its got to be Meade telescope i think?

[surfingspruce]

hi guys


i am now saving ready for my next upgrade telescope looking at all the scopes its looking to me to be a Meade,guys any idears on what type would be good our is there other good scopes out there

my aim is to look at deepspace objects and planets,also am looking to take photos of them as well.

will spen around £600-£800.

thanks

[matt]

Make sure you also look at Celestron.

[csb (Craig)]

It seems for imaging that important is stable mount that can handle scope and accessories and reliable tracking (doesn't have to be GoTo).

Have you considered the Intes Micro MN (Maksutov-Newtonian) series. Many/most reviews say the images are comparible to an APO of same diameter (but who is able/willing to spend on a 6/8" APO). And this scope has a great cooling down feature to speed cooling (Mak's (specifically Mak-Cass) are known to take longer to cool than sct's - up to twice as long from some posts I've read.

In Ed Ting's review he writes that the Intes could handle higher mag than a Meade. He also noted the optics, which seems to do with alignment of spherical mirrors (Vs parabolic) is easier to attain and that the IntesMicro has a really small obstructrion (2nd mirror) so contrast is very high.

http://irwincur.tripod.com/intes_micro_mn56.htm

http://www.scopereviews.com/ - 3 reviews of diff sized IntesMicro MN

This is my preferred scope or an APO.

Craig

PS But never look at Celestron - you may like it

[KG8]

can't suggest any meads myself, I found I had too spend too much money to get what I wanted there. I wanted a large aperture sct and a reliable and above all quiet equatorial mount, with goto.
I settled on a second hand C11 OTA and a new EQ6 pro mount. That left me a lot of spare cash for quality EP's etc. Now all I have to do is construct a reliable dew shield and figure out the polar alignment system

Here is what I put together for au $5000 http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2006-...1/Myscope2.jpg
A lot of scope for the money this way. In a meade, $5000 would have only gotten me an 8" including the add on eq wedge, and with the C11 OTA I got the williams crayford focuser and the dialectric diagonal included. So shop around is my advice.

[surfingspruce]

this is looking to be a good telescope Celestron C11 GPS.

http://www.scopereviews.com/ TOP LINK loads of info on telescopes.

the search will continue and am going to need to save a little more than £600-£800.

thanks for the replys guys.

[Outbackmanyep]

Originally Posted by matt

Make sure you also look at Celestron.

Here Here!

[nightsky]

Originally Posted by KG8

can't suggest any meads myself, I found I had too spend too much money to get what I wanted there. I wanted a large aperture sct and a reliable and above all quiet equatorial mount, with goto.
I settled on a second hand C11 OTA and a new EQ6 pro mount. That left me a lot of spare cash for quality EP's etc. Now all I have to do is construct a reliable dew shield and figure out the polar alignment system

Here is what I put together for au $5000 http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2006-...1/Myscope2.jpg
A lot of scope for the money this way. In a meade, $5000 would have only gotten me an 8" including the add on eq wedge, and with the C11 OTA I got the williams crayford focuser and the dialectric diagonal included. So shop around is my advice.

G'Day,
Not sure where you were shopping for the Meade 8" costing $5000, you can pick up a Meade 8" LX 90 UHTC for around $2500 including the wedge and a few extras as well,also you can pick up a Meade 10" to 12" with a lot of extras for under $5000 all second hand of course but in great condition.
Cheers
Arthur

[surfingspruce]

yes i would have to agree with you on that one as $5000 is a lot of money and would get you a very nice meade with all the extras.

as i search deep space i also search for a new telescope

[KG8]

Originally Posted by nightsky

G'Day,
Not sure where you were shopping for the Meade 8" costing $5000, you can pick up a Meade 8" LX 90 UHTC for around $2500 including the wedge and a few extras as well,also you can pick up a Meade 10" to 12" with a lot of extras for under $5000 all second hand of course but in great condition.
Cheers
Arthur

Hi Arthur' Your right there, I was quoting the new price on the LX 200R 8", which was the one I was looking at buying, I should have clarified that. I was ready to put the money on it until I heard it slewing. That put me right off. A lot of observers don't seem to mind the coffee-grinder noise but it wasn't for me. An LX10 owner also warned me to be careful of earlier series LX's as some had come out with plastic gears that often needed upgrading, and then there were clutch issues, motherboard problems. It was all to much for me I am afraid so I went looking elsewhere. I suppose I could have bought a meade tube but they are rare by themselves and always seem forsale with the fork mount etc.

I did have a serious look at an LX10, second hand for $3500 with the mount and all, but it ran on 18V and I wanted no part of that. I had that business with my second scope 20 odd years ago. It was a meade 8" that ran on 240V and you needed an inverter. Great for it's day mind you.

[Kal (Andrew)]

Originally Posted by KG8

I was ready to put the money on it until I heard it slewing. That put me right off. A lot of observers don't seem to mind the coffee-grinder noise but it wasn't for me.

It is noisy when slewing at 8°/sec, but you can set it at a slower speed if you want a quieter experience. I generally leave it at 8° at starparties or early in the evening, but if I am out past midnight and the neighbourhood is dead quiet I drop the slew rate down to 1-2°/sec and it is fairly quiet. I'm not in a rush to slew to objects fast at that time of the night anyway

[nightsky]

G'Day KGB,
Fair enough,I have the 10" and 2 8" and to be honest I have had no problems (so far) as far as the 12v go's,I asked a question on IIS a few weeks ago and was told that the early 10" ran on 18v where has mine has the 12v so it seems that you would have had no problem.BTW you have a nice setup
Cheers,
Arthur

[KG8]

Thanks Arthur' I hope my new setup works out ok, I don't want to be buying another for a spell. Sounds like your getting quite a collection going there, I assume the eights are older ones are they? I was at an astro camp a month back and a guy had an older 8" meade with a simple 4 button slew control. It was on a wedge, naturally, and I was really taken by it. I could have sat behind it all night with my sky atlas 2000 beside me and using the setting circles to explore the heavens. All it needed was a tiny led on each circle to illuminate the pointer I thought. That's what I personally don't like about the chinese EQ series mount I bought. The setting circles are useless and I will have to rely on the readout of the controller. I hope I never drop it!

[nightsky]

G'Day KG8,
One of the LX90 8" UHTC is about 16 mths old and the other is about 3 yrs both are second hand.The reason I have so many is I bought a ETX 125 when I first joined the group,then a few mths later I saw a 8" for sale,so I bought that, then a few mths later I saw another 8" with the UHTC and went hmm that might be better than the EMC,so instead of selling the one's I had as I progressed up, I keep them and then I saw a 10" and said "I must have that" and build myself a pier for it inside a Observatory,so thats where I'm at the moment.But I will be selling the 2 8" shortly and I think I'll be keeping the ETX 125 as I can bring that with me to the week-ender.It's a terrible bug to have as a bloke once said "the best scope is the one thats used most" how true,yet I knew a bloke who had 6 vintage cars and they never left the garage,or I should say "Hanger" all he did was sit in them and polish them.go figure.
Cheers
Arthur
Hope I'n not of topic here, again!!

[surfingspruce]

hi guys

am starting see an addiction from what am reading and i have to say i do now what it feels like am looking at every type and thinking got to get it not only are they cool but look brill,

i have a area on the side of my house a balcony you could say its 15ft x15ft and surounded by a wall that is head hight am thinking this is were i need to set up as a permenet thing.also its pich black at night.lol

guys am going to take some photos of the area and see what you think. i think you will like it.

[nightsky]

G'Day,
Look forward to seeing the pic if it's like you say,it would be a great spot for viewing, if its attached to the house wouldn't it block out a part of the sky,anyway it's sounds "Kewl"
Cheers
Arthur

[surfingspruce]

hi

will post the pics later today i have full sky from sun rise to sun down.
hopefully the photos will show how big this area is.

it is on the house but am just above street light and were it is there is no lights so at night it is perfect.