Lomo 105/650 first light

[Poita (Peter)]

I finally got to take the Lomo refractor outside tonight.
It is a 105mm triplet APO, with feather touch focuser, and although the night had some wispy cloud, I wasn't going to wait any longer.

We had a blackout, so I fitted it to the EQ6, and *manually* went star hopping. I didn't fit the finder either, so it was a challenge!

First up, the LV 50mm eyepiece wouldn't focus without an extension tube added. jury-rigged an extension of sorts and found Jupiter.
Popped in the 5mm TMB planetary eyepiece and although the seeing was really variable, it was by far the clearest view of jupiter I have ever had. Far better than the C8 which has twice the aperture. Clean, clear and crisp when the seeing cleared every few moments. Could see the spot and banding etc. clearly and plenty of colour. I wasn't expecting that from a 4" scope.
Swung around to Orion, and there was a surprising amount of nebulosity visible, again more than I had seen in the C8.
Had a quick go with the zoom eyepiece, which was very handy without the finder or tetrad fitted! Then the clouds rolled in.
All in all, fairly impressed so far, Jupiter was stunning, there is a little bit of CA on some stars, but it could be the atmosphere or the eyepieces.
I am really looking forward to getting a decent night's viewing in with this scope.

[Profiler (Profiler)]

Sounds like a great investment but I am also always gratified to note the reoccurring comment folks often make about their surprise at what they can observe with a mere 4inch scope supposedly in comparison to other big reflectors they may have once looked through. I don't mean to open the old debate of refractors versus reflectors but it seems to me that the folks with a good quality refractor consistently tend to be under the stars more often and over longer periods (I am talking about remaining in the hobby) than those with big reflectors.

[Poita (Peter)]

I want to get a powermate and set up the lomo and the 10 SCT side by side one night and do a real comparison between the three, I was expecting the 4" aperture to be much more limiting.