Big Mak

[philjay]

That comment brings back fond memories. I was at my 1st star party and I had my 127 mak at the time. The chap on the next pitch was kind enough to let me have views through his 24" dob. He was also very proud of a new Tak sky90 he just acquired and wanted to show it off on Jupiter. I looked through it and it was OK to middling, so I showed him Jupiter through the 127 mak which had been acclimatised for about 2 hours, the view was far superior to the Tak, he went very quiet after that, probably wondering if he,d bought a lemon.

The sky90 is an astrograph and excells at that but on planetary the little mak , when conditions are right can beat it.

Edited June 3, 2019 by philjay

[Nightspore]

The 127mm Mak is supposedly the most popular Mak aperture size. I should imagine it's because it is a good compromise between portability and light gathering.

[+Bino-viewer]

On 30/05/2019 at 23:15, Nightspore said:

Difficult to beat a Takahashi frac though. How about Orion UK?

I've looked at OO UK OMCs before at trade shows  (both the 140  and the 200)

 

I've never looked through either, but i know the 140 comes up fairly regularly used on UKABS.

If i remember the 140 is a long F14.2 and the 200 is a specialised F20 and is crazy expensive.

 

I've never really looked into pushing the button on one, and have always gone for Newtonians (i'm on my third) where OO are concerned.

[Nightspore]

17 minutes ago, Bino-viewer said:

I've looked at OO UK OMCs before at trade shows  (both the 140  and the 200)

 

I've never looked through either, but i know the 140 comes up fairly regularly used on UKABS.

If i remember the 140 is a long F14.2 and the 200 is a specialised F20 and is crazy expensive.

 

I've never really looked into pushing the button on one, and have always gone for Newtonians (i'm on my third) where OO are concerned.

I think Newtonians are a bit more versatile as a whole. I only have one now, a 150mm TS Optics (GSO). It was quite reasonably priced and pretty good for what it cost. Which reminds me, I really need to set up my EQ5. I leave it outside in the summer months covered with a tarpaulin. That way I can just take the OTA out with a few eyepieces and set up fairly quickly. I have quite a severe physical disability so the easier the better lol.

[8472]

On 29/05/2019 at 18:47, Bino-viewer said:

I've always had a longing for a Russian Maksutov scope.

There's something about them......and Russian optics are right up there with the best of the best.

 

They don't seem to have THAT good a reputation amongst the planetary imaging brigade, who generally prefer SCTs

and suffer with things like thermals and cooldown etc.

 

There was an IM 715D on UKABS not long ago and i put a cheeky bid in on it.

I heard back from the vendor, but unfortunately the scope already had a buyer.

 

 

 

 

I quite like my Russian MTO 1000.

 

At it's native 1000mm and F/10, it's a little too short for Planetary and a little too slow for faint DSO work, out of the box.

 

I've modified mine with a DIY focal reducer, made from an old binocular objective lens, to take it from F/10 to F/7.1.

 

It does introduce I little coma in the corners, but easily corrected in post. Easy to revert back to F/10, as it just screws inside the T-ring.

 

 

 

 

 

Cooldown can be an issue, as you say, but by not storing mine indoors, it's somewhat mitigated.

 

A bargain for the money!

 

Kev

[Nightspore]

'We three Mak's of Orient are'