My new 102/800 arrived last week and I have had two very moonlit nights with it. It is a replacement for a much loved and already missed 80/600 from the same LOMO (St. Petersburg) factory. First impressions were that a 4 inch scope is much more massive than a 3 inch. I had never had a refractor this size so was unprepared. I'll never want for anything bigger as a quick look scope, that's for sure. The lens cell and lw tube assembly are excellently designed and made. There were few pictures on the web of this telescope so I will include a few here. They show what is for me a invaluable feature - an extendable drawtube that allows use of a binoviewer with no corrector (when collapsed as shown in first picture) and as normal in mono mode with the extension pulled out. It secures with a simple thumbscrew on the bottom of the tube and is very smooth in operation, with just the right feeling of resistance.
I'll post more on the performance of the telescope after I have had a few more dark nights. I did have a view of Saturn that was as good as any I have ever had except perhaps for a couple of nights a few years ago with my old Intes Micro m603. The view was more dramatic in the TMB, however, due to the beautifully sharp dropoff between the gold of the planet and the blackness of space around it and between the planet and its rings. This blackness was always smeared with a bit of light scatter in the m603 and in my 10" dob, but with the TMB it is a black so black as to almost look liquid. There was also rich detail on the cloud tops and clear definition to the Cassini division. Fantastic. It is only recently that Saturn, Auriga and Orion have risen above the treetops from my backyard, so I'm sure I will have some weeks of lazy observing just staring at the old standbys.
Attached will be a few pictures of the scope, its owner, and a few of the features I mentioned. Thanks to Thomas Back, Markus Ludes, and the people at LOMO for making this fine instrument for me.
Nils
(edit) As in the movies, dog was not mistreated in taking the picture. She assumes that whenever the camera is out, she needs to be in the picture, so trotted over and sat next to the telescope.
I'll post more on the performance of the telescope after I have had a few more dark nights. I did have a view of Saturn that was as good as any I have ever had except perhaps for a couple of nights a few years ago with my old Intes Micro m603. The view was more dramatic in the TMB, however, due to the beautifully sharp dropoff between the gold of the planet and the blackness of space around it and between the planet and its rings. This blackness was always smeared with a bit of light scatter in the m603 and in my 10" dob, but with the TMB it is a black so black as to almost look liquid. There was also rich detail on the cloud tops and clear definition to the Cassini division. Fantastic. It is only recently that Saturn, Auriga and Orion have risen above the treetops from my backyard, so I'm sure I will have some weeks of lazy observing just staring at the old standbys.
Attached will be a few pictures of the scope, its owner, and a few of the features I mentioned. Thanks to Thomas Back, Markus Ludes, and the people at LOMO for making this fine instrument for me.
Nils
(edit) As in the movies, dog was not mistreated in taking the picture. She assumes that whenever the camera is out, she needs to be in the picture, so trotted over and sat next to the telescope.
Attached Image:
