troypiggo
19-06-2020, 07:46 AM
Sorry for the long background story...
A friend contacted me yesterday asking for advice on replacing a telescope that he used to take hiking/overnight camping. He wasn't sure what type of scope it was (refractor vs Newt vs Cass). He thought it was a Celestron 3000. Looking at the Celestron website he thought it looked most like the Nexstar 8SE, but his mount wasn't computerised. He said he was hiking with backpack for overnight camp, and had a bag made up to strap scope and mount to outside of backpack. The attachments caught on something while climbing Mt Barney(?) and the scope bag detached and fell down 100m inaccessible cliff. Gone.
He recalls a dimension of 175mm or so for the external diameter of the scope, because he had a foam insert made up for the bag. I said that it sounded like it would have to be a 6in Cass then, because an 8in would have to be over 200mm externally.
I asked him what he views with it, and sounded like planets and Moon. Things for the kids to look at. Visual only.
He was adamant about the scope type, but I would have thought it'd be a struggle attaching and carrying a 6in Cass plus mount (alt/az?) plus backpack for overnight stay on top of a mountain!
So. He wants to replace it. On a budget. He mentioned around $500. I said he'd be settling for something second hand. He needs scope, mount, eyepiece. He's open to a different scope type, as long as it's equivalent portability and I guess similar view performance (can see Saturn ring divisions he mentioned).
Can you offer some advice? I am struggling to come up with a suggestion or recommendation that meets his brief. I would think 6in cass would blow budget. A 6in newt might be tricky collimation-wise if he's not that experienced and carrying it a lot. Refractor wouldn't have same resolution for same portability?
A friend contacted me yesterday asking for advice on replacing a telescope that he used to take hiking/overnight camping. He wasn't sure what type of scope it was (refractor vs Newt vs Cass). He thought it was a Celestron 3000. Looking at the Celestron website he thought it looked most like the Nexstar 8SE, but his mount wasn't computerised. He said he was hiking with backpack for overnight camp, and had a bag made up to strap scope and mount to outside of backpack. The attachments caught on something while climbing Mt Barney(?) and the scope bag detached and fell down 100m inaccessible cliff. Gone.
He recalls a dimension of 175mm or so for the external diameter of the scope, because he had a foam insert made up for the bag. I said that it sounded like it would have to be a 6in Cass then, because an 8in would have to be over 200mm externally.
I asked him what he views with it, and sounded like planets and Moon. Things for the kids to look at. Visual only.
He was adamant about the scope type, but I would have thought it'd be a struggle attaching and carrying a 6in Cass plus mount (alt/az?) plus backpack for overnight stay on top of a mountain!
So. He wants to replace it. On a budget. He mentioned around $500. I said he'd be settling for something second hand. He needs scope, mount, eyepiece. He's open to a different scope type, as long as it's equivalent portability and I guess similar view performance (can see Saturn ring divisions he mentioned).
Can you offer some advice? I am struggling to come up with a suggestion or recommendation that meets his brief. I would think 6in cass would blow budget. A 6in newt might be tricky collimation-wise if he's not that experienced and carrying it a lot. Refractor wouldn't have same resolution for same portability?