|
Good advice from Phil.
Work out exactly what you want as a requirement (you've mentioned some things like portability, looking at the planets, perhaps some imaging). As well as a budget.
APO refractors are hard to beat. But they get expensive quickly.
I have a TEC180FL and I would regard that as about the limit for portability. It fits in its case in the back of a Toyota Prado but I don't think it would fit in a Falcon. Perhaps sideways in the back seat. The case is about 1.8 metres long.
As far as APOs go here are the popular ones:
1. TEC140 - constantly gets rave reviews about visual and is an awesome imaging machine. US$5500. Check with Yuri about availability but probably a few months. Sometimes for sale 2nd hand on Astromart for about US$4500 to $5000. Doesn't have the range of accessories Tak has.
2. Tak TOA. More expensive, heavy but top of the line performance and lots of accessories. Arguably the finest optics currently available. Certainly among the very top. A TOA150 would be portable assuming average fitness. It would need a sizeable mount. A Software Bisque PMX would be ideal. Tak EM400 is the usual mount it goes with. Software Bisque has more bells and whistles in their mounts. Tak is very accurate and user friendly but does not have the sophistication in the software that Software Bisque does.
3. TMB/APM. Probably best with the feathertouch focuser. Lots of happy customers.
4. AstroPhysics. Whilst you won't get one by putting your name on their list for years and years AP155's and AP130 GT's come up for sale often on Astromart. An AP155 usually goes for US$9500 and a 130GT for $6500. In fact there was a 130GT just recently for that.
These both need a similar mount as the TOA150. AP scopes are solidly made like Tak.
5. Then there are a fairly large number of high quality refractors that you would have to check out more thoroughly. William Optics, Vixen, TS, APM new Taiwanese APO, Stellarvue. Some brands have used TMB optics made by LZOS in Russia (a high end APO lens company) such as Stellarvue. Sometimes these are cheaper than if you got an APM/TMB with the same lens. For example there is a Stellarvue 152mm APO with a feathertouch focuser (the best) on Astromart for US$6200. That is a LZOS lens. New, an APM 152 is more like US$7500+.
Visually to get the sort of views you seem to want to see it sounds like you want a 6 inch APO for planetary along with a high quality barlow and some nice short focal length planetary eyepieces.
SCT's have evolved and now are coma free designs from both Meade and Celestron. Meade is called ACF and Celestron Edge HD. Both get consistently good reviews. If you want to do imaging you would get the scope only and mount it on a nice mount like above.
There are also specialised APOs for planetary. These are long focal length like 6 inch F12. You see AP models 2nd hand on Astromart for this routinely. Often about US$4500.
I hope this helps.
What mount is a whole other subject and just as detailed.
A good mount is vital for imaging and less vital but still important for visual. The usual rule is to overmount your scope. So you want a mount that has a higher load capacity than your planned use.
Greg.
|