What's your scope?

Hey dudes,

Mine's a Meade 10" LX200GPS with the promotional eyepiece kit they had going last year. Also solar filter, 2x barlow, kendrick laser collimator, I've a few other toys for it too.

Meade 10x50 bino's, Meade ETX70, Skylux refractor, all courtesy of Lidl.

A modest collection by comparison to the rest of you!!!!!

Seamus.

Hi,
My main scope is a 12"lx200 classic SCT, great for deep sky and grand on planets, depending on seeing.
I also use an Intes MK67 (6" Maksutov), a handy grab and run scope, the best views of the moon I've ever seen are through this scope.
I've got a 4" Celestron F5 refractor, great for wide field photography/viewing,

Last and least is the nifty ETX70.

Throw in a number of meade and nagler eyepieces/diagonal/filters/focal reducer/barlows/ronchi tester/OAG/focusers/binoculars/view finders/digital camera/webcams/piggyback brackets/dewshields/solar filters/adapters and thats it.

I also minded the clubs 12" F5 Dob monster for a while, a good all rounder.

I'd like to get a 20+ inch dob in the next few years to finish off the collection.

I've a celestron C8 SCT which has given me good service so far. Mirror flop is a pain but I do find focusing is actually quite easy and fine enough for deep sky objects as well as solar system objects.

The original mount is good, but not great. My AP1200 GTO is just a stunner. The C8 looks a bit puny mounted on it but pointing accuracy and tracking is superb. I've achieved down to a confirmed mag 17 (with a CCD of course).

Collimation is a breeze and the optics seem to be OK - the 6.3 reducer I use gives me better performance than the native f/10.

The finder is nice - small but good perfomer.

I recently piggy-backed the ETX70 onto the C8 but its not much use without a second CCD...

I also have a fast 8"newt which has given me super views. A bugger to collimate and coma at the edges. But nice all the same. Oh and the Skylux 70 - a great performer. Crap mount but optics as good as the ETX70.

Hopefully I'll be called up for the AP160 Starfire soon.... But then again, I can feel a 20" RC or Dream Scope coming on... I'd better go before I start drooling over a finger lakes dream machine too....

Cheers

Dave McD

Hey Fellas,
I'm still lurking around to follow your posts and see what’s going on over there.

I recently added a beauty of a scope to my night time arsenal. A little more than a month ago I picked up a Meade 127ED APO with a LXD650 w/1697 CDS mount from the Meade eBay store for 1799. USD a 5" apo for that price is a steal!! The LXD650 w/CDS was concieved in the early 90's and uses a command line program to enter basic information and uses a number system to identify objects. For example Jupiter is #905 ... there a lot to remember or always have the manual handy. :lol:

I also have a few other scopes to keep it company ...

- a 10" f4.7 newt. riding a EQ6 mount

- a ED80 attached to a LXD55

and a 8" f 5 newt that I put on either mount. (but it's pushing the capasity of the LXD55)

I also up graded the focusers on both newts. ... the 8"er has a William Optics crayford style unit and for the 10"er I went all out a got a JMI motorized NGF-DMX1 with the DRO option. I really like the DRO for imaging, once I zero the digital read out, it's easy to get back to a fine focus after moving around to different objects. I intended the 10"er to be my main imaging scope, but since I got the 127ED I've been using that the most.

That's it, no more scopes if I want to stay married!! (or move into the garage!!)
I figure I got the best of both worlds ... 2 good reflectors and 2 good refractors. Now all I need is another decent imaging camera to guide the DSI unit and I'll be done ... for a little while :twisted:

Clear Skies
Ken

That's it, no more scopes if I want to stay married!! (or move into the garage!!)
I figure I got the best of both worlds ... 2 good reflectors and 2 good refractors. Now all I need is .....

For a second there i thought you were gonna say "Now all I need are 2 good wives"

As for me, I've got a Meade 8" LX90 and a Helios 4.8" f/8 Newtonian. I've also got te usual accessories such as f/6.3 focal reducer, Meade eyepiece set, a couple of Naglers etc.
I've really enjoyed the views I get from the LX90. For portability, I wouldn't buy a larger unit than this.
Someday I'd love to buy a large dob. Will have to wait until SSIA time though.