Any SCT's/Mak's comparable to the Tak Mewlon's?

[DavidTrap (David)]

Originally Posted by AlexN

Im hanging out for clear skies to give my Intes Micro scope a fly... Its sitting on the test bench at the moment all collimated and ready to go!

Looking out my back window, I don't like your chances tonight Alex... I just hope the weather clears up by the time my new toys arrive...

DT

[Omaroo (Chris Malikoff)]

Have you had the 102 out yet David?

[AlexN]

Originally Posted by Omaroo

Same here with the Mewlon Alex. Apart from that one night out - I haven't seen the moon with it yet, which is primarily why I bought it. Arghh! Damn weather...

Yep - Weather here is not going to play nicely tonight thats for sure... We might see an opening over the weekend... though I'm not going to hold my breath... First light for the M703 will be the moon, followed by Saturn.. Hopefully new moon weekend will see it pointed at M83 with the ST8300 stuck up its butt end!

Alex.

[Paul Haese]

I got to say if I could afford it I would go for a 13" intes Mak for my planetary imaging. The light cone is very nice for planetary imaging. The Tak mewlon 300 is good but not big enough for serious aperture needs on the planets. The cost is also very prohibitive too. A Tak 300 mewlon is a beautiful scope and for visual use the views would be equal to any refractor you could normally afford.

For imaging well the humble SCT does a fine job. For now I will be sticking to what works for me and is cheapest to work with right now. If you can afford the mewlon and want it buy it for the visual use alone then do so.

[AlexN]

I drool at the idea of a 13" IM Mak!! My 7" is a far cry from 13", however it should be ok.. My cheapy skywatcher 8" newt provided good images of Jupiter, if a cheap 8" newt can do it, a top class 7" mak can too.. (I hope! )

[Waxing_Gibbous (Peter)]

Originally Posted by Omaroo

Same here with the Mewlon Alex. Apart from that one night out - I haven't seen the moon with it yet, which is primarily why I bought it. Arghh! Damn weather...

If I were you two, I'd be using them for advanced birdwatching or spying on people.
Seems criminal to have 'em sitting there. Might just as well send them to me!

[Satchmo]

Originally Posted by mbaddah

So a dob with premium optics can equal in contrast that of a Mak and Refractor?

A Dall kirkham Cass ( ie Tak Mewlon) is a reflecting telescope with two aluminised mirrors like a Newtonian. If full attention is payed to the issues of full light baffling ,smooth accurate optics , minimised central obstruction and high quality coatings, then there is no intrinsic reason for any contrast difference between the two types . You will not find all these features optimised in a low cost mass produced dob. I don't know what a Tak Mewlon costs but i would guess that all these features have been played close attention to

Refractor objectives scatter less light than aluminised surfaces , and are easier to baffle properly, but are limited in aperture. Maks are hybrids of which I've seen some really lousy and some really excellent examples of.

[AlexN]

I looked at a building or two during my initial test of the M703 Peter.. They were 25km away, so I figure this isnt exactly spying on people, but its been looked through!

[DavidTrap (David)]

Originally Posted by Omaroo

Have you had the 102 out yet David?

Not yet Chris - I tried to put it on a rickety part aluminium, part plastic camera tripod, but the plastic head couldn't hold position to look at anything for more than about 2 seconds!!! I decided to give up before I damaged something.

However, a request for funding was approved by the Minister for War & Finance and a mount should be here in the near future.

Regards
David T

[gregbradley]

Originally Posted by issdaol

I was recently talking to Claude regarding my options for the Tak Mewlon 300 and apparently the next release from Tak is also corrected versions of the Mewlons :-)

Apparently there is a retrofit option for older versions as well.

For me the decision to go with the Mewlon was based on the visuals I experienced and the engineering of the units combined with excelent advice and support from Claude in South Australia.

Cheers

Sounds like a nice option.

Retrofitting a corrector may not be enough for imaging as the secondary mirror size has to be enough to create a big enough imaging circle that is fully corrected. Then again Tak are awesome as imaging experts so I am sure they will come up with the goods.

Orion Optics UK though already make corrected Dall Krikhams with carbon fibre tubes, with triplet correctors, with fan controls, with design from scratch to be a great imaging scope as well as great visually things Mewlons don't have as standard.

Planewave also makes a 12.5 inch corrected Dall Kirkham for US$9995 which has carbon fibre tube, heavy duty focuser, 52mm corrected imaging circle, lightish weight, lots of fabulous images on the net and about half the price for the Mewlon 300. So the Tak scope is hard to justify when it doesn't have a carbon fibre tube (extra upgrade, which means focus will go off over temperature shifts to some degree as well as heavier), no fans (means thermal layers on mirrors unhandled and tube currents more likely) no corrector currently means no good for imaging, Mewlon no doubt is very heavy placing a strain on the mount so you may need a heavier duty mount.

Tak's Mewlons are really yesterday's design and were great at the time but the market has moved on and now they are overpriced, heavy and lack the versatility of the modern corrected Dall Kirkham.

The Mewlon 210 etc is still unique though as corrected Dall Kirkhams are usually 12.5 inches up. Orion Optics UK are planning an 8 inch but not yet.

Greg

[mbaddah (Mo)]

Looks like there will be some clear weather for you guys to test out some of your rigs there If so please report how it goes

[Satchmo]

Originally Posted by gregbradley

Tak's Mewlons are really yesterday's design and were great at the time but the market has moved on and now they are overpriced, heavy and lack the versatility of the modern corrected Dall Kirkham.

Can anyone enlighten me as to the cost of a Tak Mewlon 200mm in Australia ?

[Omaroo (Chris Malikoff)]

Originally Posted by Satchmo

Can anyone enlighten me as to the cost of a Tak Mewlon 200mm in Australia ?

$4,625 incl. finder Mark.

Gee... that's harsh - "Tak's Mewlons are really yesterday's design and were great at the time but the market has moved on and now they are overpriced, heavy and lack the versatility of the modern corrected Dall Kirkham."

I'm pretty happy with mine, I can tell you!

[AlexN]

I'd agree with Chris on that... The Mewlons are beautiful, and for their designed niche, they are brilliant scopes. Sure, you can't wack a 52mm square CCD in the rear of it and expect a flat field, but why would you want to? its a scope with lunar/planetary work in mind... and for that purpose, there are really 3 optical designs that stand out. Newtonians, Dall Kirkhams and Mak Casses...

One could argue that a corrected RC is a better optical system than an uncorrected Dall Kirkham. However take a 12" RC and pit it against a Mewlon 300 for either visual or photographic planetary work, I'd have my money on the mewlon...

[Satchmo]

Yes , the more spherical surfaces the better for a smoother wavefront, which gives the DK an edge over RC's on-axis. The Dall Kirkham is similar to a Newt in having one aspheric and one spherical surface involved. Coma on an an F12 is the same as an F6 Newtonian ( which is minimal ) .

I think Greg's comment related to teh DK uncorrected being redundant as a deep sky astrograph. I don't think they would ever have been used for that purpose due to slow speed. That being said there are plenty of nice 2" 40mm 70 degree eyepieces around that would deliver a 3.3mm pupil at F12 , so would still be very nice for medium field deep sky.