Posts Made By: Kent Kramer

I wonder what Meade and Celestron were not doing for Anacortes that they were doing for OPT? Herb's announcement in the classifieds is gone. They must have reconsidered their position. Good thing. Could you imagine us not buying any Meade or Celestron... even for a day.

Kent

Takahashi MT130 on a Space Boy.

Kent

ozzie

I counted ten before they started to move off.

Kent

A friends pet.

Has anyone ever accepted an eCheck though PayPal? If so how long would you expect one to take for clearing? Would an eCheck originating in the UK take longer? How much longer?

Thanks,

Kent

I posted a bud last year in the wildlife forum. She continues to do well here in Minnesota. Clear skies today.

Kent

Unless you see them at the ep while viewing I would not bother. Even then maybe not...

Kent

I had an interesting early morning. Waking at 5:50 AM to let the dogs out, retrieve the paper and get coffee going I looked at the sky as normal with sleepy eyes. This AM I had not turned the lights on in the house along the way. Looking up at the sky I immediately noticed two slow moving satellites in close proximity moving through the region of the Double Cluster. Ahead of Zenith they were quite bright, as they approached they dimmed considerably. A few seconds later, a gorgeous long green tail followed a meteor moving north through Polaris. Then another, white tailed this time. It made for a great start to the day in Minneapolis.

Look up and be amazed,

Kent

Paul,

I have owned 2 FS-78's. One I sold to a friend and regretted it so much I purchased another. They are fantastic small aperture telescopes. I have no personal experience with the TV85. I am certain with everything I have read though it is a great telescope as well.

As far as adding or removing parts on the FS78 in order to reach focus I would say you are partially correct. Tak makes several tube extension accessories required by different applications that will allow the telescope to focus properly. For visual use in my experience no extensions are required when using a diagonal as the light path is long enough to get to focus. If you view without a diagonal (abnormal in the US, normal in Asia) I think two extensions are required. Sometimes your specific eyepiece or eyepiece and barlow combination may affect this but once you get the hang of it there should be no real problem. The extensions are only about $25 each. Anacortes has a great reference on their site for most of the Tak line. Go to manufacturers – Takahashi - system chart for the FS78. The OTA normally includes all you will need for visual including the 1.25” compression ring adapter. If you buy one used you might get lucky and get an extension or two. The pristine sample I sold had two extensions, tube ring clamp and Tenba bag. The one I just purchased was only two weeks old with several accessories.

You can’t go wrong with either Tak or TV. Let us know what you end up with.

Kent