Do you have a second telescope? What do you use it for?

[04Stefan07 (Stefan)]

I know that some people here have more than one telescope and I wanted to ask why have more than one and what do you use the extra one for?

A relative of mine gave me their telescope because they don't use it anymore and was thinking what I can do with an extra one (I do not want to sell it).

My plan:
- Current one mainly for astrophotography as it has been modified for it and has tracking.
- Other one for normal use and travel.

[mental4astro (Alexander)]

In no particluar order, each scope has a particular use which is why I keep them:

1: 17.5" dob, main dark sky scope

2: 8" f/4 dob, main home DSO scope - takes 1min to set up

3: C8, 8" SCT, my only motorised scope, for Moon and planets

4: 10" f/5 dob, my travel scope

5: 80mm f/5 refractor, my ultra wide field scope for sketching with

And you were asking about a second scope...

[04Stefan07 (Stefan)]

Originally Posted by mental4astro

In no particluar order, each scope has a particular use which is why I keep them:

1: 17.5" dob, main dark sky scope

2: 8" f/4 dob, main home DSO scope - takes 1min to set up

3: C8, 8" SCT, my only motorised scope, for Moon and planets

4: 10" f/5 dob, my travel scope

5: 80mm f/5 refractor, my ultra wide field scope for sketching with

And you were asking about a second scope...

Haha woah that's a lot!

[asimov (John)]

14" SW newt for planets EVENTUALLY!

C11 SCT for planets.

F6 8" newt Mainly the moon.

F5 8" newt The moon.

F4 8" newt The moon + DSO's.

ED 80 + 70mm guide scope DSO's.

40mm PST for Solar.

[Stardrifter_WA]

I have often asked myself; "why do I have four telescopes"? The answer is simple really...............it is a disease!

My scopes are:

16" Lightbridge with Track-N-Train drives for deep sky viewing.

8" Celestron SCT with an ED80mm Orion piggybacked on it. These are permanently set up my observatory. These are used for general use and will be used for astrophotography, once I get a decent camera. It is nice to be able to just walk out to my observatory, pull back the hatch and wake up the telescope from hibernation. I just don't like having to set up each time I want to go outside for about an hour or so, to do a little observing before bed.

FLT 110mm Williams Optics refractor, which I use for planetary and as my portable rig. My new mount, an EQ6 GT, should arrive on Tuesday, hopefully.

Whilst in the US in July / August, I will be looking for a larger refractor for permanent set-up. I may be lucky and pick something up second hand at Stellafane. I hear they have a great swap meet there, so who knows what I will pick up. Have some cash ready just in case I see something interesting

Cheers Peter

[MortonH]

Since I live in an apartment I am limited to smaller scopes, but I still have four of them:

1. Skywatcher 200mm f/5 Newtonian for deep sky
   
   
2. Stellarvue 110ED f/7 refractor for planetary/lunar
   
   
3. Stellarvue 80ED f/7 for grab 'n' go / portability
   
   
4. William Optics Megrez 72 for ultimate portability

I have a small dual-scope alt-az mount coming soon. I plan to use the SV80ED and Megrez 72 side-by-side so my 4-year-old daughter and I can observe together.

Morton

[JB80 (Jarrod)]

I have my 6" f/8 newt for gathering dust and an 88mm PST mod, also for gathering dust.

However the good news just came in that we are to move to Spain now so they shall see some much needed usage and I'll probably be getting a c11 once we are settled.

[frolinmod]

I currently have ten (oops, make that eleven) telescopes and I know people who have more than I do. Certainly I need to sell some of mine. I also have several mounts...

[Forgey (Paula)]

I have 4

1. Saxon ED100 for DSO/moon imaging.
2. SW 12" goto dobbie for visual and planetary imaging.
3. 8" f/5 newt for more light gathering power for DSO imaging.
4. PST Solar scope

Different targets different scopes

[Saturn%5 (Graeme)]

I have 2

Celestron Nexstar 6se ( Just for Planets)

Vixen R150s ( going to turn it into a grab n go Dob)

[omegacrux (David)]

I have two

SW 150x750 acro good for widefield viewing
SW 10in x 1200 collapsing Dob good for everything
Bino's 8x50 great to just go outside and look

David

[kustard (Simon)]

14" Dob for deep sky stuff.
9.25" SCT that gets used when I'm not bothered taking the big scope out, plus I just got a solar filter for it so might invest some time looking the old sun

[Terry B]

l have 2 side by side in my observatory. The C11 has a spectrograph on it and the VC200L has my photometry camera and filters on it. This allows simultaneous photometry and spectroscopy of the same target.
My 127mm apo is on the floor gathering dust.
I will use it for our astro club events though.

[DavidU (Dave)]

A 12" f/5 Dob for faint stuff
A 6" f/8 refractor (easier to transport and pin point stars)
A 4" f/6 ED for images & moon & planetary viewing.

[IanT]

Hi
1. A 12" dob for long holidays in the bush.
2. A oldish but good 6" refractor on an excellent AZ mount, for planets and moon.
3/4/5. Three vintage 1960's refractors to occasionally look through (but mostly to look at because they are so beautiful).
Ian

[astronobob (Bob)]

On my very amature deepsky photographer point of view Stefan, my collection has been decided apon for three main reasons,
1) Speed, for example, F/4 is very good, as this shortens the Image time , hence reduce noise buildup on the chip, longer focal ratio's means longer exposures, hense lower signal to noise ratio !
2), Focal Length, shorter F/L's for large targets, longer F/L's for smaller targets
3) Last but not Least, Price; Example, Short $ signs for me, Long $$$$ signs Not for me Lol ,,

[04Stefan07 (Stefan)]

Thanks for the replies! This has convinced me even more to put my secondary scope to good use.

[Osirisra (Ken)]

As with many things there is no 'one size fits all' so a lot of us have multiple scopes for different purposes. As Peter said, it's a disease, one is never enough!

My scopes in no order;

14" Dob for deep sky observing.
10" SCT for Moon, planets, and solar with filter.
Double stacked PST for solar that I some times mount on top of the SCT for best of both worlds. Great to mount binoviewers and look at the moon and planets in comfort too.
ED80 for wide field imaging.
8" Newt for imaging
8" RC for imaging
EQ5pro and EQ6pro for imaging with what ever scope I'm using including just DSLR cameras.
I imaging with two scopes at the same time when the conditions are good as it such a rare thing and you have to take advantage, not that I've have a chance to do a decent session yet...
Couple smaller scopes for quick grab and go as well as teaching and showing others.
Use my scopes for multiple purposes like events and viewing nights as part of my running the local Astronomy Group here as well.

[Paul Haese]

I have more than one type of screw driver in the workshop each does a separate and distinct job. Telescopes are the same. That is the way you should look at them. One is for planetary and lunar imaging, one for solar Ha imaging, one of DSO wide field imaging, one for DSO narrow field imaging and one for DSO mid field imaging. I just need one for public outreach. I had one but it was too big and bulky and I needed to get rid of that. Anyway you get the drift. You need more than one.

[skysurfer]

1. Orion XT-10 for faint stuff and nice planetary views
2. Televue Genesis for nice views wide field, but mainly as travel scope
3. Old 80mm f/6.3 refractor with renewed objective for fast G&G and nice widefields
4. 15x70 binos for even faster G&G