Tak TSA102 first light

Since receiving this scope, I've had to try and observe through sucker holes in the clouds. Here's my first impressions of this new offering from Takahashi:

1) Excellent correction for chromatic aberration, the best I've seen at this aperture level. Takahashi has taken color correction to a new level. I was unable to discern any false color in the star test at over 200x. None on Jupiter at all. This is the only measure of performance I feel ok to comment on at this juncture.
2) It is just 25" long with the 2" adapter on. Needed the included extension to reach focus with a TV 40mm Plossl. Reached focus just fine without the extension with 16mm Nagler, Tak 3.6, Tak 2.8.
3) I really like the aesthetics of this new tube. Green lettering instead of blue. Very pleasing to look at.

More eyepiece time will be needed to see how this scope stacks up against the competition. A few nights of brief observing through sucker holes does not afford me a good "feel" of the TSA102 yet. But I can say I'm excited by this new offering by Tak.

Here's a pic.

-Evan

Attached Image:

Nice, Evan. How's the build quality of the OTA compared to the FS and others in the Tak line?

Mark

Evan,

I received my TSA-102 a few days ago. I got up at 3 a.m. this morning to view the Summer Milky Way as well as the North American and Veil nebuae. I've owned a few APOs and my sense so far is this scope may be the best I've used visually. My views of the Eagle, the Lagoon, the Trifid, the NA and the Veil were really astounding. I found 233X to be very useful under average conditions last night, though M57 at 163X was spectacular.

My first light was Jupiter and I was very pleased with the view. Like you, I had found no visible chroma on Jupiter (or even Vega this morning) at 233X in or out of focus.

BTW--I use the CAA along with the 2" visual back and Tak 1/10 wave diagonal and all my Televue eps come to focus with lots of room to spare both in and out.