Would anyone be able to tell me the approx. weights of these OTA's.
GSO 6" f8
GSO 8" f6
Thanks
Jeanette, does this mean you are 'moving up'? If you want to have a play with an 8" GSO Newt, you're welcome to have a look at mine. I've mounted it on an EQ6 Pro. It's early days but if the clouds mand the moon will just give over for a little ... Give me a ring.
I'll check out that Fringe Killer of yours on my refractor while you play with the Newt.
Peter
Sounds like a good idea Peter.
I'm looking at something with a bit of focal length for planetary work and maybe some dso stuff.
The scopes has to be light weight cause I'm getting a bit feeble with my health.
Other alternatives for me are;
Andrews has their 90mm F10 refractors on sale, but its achro
or
buy a good barlow or powermate to use on the ed80.
??????????????????????????????????? ??????????????????
decisions decisions
JJJ - For planetary work, Aperture is king.. Focal length alone won't cut it.. your ED80 with a 5x powermate will not produce highly detailed images. The 8" F/6 newt with a 5x powermate on the other hand should provide you quite nice images... I know mine used to or me.. You need to remember, 80mm is not catching much light to start with, when you then extend the focal ratio to F/37 with a 5x powermate, you will be choking the camera for light.. a 6 or 8 inch newtonian will surely serve you well for planetary work, and a little more aperture can never hurt when chasing DSO's either! Call bintel/andrews and ask them about the weight of the Newts, Im sure Luke will be able to weigh one of the OTAs for you...
Sounds like a good idea Peter.
I'm looking at something with a bit of focal length for planetary work and maybe some dso stuff.
The scopes has to be light weight cause I'm getting a bit feeble with my health.
Other alternatives for me are;
Andrews has their 90mm F10 refractors on sale, but its achro
or
buy a good barlow or powermate to use on the ed80.
??????????????????????????????????? ??????????????????
decisions decisions
Have you priced the Powermate vs a Barlow. I checked Peter's in Hong Kong and his 5x Powermate is HK1490 (A$242) vs a 3x Barlow at HK$940 (A$152). For the relatively small difference, a Barlow would be a poor choice, IMHO.
Peter
Jeanette,
A vixen vc200L is the other option. About 5kgs with a handle on top. Don't need coma correctors etc etc etc, just a camera adapter and a focal reducer if needed. An eq5 will carry it and a guide scope no problem. One went here the other week for $1K or about $1.9K new delivered. Forget those GSO RC scopes, you need to hang a brick off the front of them to get balance and a half meter of extension tubes out the back to get focus
That is, about 5Kg for the 6" and 8.75kg for the 8"
Robin is probably right about considering the VC200Ls 2nd hand - I think I've read the larger central obstruction is better suited for CCD nebula work rather than long FL planetary though. I won't say more - you know I'm going to be biased!
The VC200L is nearly twice the cost of an 8" newtonian... And although they are purpose built imaging scopes, for planetary imaging/viewing, the larger central obstruction is really going to be a killer in terms of planetary contrast.. The larger secondary is great for fully illuminating a 35mm format CCD, however it is also the deal breaker when it comes to visual observation and planetary work... The same can be said for the GSO RC's.. As for the Newts, at 8.75kgs, the 8" shouldn't be too much to handle...
The VC200L is nearly twice the cost of an 8" newtonian...
I'll dispute this .. add these items to the dob: rings and a dovetail, add coma corrector, add quality lowprofile focuser and maybe the need to move the primary mirror to achieve camera focus plus an extension to achieve eyepiece focus. These sort of evens it out.
Unless you were to buy something like the Skywatcher black diamond 8" F/6 Newtonian OTA for $599 that comes with rings and a dovetail, and is set up for imaging (As I understand a DSLR will come to focus in them out of the box) The coma corrector is only really nessacary if you do plan on imaging with the DSLR... If it was being used with a small sensor like the GSTAR or a planetary imaging camera, the MPCC would not be needed...
I'm not saying either scope is not a good choice. It just depends on the desired application. For planetary work, the VC200L isn't the better option. for a dedicated deep sky imaging scope, the VC200L would be better...
It's true. My GSO 8" is the same. I use a short adapter for eyepieces but the DSLR comes to an easy focus without one. The MPCC is also handy because it eliminates the need for an extra T-Ring tube thingy and is also threaded for a Moon and Skyglow filter if needed. It doesn't alter the F/ ratio or alter the focal plane. Here is a simple shot of Acrux taken last night (in 90% moonlight).
Peter
Best of luck!
