During the week my recent acquisition arrived. It is an Takahashi 106 FSQ (pictured below). One came up for sale and I snapped it up.
For those interested I spent nearly all last year doing research on a replacement scope for the TSA 102 I own. I have wanted to have a wider field of view to capture the extended gas clouds on many objects. I looked at fast Newtonians (AG, Takahashi and ASA), I looked at OS RH Veloce 200 and also the FSQ106.
Aperture and f-ratio were high on my list of wants, but the scope had to be short too. I wanted this scope to fit under the existing roll off roof and still be able to home or close the roof quickly without the need to send the scope to park position. A few of the Newts would fit under the roof as would the OS scope and as would the FSQ. A larger aperture would allow photon collection quickly and give greater resolution. The FSQ was not much wider (which was on the down side), but it is short and with the reducer is very fast.
Back focus was important too. I want to run a rotator in my system and this was a short fall in several scopes. This is fairly essential for remote imaging in my eyes, but maybe not for others.
Not having to heat a large front element was also a priority. Clayton has really dewy conditions and large front elements cannot be really successfully heated without tube currents causing problems. It really is that dewy there.
Price had to be considered too.
Though in the end this was really about established performance, tiny stars and back focus. The FSQ hits all of these points, is cheap but high quality.
The telescope is flawless and really well packed by the sender. I bought with the rings, dovetail plates and reducer.
Now to get the adapters I need for the rotator. Exciting times.
