Nightspore Posted July 26, 2019 Share Posted July 26, 2019 Altair Starwave 102ED-R mounted on a Vixen Porta II with a Vixen Half-pillar and SXG Hal-130 tripod. I had a session on Wednesday starting in twilight for a rising Jupiter. Transparency wasn't good but the seeing was about a decent Antoniadi II and when the low cloud shifted I got a pretty good view at around 140x and 180x. The Porta II holds the Starwave quite well considering the overall weight with accessories is near 5kg. I only used three eyepieces all night: a 3-6mm Nagler Zoom, a Pentax Zoom and a 28mm ES. Highlights included the M3, Andromeda Galaxy, Bode's Galaxy, Ring Nebula, Apple Core Nebula (M27) and splitting the Double Double at 89x with the Pentax and 238x with the Nagler. +Bino-viewer, +RonC and +Streetbob 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Bino-viewer Posted July 26, 2019 Share Posted July 26, 2019 Is that the F7 version ? I've been looking at a 4" class refractor for travel / grab & go, but possibly an F6 'ish' focal length to keep it compact and for potential imaging capabilities. I'm planning on using my existing CF photo-tripod and am looking at a capable, well designed but lightweight mount. The AYO mounts, manufactured in Switzerland look nice, something like the AYO 2 or even the Vamo traveller. http://www.aokswiss.ch/ayo/main_ayo.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nightspore Posted July 27, 2019 Author Share Posted July 27, 2019 Yes, 714mm focal length for 102mm aperture. The retractable dew shield is fully extended in the pictures so it is actually quite compact for transport. I nearly bought an ES triplet but at 4kg the Starwave doublet was over a kilo lighter. Vibrational return is pretty fast at high magnifications and really only noticeable when focusing. It's not noticeable at all when using the slo mo controls, or at low and medium magnifications. I can easily look up at the zenith with this. The AYO mounts look good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cristian1983 Posted January 22, 2020 Share Posted January 22, 2020 Hello Sir! Could you tell me what do you think about this refractor in terms of detail, contrast, chromatic and sperical aberrations? I have read about this refractor for at least a week and I am wondering what it will be for visual astronomy. I am sure that I want a 4” refractor and I think this one is the best for my budget. I would like to buy a Skywatcher AZ5 for its slow motion control, but I am not sure if it could handle 10 pounds. On Altair Astro they say that the scope comes with a test report. Although they told me that they can for sure send to me a test report before buying it in order to have some figure about its capabilities, I did not receive any report even after 2-3 calls and 2-3 email... Since I am a beginner, for me any telescope would be the first one. Thank you. Best regards, Cristian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+bryand Posted January 23, 2020 Share Posted January 23, 2020 Hi Cristian, and welcome. I can't comment on the scope, but I have dealt with Altair Astro and found them very good. However since there are only two people working full-time at Altair, it doesn't take much to slow down their response. As far as the mount goes, take a look at the 365Astro version of the AZ5. I had a 4" refractor on mine with no problems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nightspore Posted March 19, 2020 Author Share Posted March 19, 2020 On 22/01/2020 at 23:26, Cristian1983 said: Hello Sir! Could you tell me what do you think about this refractor in terms of detail, contrast, chromatic and sperical aberrations? I have read about this refractor for at least a week and I am wondering what it will be for visual astronomy. I am sure that I want a 4” refractor and I think this one is the best for my budget. I would like to buy a Skywatcher AZ5 for its slow motion control, but I am not sure if it could handle 10 pounds. On Altair Astro they say that the scope comes with a test report. Although they told me that they can for sure send to me a test report before buying it in order to have some figure about its capabilities, I did not receive any report even after 2-3 calls and 2-3 email... Since I am a beginner, for me any telescope would be the first one. Thank you. Best regards, Cristian The doublet is Ohara glass with at least one FPL53 element AFAIK. I haven't seen any noticeable CA or SA yet. Colour separation and contrast are superb. The OTA is 4kg but at least another kilo should be added to that if you use 2" accessories. It won't be stable on an AZ5 unless you have a heavy duty tripod. I can just get away with a Vixen Porta II, Hal-130 tripod and half-pillar. There is a test report? lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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