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Old 11-10-2020, 08:44 PM
astro744
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astro744 is offline
 
Join Date: Apr 2007
Posts: 1,244
I’m not sure which ones you are looking at but most in that price range will be be of similar design using an Amici prism to provide the correction. The angle may be 90 deg but is also available as 45 deg. The problem with most is that the clear aperture is limited and far less that what a standard non-correcting diagonal would give. This limits your wide field eyepiece use. The clear aperture is often around 20mm whereas a standard diagonal can provide around 27mm. You can get a 2” amici diagonal but these are expensive and then require a 2” visual back. You would use the 2”-1.25” adaptor for your 1.25” eyepieces and effectively have no obstruction.

The other issue is that on bright planets you will see a bright spike through the planet especially at low power. This is due to the design of the Amici prism whether 1.25” or 2”. A standard prism or mirror star diagonal is best for planets.

Note if using an SCT for terrestrial viewing with the tube facing forward and you standing behind looking into the eyepiece in a standard diagonal you will only get left/right reversal with the up/down being correct. This is only a problem if you are reading signs. The image is not upside down, only left right reversed. An Amici diagonal corrects the left/right too.
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