Dream scopes...
Jun 13, 2003
Astronomy is an addiction. The longer you do it, the more you want to do it more! Think about that for a second. What begins with a small, inexpensive scope, at first, soon blossoms into a major investment over time; an investment in both time and money. It begins when your observing skills become such that you understand the limitations of any scope (and every scope has them).
It is then that you realize that no one scope can do it all. Dobs are great for DSOs, but you can’t image with one and planetary observing suffers from it’s lack of tracking capabilities. Refractors are great for planets, but DSO performance doesn’t compare to the big reflectors. SCTs are a well-balanced scope, but doesn’t do any one thing tremendously well. Then there are issues of portability. Sometimes we feel like dragging out the big Dob, other times we really need something smaller for quicker sessions.
And one day, you catch the astrophotography bug. At this point, serious dreaming begins. You contemptate owning many scopes of every type and size to accommodate imaging of the widest variety of objects imaginable. Then you have to ask if my mount hold up to the weight and precision requirements I will soon have? Since the answer to that question is always “no,” we add a few mounts to our dream list.
As I mentioned on Astronomy.com the other day I have a dream list of my own; equipment that will satisfy my every whim and fancy. It looks something like this:
- 20” Obsession dob for visual observations of deep sky objects. - 6” Astrophysics AP155 EDT or 6” Takahashi FCT-150 apochromatic refractor for planetary observing and medium-field imaging. - 4” Takahashi FSQ-106, 4” Televue NP-101, 4” Astrophysics Traveller, or 4” TMB 105/6.2 for wide-field imaging and highly portable observing. - A 14.5” Ritchey-Chretian Cassegrain (any make will do) for narrow-field CCD imaging. - One of several GOTO mount such as an AP900/1200, a Software Bisque Paramount, a Takahashi NJP, or a Mountain Instruments MI-250.
Any one telescope in each category will satisfy the requirements of that category and will be held onto for the rest of my life, and even unto death. Who needs a coffin when you have a big dob?
I said all that to announce that I’ve just purchased one of these “dream” scopes. Though I wasn’t anticipating winning that bid on eBay, nevertheless, I did. And the item for auction was?
The amazing 4” Takahashi FSQ-106 f/5 apochromatic astrograph/refractor.
For those who don’t know a lot about this scope, it is a 4-element Petzval design refractor consisting of a doublet in the front and another doublet in the rear. The configuration allows for impeccible color correction, extremely flat fields, and very fast focal ratios. This scope is designed as an astrograph: an 88mm image circle due to the massive 4” focuser (no vignetting and medium-format/CCD capabilities); a built in camera angle adjuster, a slick feature that allow you to spin your camera without unlocking it; and very fast f/5 optics at a 530mm focal length.
You will not find a bad report on this scope. But the only two possible criticisms are that it’s very heavy (13 lbs.) and it requires the optional Extender-Q to work well visually and to provide enough back focus for all eyepieces.
I would address these two concerns as follows: being built like a tank is not necessarily a bad thing (it’s nice to feel like you’ve got something for your money) and the Extender-Q provides 800mm f/8 views that equal or exceed anything that the competitors can throw at it. It’s been said that only the longer focal length version of the TMB 105 can possibly exceed the performance of this Tak among scopes of the same aperture..
Yeah, these scopes cost some money…but don’t all dream scopes?
But if you are going to get one you might as well get a good deal on it. Mine comes with the Extender-Q and adapters, a 2” Tak diagonal, Parallax rings, and a Tenba soft case. I paid for the package close to what you would normally pay for OTA only; that is, on the used market.
Anyway, pardon me for my moment of glee. It’s a feeling I’ll only get maybe 4 or 5 times in a lifetime!
I’ve updated the My Equipment page to reflect my recent acquisitions.