Quote:
Originally Posted by dpastern
I doubt that many people are going to honestly be able to tell the difference between an image taken with a 12" GSO RC and a 12.5" RCOS RC. At least, when both units are properly collimated, decent mounts are used, good tracking, good exposures and the same CCD imaging gear. ........
Dave
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That may well prove to be prophetic....but I'm still inclined to adopt a wait and see approach.
However I don't think the value of albeit less expensive, but good RC telescope, will affect RCOS anymore than a luxury Hyuandai would affect S-Class Benz sales.
A 12.5" optical set (from Star Instruments, the RCOS supplier) alone will set you back a cool $US6000..... Why? For starters the optics are Zygo tested and certified to 1/25th wave RMS, and have thermal properties an order of magnitude better (actually 20x better) than the fuzed quartz by GSO. (BTW this talk of 500% mark-ups is utter nonsense)
I applaud Paul's ingenuity. By adding a more robust and accurate focuser and adapting 3rd party field flattner to a modest scope, plus putting the ensemble on a top-of-the-line mount, he is indeed getting a great result!
But we are hardly talking about "cheap" systems out of the made in China box anymore.