ian, beautiful scopes, and as Phil said, the answer is both. I certainly hope to observe through both of them. Plus, you would be helping the world record cause.
Can we add both of your scopes to the list, that would bring us to 12 already after a few hours. I think Matt is the scope registrar co-ordinator so I will leave it to him to compile the list.
Ian, beautiful scopes, and as Phil said, the answer is both. I certainly hope to observe through both of them. Plus, you would be helping the world record cause.
Can we add both of your scopes to the list, that would bring us to 12 already after a few hours. I think Matt is the scope registrar co-ordinator so I will leave it to him to compile the list.
no problem
How about this snap shot taken with the iPhone and 18.2 delite using the DL
Hi Peter. One of the reasons I thought Canberra/Yass was the ideal location was that it got the party closer to Adelaide. I've had messages from Adelaide today and there seems to be a lot of Tak owners there. Maybe something to do with Claudio being over that way.
There's a chance people from the U.S. 7000 miles away might come. I think you might be disappointed if you don't come and see the event for yourself.
