This is a birds eye view of the setup. The roof is slid back about 80% and gives an impression of the whole rig
02/11: My Equipment
I have both the Takahashi and the Saxon mounted on a Losmandy G11 Gemini equipped mount attached to a pier in my roll off roofed observatory.
This telescope was first purchased in 2004, and from the outset, I was not happy with the star tests. I was led to believe that the "elongation" was caused by the camera I was using to obtain the images. I accepted this until I purchased my guidescope, a Saxon ED80 and a comparison star test side by side with the 130 indicated that the camera was not at fault.
Six months ago I contacted Takahashi direct and after numerous emails backward and forward, they decided that there was indeed some astigmatism present. They paid for the scope to be returned to Japan and fixed. I received it back about a month later, astigmatism fixed, but still "odd" stars. They have decided to replace the telecope with a brand new optic and when I am happy, to return the original. This is all at their expense. I have to be very honest here, I cannot fault Takahashi, their professionalism is 1st class. These telescopes are very rarely at fault, and Takahashi have really excelled in their service to me as a customer.
I would say that anyone wishing to purchase a TOA series refractor cannot go wrong. They are built like a tank and as such are quite heavy. If I had to pay for another one, I would definitely go the 4" focuser if doing imaging, in any case it is standard with the TOA150.
Six months ago I contacted Takahashi direct and after numerous emails backward and forward, they decided that there was indeed some astigmatism present. They paid for the scope to be returned to Japan and fixed. I received it back about a month later, astigmatism fixed, but still "odd" stars. They have decided to replace the telecope with a brand new optic and when I am happy, to return the original. This is all at their expense. I have to be very honest here, I cannot fault Takahashi, their professionalism is 1st class. These telescopes are very rarely at fault, and Takahashi have really excelled in their service to me as a customer.
I would say that anyone wishing to purchase a TOA series refractor cannot go wrong. They are built like a tank and as such are quite heavy. If I had to pay for another one, I would definitely go the 4" focuser if doing imaging, in any case it is standard with the TOA150.
This is basically my 1st Deep Sky image from home. I just basically wanted to experiment with settings etc, so hopefully they will improve from here. It was posted around 14/10/2007
01/11: First Item
As can be seen from my intro picture, I have started doing DSO work. My primary telescope for this is the Takahashi TOA130 APO. My guidescope is a Saxon ED80 all mounted on a Losmandy G11 Gemini equipped mount.
My imaging camera is a Canon EOS400D Digital SLR. Guiding camera a Philips Toucam 900C.
My imaging camera is a Canon EOS400D Digital SLR. Guiding camera a Philips Toucam 900C.
