Istar 204 Phoenix

[JRC]

Just thought you might like to see a pic of the moon from last night in the Bluies.

Taken through an istar 204 1200 Phoenix RFT doublet. I.e. an 8" f/6 refractor It is as big as it looks too

Ill be putting more of a review of this absolutely incredible instrument together in the next week or so. in the mean time pop over to istaroptical.com

This is a serious galaxy and cluster puller.

Order one before the exchange rate goes further south!!!

[AG Hybrid]

Good grief that's big! The CA is pretty obvious in that picture though. A semi-apo filter might be the go. That scope should gather enough light to not be affected by the image dimming of the filter.

[glend]

Love my iStar 127mm R30 f/12 it has very little CA which the semi-apo filter removed completely. I'd second the suggestion to get that filter for your scope. The only way I could afford an iStar wss to build it myself as with the 127. I have considered going larger with just an iStar objectve on a custom strut tube.

[rustigsmed]

crikey! how much does that weigh?

[MattT]

Fantastic John…another happy Istar owner :clap:

Great telescopes….CA an' all :D

Matt

[Waxing_Gibbous]

Mon Dieu!
Its bigger than my living room!
That's a lovely bit of kit.

[JRC]

Well I do have one of those baader filters so I might take a few moon snaps with it and post just need a bit of clear weather this weekend. As you all know new scope + eclipse = drenching from above.

Seriously the ca doesn't bother me that much as its really only evident on bright stuff. Clusters like the j box really need to be seen to be wowed at what this scope can do.

It weighs 15 kg btw - definitely needs the g11 mount - and can be had for just under 4k us tho mine was paid for in 2014 with a far lower price & better exc rate

The 3 1/2" focuser from w optics is great and it's weight helps the scope balance. The w o rotolock eyepiece clamper is a very neat but of kit too !

[Saturnine]

Nice piece of equipment, have dreamt over the 1star range many times but have too many scopes already. If the lunar photo was taken without an Semi APO filter then I would say that the chromatic aberrations are very well controlled for an 8" f6 achro and a filter would reduce the fringing to a less noticeable level. Many years of observing pleasure to come with that scope I'm sure, enjoy.

Jeff

[Kunama]

Now that is a beautiful little 'Grab & Go' outfit John. Great way to go comet hunting.

[FlashDrive]

WOW....now that's what I call a ' Refractor '
I would love to look thru' this one ... the ' wide field views ' would be ' jaw-dropping ' .
Imagine using a set of decent Bino's on this .....:eyepop:
I'll need to get a ' T-Rex ' again.....:rolleyes:

Good Score John. :thumbsup:

Col.....:D

[MattT]

How much are you allowed to lift now Col?

The 8" is lighter than my 6". Istar have new thin tubes, half the thickness of the previous tubes.

[FlashDrive]

:lol: ... I'll set up some ' jigs ' and ' pulleys ' ... that should do the job....:lol:

Col.....:P

[JRC]

Hi Col im sort of cheating as its on my G11 in the mtns house now. This one has castors so I can leave it set up under the house and wheel into position.

The light tube is great but you need to be aware of that when drilling eg to mount finder. I was going to tap the tube but ended up bolting instead. No big deal.

Huge dew cap with a ridge

Allround a very clever design.

Now lets hope that big cloud over SE Aust gets out of the way by 940pm Sat!