7inch Mewlon JUPITER 14th...thumbing my nose at the Jetstream
Hi All, sometimes it pays to ignore the Jetstream prediction. Not that it wasn't cruddy most of the time 3-4/10, but there was a brief moment of 6/10 seeing and I was poised with the Tak Mewlon 180 - deciding it was a better match for the conditions than the 9.25.
Anyway, nowhere near my best, but so much better than anything I've got for a long time
Good Gravy Robert , where in the seven levels of jetstream hell did you find that. Damn the weather charts and the force 9 star twinkling, I'm out there tonight. Last night looked worse than Tuesday night (and all those avi look like I've rubbed wet and dry over them) so I didn't even bother.
Which scope do you preferr to use for planets Mewlon or SCT?
Hey Lester, well in a pound for pound (let's say inch for inch) contest the Mewlon wins hands down. It has 1/20th wave optics, an open tube so cooling is rapid and unless the dew is really bad no need for heaters, tube extensions and all the mucking about with keeping SCT corrector plates clear. But in the end Aperture counts, if the seeing is good I'll never be able to get as fine a detail with the 7inch as with the C9.25. Guess they'er a nice pair of complementary scopes really with contrasting strengths for use in different conditions.
Now if money were no object then it would be a Mewlon 250 (OTA costs $10K) and I would be content
Hi Rob,
That's an amazing shot for a 7" telescope! Does the C9.25 beat the Tak visually or is it only the extra light for web caming that's important? Maybe if you sold the Celestron and the Tak and the mountings and the other 2 refractors and one or 2 of your kids, you could afford the Mewlon 250 .
Hmm, must have missed this one earlier. Well, Robert, not only are you the prolific planet poster, but in Brisbane, you are the King of Jupiter for producing such a wonderful image under relatively poor conditions. Well done that man and his Mewlon!
The Mewlon is only a Cassegrain, how much of the price is for the word Takahashi on the side? Arn't there other good cassegrains for less $ and therefore one can afford more apature?
I realise Takahashi are like a Rolls Royce, but a good Holden can still get you there.
Hey Guys, as Dennis points out the Mewlon is a Dall Kirkham cassegrain, generally with an F12 focal ratio (F11.5 for the 210). The beauty for planetary imaging is super fine optics and an open tube for cooling and no dewing. The 180 and 210 have the same mirror flop issues as a SCT but nowhere near as marked and in any case will take a meade motor-focus unit to fix that. The 250 and above have a motorised secondary as standard for focussing and a fixed primary which is very very seductive
The 250 OTA is ~$10K, the 300 (12 inch) doubles again to ~$20K
reckon the 250 would be about right, but even if sell the lot and mortgage kids etc would still be lacking and needing a decent mount to go with it.
Lester - I'm not aware of any other commercially available classical or dall-kirkham cassegrains that would provide a cost alternative to the Takahashi, but if you find one let me know
![[1ponders]'s Avatar](../vbiis/customavatars/avatar45_9.gif){kind=avatar}
, where in the seven levels of jetstream hell did you find that. 
.
