cracked corrector plate in SCT

Thats true phillip.didnt think of that. New optics altogether seems to be only option unless you get a new scope!

Hi Alistor sorry to hear about this as i know you must be in serious pain about this.

Do you have your telescope covered for insurance? Otherwise a new OTA may be all that you can do. LX200r OTA cost ST£999 in telescope house.

I think Phil is dead right about this.
If you want to go on observing with it, I think you'd be more affected by it using high magnification, especially during planetary viewing where as good as possible optics are a must. Low magnification might not be as badly affected, how bad is bad is another story.
Is the plate basically broken in 2 ?
Complete optics replacement is your only chance here. You might as well get UHTC and ask for LX200R optics if possible.
I have an all risks policy for my scope. Under my normal house insurance, my scope would not be covered for such an accident.

Nope, I didn't have insurance. Just house insurance, which I doubt will
cover it.

The crack is from centre to edge, with a tiny chip on the opposing side.
I've only looked at it in low resolution, and it resolved a star fine.
I'll give it a test on high resolution some clear night.

I didn't want to test it out too much in case it shattered badly, damaging
the mirrors. If they're matched sets, I'm no longer so afraid

Right now, £1K is out of my budget. I've just got the scope
for a month, and just bought a new mount for it.
Sticking with this scope and the 80mm refractor.


Trevor, do you know what the exact model name of the scope is/was?
just "Meade 200mm SCT " ?

Damn it, lightining has struck again. Almost precisely two years ago my C14 + Losmandy G-11 were knocked over during the evening while I was asleep with the primary having been broken.

I checked ALL possible options and, regrettably, learned what many people in this thread are describing. These optics (primary and corrector) are matched sets and one cannot simply replace one of the two parts with just another one.

The only solution is for the unit to be shipped back to the manufacturer and for a new set to be spun. For my C14, the cost for the new set was $2300 and, in fact, this was the dealer price. Furthermore, Celestron would not allow me to send the OTA back directly but insisted that I do it via the local Celestron dealer (whom I have pissed off countless times by recommending to all local amateurs to purchase their scopes from the US where prices are less than one-half of his).

Alastair, for whatever its worth, I know full well your disappointment and frustration, for I went through exactly the same experience. I had my C14 for TEN years and it was a particularly good unit with exceptional optics.

Jeapers Anthony!!, did you have to replace optics on both scopes or just the C14?