6" refractor on ebay - Page 2

ving (David) · #21 23-01-2006, 03:59 PM

focal reducers are cheap hey?

RB (Andrew) · #22 23-01-2006, 04:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ving

well the slightly longer focal length (f8) would give better contrast with planets... hey i didnt say i was dumping the dobbie!!!

its a refractor, so everything that goes along with that i guess. but mainly planets. no obstruction. but being a 6" plenty of clusters and stuff too........

...and stuff...

just throwing some ideas around in my head

I am thinking an f6 is more likely tho... and that would be more portable too

Wonder if this has anything to do with a certain peek-a-boo someone took through a certain refractor at Kulnura on Saturday night?

ving (David) · #23 23-01-2006, 04:16 PM

partly.... you werent suppose to know that i looked

no, i have been thinking about a short tube for ages, but seeing your made me think f8 posibly wasnt too long.... i am still undecided

gbeal · #24 23-01-2006, 04:18 PM

Vingster,
the Mak idea has merit, I should know, being a Mak fiend.
If a refractor is your cuppa, and bearing in mind the grab and go, as well as the family, maybe join virtually everyone else and look at an 80mm or some flavour.

RB (Andrew) · #25 23-01-2006, 04:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ving

partly.... you werent suppose to know that i looked

no, i have been thinking about a short tube for ages, but seeing your made me think f8 posibly wasnt too long.... i am still undecided

You're more than welcome to use it as long as you like next time vingsta.
I'll bung in a focal reducer to make it a f/5.5 for ya, so you've got the best of both "outta-this-worlds", how's that?

ving (David) · #26 23-01-2006, 04:26 PM

ausastronomer (John Bambury) · #27 23-01-2006, 05:33 PM

David,

As others have mentioned, that 6" achro refractor would be about the largest step backwards you could possibly take. Optically it will be dramatically inferior to your present 8" dob and that mount is just an absolute shocker. A 6" refractor is a big telescope that takes a lot of mounting, adequate mounts are not cheap. Paul's analogy was appropriate, like firing a cruise missile from a shoulder launcher. Forget it, an absolute nightmare IMO.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ving

after seeing RBs 6" on the week end and sneeking a peek
when his back was turned (

) it made me think....

Andrew's new scope is actually a 5.1" APO not a 6". The TOA 130 and Takahashi mount would have left minimal change from $15k, if any. Why would you think a $400 refractor is going to do something similar to Andrew's scope ?

The 5" Mak is a great little scope but its going to show inferior planetary views to your 8" dob. Is your 8" scope collimated properly ? I don't think I have ever looked through it ?

CS-John B

[1ponders] (Paul) · #28 23-01-2006, 06:22 PM

Here's something to ask yourself ving. "Where am I going to grab and go it to?" Ie will you be taking it a fair way out of Sydney (nice dark skies), or will you only be taking it over to the Rellies places (same same old). If it's a get to a dark site scope then as a pack and go scope you could do a lot worse than getting an ED80 or Zenithstar on an AltAz mount or similar. But if your staying around the burbs and it's not going to be that much darker why not save your pennies for a light pollution filter for you existing 8" Dob. They look fairly grab and go if your not going too far.

janoskiss (Steve H) · #29 23-01-2006, 06:53 PM

Well, I'm considering the 5" Mak because I want something even more compact and easier to handle (i.e. move from place to place) than the 8" Dob: Something I could take anywhere in the boot without using the entire back seat for the OTA and half the boot for the mount like with the Dob.

Ah, and I found the ED80 lacking a little in aperture for planets. But under dark skies the ED80 is excellent for mid-low power and wide views.

Starkler (Geoff) · #30 23-01-2006, 08:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by janoskiss

Ah, and I found the ED80 lacking a little in aperture for planets. But under dark skies the ED80 is excellent for mid-low power and wide views.

That is the ed80's strength IMO, but my 15x70 binos also do that well enough to satisfy me, so the 80 just stays in its box now

mickoking · #31 23-01-2006, 09:58 PM

G'day Ving

I have a 120mm skywatcher refractor and I love it. I had one of the best views of the orion neb the other night using a 27mm panoptic with it, fantastic.

I quite often use the skywatcher in conjuntion with my 250mm Dob, its a good combo

Starcrazzy · #32 24-01-2006, 01:13 PM

Hey Janoskiss, there is a guy selling a nice 5" mak..An etx 125, hardly used, with autostar..oh yea,,,that guy is me..lol

janoskiss (Steve H) · #33 24-01-2006, 01:19 PM

That's why I asked if you would sell just the OTA, but you said no (as I expected). I just want a compact scope and a simple AZ mount to put it on; no goto or motors or electronics.

Starcrazzy · #34 24-01-2006, 01:29 PM

yea, sorry..i just rememberd that..

Starcrazzy · #35 24-01-2006, 01:31 PM

Hey janoskiss..I am considering getting the 10" gso to put on my eq mount...how would you rate the gso's optics??

gaa_ian (Ian) · #36 24-01-2006, 02:06 PM

Of course you still have the tripod & mount to consider !
I guess it would go on an EQ5 ok ? & a sturdy steel tube tripod.

ving (David) · #37 24-01-2006, 02:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ausastronomer

David,
Andrew's new scope is actually a 5.1" APO not a 6". The TOA 130 and Takahashi mount would have left minimal change from $15k, if any. Why would you think a $400 refractor is going to do something similar to Andrew's scope ?

The 5" Mak is a great little scope but its going to show inferior planetary views to your 8" dob. Is your 8" scope collimated properly ? I don't think I have ever looked through it ?

CS-John B

at the moment my 8" is perfectly collimated

it offers fantastic views.... ok i was off track with the 6" apo but ultimately what i want is about 5-6" of aperture in a small scope that i can pack into my car as well as my family. my 8" doesnt allow the family to come along....
I often visit my mother in port stephens and she has pretty dark skies there. so i am thinking a short tube reflector or now a mak as a travel scope.

oh and i didnt expect a $400 refractor to do the same as a tak worht 10x as much... dont know where you read that

if i could aford a tak, i'd get one

janoskiss (Steve H) · #38 24-01-2006, 02:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Starcrazzy

Hey janoskiss..I am considering getting the 10" gso to put on my eq mount...how would you rate the gso's optics??

I do not have the experience to be "rating" optics of this quality. The best scopes I've used so far are the ED80 and the GSO Dob. The GSO was giving me a lot of grief initially as most nights I couldn't get decent clear images of planets beyond about 80x and star images always looked soft and washed out outside the very centre of the field even with good EPs. I tried a number of things to remedy the problem, and learned a lot along the way. In the end it turned out to be insufficient cooling of the primary. The "leave the scope outside for 1/2-1hour and you'll be right" rule just does not work most nights. Since I fitted a 0.3A fan, it's been a real pleasure to use this scope. It does 300x without a problem in good seeing.

jjjnettie (Jeanette) · #39 24-01-2006, 03:33 PM

I was thinking of replacing my broken binos with a small refractor. Maybe an 80mm spotting scope that I can mount on the camera tripod, something small enough for the suitcase when you go away.

Starkler (Geoff) · #40 24-01-2006, 06:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ving

ultimately what i want is about 5-6" of aperture in a small scope that i can pack into my car as well as my family. my 8" doesnt allow the family to come along....

I have toyed with the idea of getting a 120mm f5 short tube achro on an az-3 for widefield portable viewing. Dave47tuc used to have one and it wasnt half bad for dso's at low power. The focuser was pretty bad though but splendour trading sell the crayford as used on the ed80 pretty cheaply which will fit and would certainly be a worthwhile upgrade.