[Hedworx (Luke)]

Ok the '280mm grab and go' title may have been a little misleading, congratulations for having a look anyway.

I have been very fortunate to be able to acquire this exquisite scope, my new 280mm refractor.

It is an APM-LZOS 280mm f10, air spaced apochromatic triplet

Only two of these lens cells were made in this size, this being number 2 of 2. The mechanics were fabricated by the famed Matthias Wirth from APM telescopes, I cannot express how incredible this instrument presents in every way.

The scope has two configurations, a straight tube if you have the space and a large enough peir and dome, or a folded setup which uses an optical flat secondary. The folded mode takes the overall length down to a 'manageable' 2.5m which is most likely the only way I will be able to wield such a monster.

My first priority will be to build a manual alt-az dobsonian style base to get me up and running manually to use as a visual planet killer. I have plans to mount it on an ASA DDM100 later this year, the pier and the like will no doubt be a mammoth task to engineer and build.

I dare say I will keep updates here as they happen if you would like to follow the journey as I go.

All going to plan I can mount the 180 Lzos as a finder scope.. maybe put a 2.7 APM barlow in there and I can double up on planetary cameras. 180 for RGB as colour and the 280 for IR perhaps.