Astro-Tech 60ED Unboxed

[glend]

My AT 60ED finally arrived today, and here are some preliminary unboxing photos. As you can see, it is identical to the TS60, and very similiar to the WO Z61. It has a sliding dew shield and a neat single clam shell ring, which opens up to allow reversing the mounting shoe to perfect balance. I have attached a 100mm Losmandy dovetail to the mounting shoe, which accepts two standard 1/4" screws. Objective is an FPL-53 Doublet, focal length (f6) is 360mm. I bought the AT Flattener (which does not reduce, so it stays at f6). The image circle of the scope is 41mm without the Flattener, when the Flattener is used the image circle icreases to 43mm. A standard 42mm T-ring may vignette so the Flattener uses a 48mm T-Ring. The Flattener screws onto the focuser drawtube (once the EP holder is removed), and the camera end of the Flattener is 48mm of course. The optimal spacing from the shoulder of the Flattener where the 48mm T-Ring threads onto the camera is 55mm (+ - 2mm), which suits most DSLRs. In the last photo you can see the Nikon 48mm bayonet fitting attached to the Flatterner.

Hopefully I will be able to get it out for some first light images tonight. More to come.

[Kunama]

Looks like nice little scope Glen. A pair of those would make nice travel binoculars :question:

[LewisM]

Nice guidescope! I take it you got direct from Astronomics Glen? What was the total including flattener and post if you don’t mind sharing?

[glend]

Yes it is a nice guidescope, and sometimes it will be used in that capacity, but unlike most guidescopes this one has an FPL-53 objective and an imaging focuser. Mainly, for my purposes, it is a nice widefield refractor.

Yes, direct from Astronomics, and pretty quick dispatch on Ken's part. It only took a week to get from Oklahoma to Sydney, then of course Aus Post took another week to get it from Sydney to Lake Mac.

As to pricing, there is a slight discount for CN members, so the scope was:
$359.78 USD.
60ED Flattener was: $ 94.95 USD.
Shipping via USPS Priority International was $86.85.

I didn't think that was too bad for what I was getting. I priced it from Teleskop-Services (their identical TS60 version) was considerably more expensive mainly due to the high Euro to Aud rate.

[FlashDrive]

Very nice Glen .... looks good.

:D

[ChrisV]

Looks good Glen

[glend]

I managed to fish out one of my old carbon fibre brackets that I made for supporting the TEC and heat sink/fan for cooling Canon 450Ds, and modified it to be the support bracket for the ZWO guidescope. This allows me to mount the ED60 and the ZWO guidescope side-by-side on a long Universal Losmandy plate without spending the money on the ADM CGX Side-by-Side plates and riser. No flex in the bracket. Photo attached. The ASI1600MM-C and filter wheel also fits on that setup.

[Atmos]

Now the real question is which scope is guiding which! They’re both so small :lol:

[glend]

At least they are easy to carry, and you will be old and weak one day too.;)

[Atmos]

Yeah, one day that Mewlon 250 will get too heavy and I’ll have to downgrade to a 32” dob on wheels ;)

[yoda776]

That is a nice setup. I am wishing to get a side by side setup with my AT65 and guide scope. not sure what plate I need to get but sounds like the ADM CGX you mentioned maybe.

Don't have to be old to appreciate lighter equipment by the way ;) Not so good shoulders and back lead to 'what can I do without injuring myself' setups :)

[Hemi]

Very nice, I’ve been considering the WO Z61 for a little while, but haven’t pulled the trigger! How do these two scopes compare? I was going to use it as travel/holiday scope for visual....and a big telephoto for my DSLR.

Cheers

Hemi

[ChrisV]

Very nice. I'm expecting to see some shots next week Glen.

[glend]

I was imaging with the 60ED tonight, well this morning now. Beautiful clear night here. I will try to process later today.

[glend]

Here is my first test image with the Astrotech ED60, covering the wide field around the Antares Nebula Cloud, nearby globular clusters, and bright nebulas.

https://www.astrobin.com/341889/

This was taken with a Nikon D5300, unmodified, so no cooling. Shot at ISO 1600, 70 x 40s unguided subs. It is a test image, and I know the ASI1600MM-C will be much smoother.

[Hemi]

Nice first image Glen, could I ask why you chose this particular ED60? There are so many out there!

Cheers

Hemi

[glend]

It was the most cost effective one with an FPL-53 objective element. At least three of the possibles were clones likely from the same factory, just branded differently. The Astrotech model offered a significant savings over the WO Z61 and the TS60, mainly due to retailer pricing strategy and exchange rate differences. The AUD is much more favourable against the USD than the Euro at the moment. And the WO was out of stock and had been for some time.

[dpastern]

Congrats! It's a beauty, and I wanted to get one of these myself, for visual use with a portable AZ mount, but alas, ran out of money :(

I've heard very good things about this baby scope on CN and it's on my hit list if I can get back into the workforce and have some money...

[Manav]

Nice setup! This is why I downgraded to small refactor too. Looking forward to the images :)