Celestron C6 Refractor on Advanced VX, Plus Baader Filters

[AstroStudentUSQ (Mark)]

Hi all,

Has anyone had first hand experience in using the Celestron 6 inch F/8 Achromatic Refractor? (it's current incarnation being coupled with the Advanced XV Mount)...

I am currently on a 4 year savings plan to be able to purchase a fully equipped EdgeHD 14" SCT with imagers and all that goes with it as a graduation present to self for when I finish an astronomy degree I am starting, but I am considering the C6 refractor in the mean time just for recreational lunar, planetary and brighter deep sky observing for relaxation purposes only.

I am thinking of replacing the stock focuser with a 10:1 crayford style from Bintel (GSO) and stacking the Baader Sky glow filter and Baader Fringe killer (2 inch filter versions, able to be attached to a 2 inch diagonal so don't need to unscrew/screw on each time I change eyepieces...) in order to tackle the chromatic aberration.

Anyone have any first hand usage experience with either the C6 refractor in terms of it's amount of C.A. and performance in planetary views? And also any experience in using the Baadar filters to tackle C.A.?

I do not want to be spending a lot as this is only an interim recreational scope and I do not want significant (>3K) funds taken away from the Edge14 fit out...

Anyone feel free to chime in

Best to you all,
Mark

P.S. Anyone interested in online studies in Astronomy feel free to P.M me... have had LOTS of experience pestering Uni departments on this!

[The Mekon (John Briggs)]

If you are serious about saving for the C14, forget the C6 refractor. Get a 6' F8 dob and it will perform equally as well as the C6 for a tenth of the price. Your current plan makes no sense.

[Hoges (John)]

Hi Mark,

I bought a 6" F8 Acro recently s/h from the classifieds here after wanting one for many years. I was quite surprised at how well it performed on the planets. Yes, there is some blue fringing so I bought a baader semi apo filter which I think is actually a combination of the two filters you mentioned. It helps a little but honestly, I usually end up taking it back out. At 100x plus, I found the combination of the filter and stopping the lens down to 4" gave very sharp and contrasty views albeit somewhat dimmer. Stopping the lens down seems to me to be equivalent to what the semi apo filter does - I don't think I'd buy one again. (filter, that is).

One thing to keep in mind with a 6" F8 acro - being relatively long, it feels the wind and there have been nights I've had to switch back to the 4" refractor as the 6" was wobbling about too much.

A plus with the scope is that you can take the focusser out and replace with a low profile focusser and get a binoviewer to focus with a 1 1/4" diagonal or you can take the step-down adapter off and make up your own and screw the low profile crayford onto that and use a 2" diagonal and binoviewer with a bit of back focus to spare. No angle grinding required.

I paid less than $500 for mine and think it's the best bang for buck scope I've ever had. Certainly not as bright as an 8" reflector but I prefer the images in a refractor.

I built up a wooden alt az mount and printed some setting circles for it - using sky safari on the ipad, I can usually find stuff pretty quickly.

[Tropo-Bob (Bob)]

Originally Posted by The Mekon

If you are serious about saving for the C14, forget the C6 refractor. Get a 6' F8 dob and it will perform equally as well as the C6 for a tenth of the price. Your current plan makes no sense.

100% agree. The 6" & 8" Dobs are outstanding value for money.

A 6" Dob will be easy to use, as well as physically move compared to a 6" refractor. The money U save could be used to buy some nice EPs, which U may later be used on the C14. (Although any EP under 10mm (or even 12mm) will have little or no use with the C14.

[warpsl (Jason)]

Sometimes they come up on gumtree for $200 which is an absolute steal. When used for straight through viewing without a diagonal you will have about 98% light transmission to your eyepiece,as opposed to 80% from a reflector.if you can find 2 cheap ones mount them side by side for the ultimate binoculars.regards.