Look at the size of that thing......

[Astro_Baby]

A lot of beginners are often amazed at how big scopes can be and recently there have been at least two threads I have seen where people have been amazed at the size of the box that arrived at their door after oredring online and never having seen what a scope looks like in its physical form...in some cases this leads to mighty disappointment when the would be astronomer realises the scope is so big he cant lift it, store it, transport etc.

To give the many beginbers who are arriving here a taste of the sheer size of some of this kit I am posting some pics in this thread to give you some sense of scale.....

To give you a comparison I am a 5'6" female of quite heavy build - I'm no nymph for sure....

First up heres a pic of me with a Skywatcher 130 PM mounted on an EQ2 and a Skywatcher 200P mounted on an HEQ5.

[Astro_Baby]

Heres a pic of a Skywatcher 200P sat next to a Skywatcher 250P. You can see how an extra 2" of mirror size equates to quite a jump in overall yube size and the weight goes up a lot too....

[Astro_Baby]

And heres a pic of me holding a 250P tube - the reason I am holding it like this is cos I cant get it onto a mount solo Its pretty heavy and bulky - and of course fragile.

[Astro_Baby]

And finally - in case you thought Maksutovs were small - heres me with a Skymax 180Pro. This is roughly the same size as most 8" SCT or Mak scopes.

This ones on an EQ6 mount.

[Astro_Baby]

There ya go - me in the flesh (ugh !) but I am willing to make these sacrrifices

Hopefully this gives some beginners some help in their decision making and also avoid unnecessary disappointment when the fedex man calls.

[Ags]

I just saw a Skymax 180 in a shop - it was MUCH bigger than I expected it to be!

[Moonshane]

good thread A-B.

here's a pic with me and my 12" dob for the full range (I am 6'3" and obviously normally carry it in two bits!)

[Astro_Baby]

its also VERY heavy ags for its size.

[Moonshane]

ps I had that grin when I first saw it and still do!

[WayBig]

A veritable fashion parade.

.....The 180 pro looks lovely

[MarySkater]

Good idea for a thread - thanks for posting. Anyone else want to pose with their equipement?

I don't have a scope, apart from my bird-spotter. And given my poor location and the endless succession of cloudy nights, I'm in no rush to buy one. But when I'm web-browsing scopes, I do wish the adverts would include the physical measurements. Okay, a scope on a mount is an awkward shape to measure. But even the size and weight of the box it comes packed in would be useful info.

Mary

[Macavity]

Very useful. I think it also unfortunate that scope specs don't always provide easily-accessed weight info! In aspiring to a big Dob, I began to ponder... the density of glass is approx. that of concrete slab?

[nightfisher]

well done mel, a good thread

[Nick R]

a fantastic thread to give people a idea how big some scopes are

could it be made a sticky

[Woking]

excellent thread - the 180 Mak pic was most helpful

don't suppose anybody has evostar pics too?

[NickMilner]

They're all just fantastic, aren't they?

[SBGemini]

Excellent post! Having seen the pic of the 200p I am soooo glad I settled on the 127 mak! The wife would have killed me and my twins would have used it for a seesaw!!

[rowan46]

took me back to the old celestron advert days

[NickMilner]

Excellent post! Having seen the pic of the 200p I am soooo glad I settled on the 127 mak! The wife would have killed me and my twins would have used it for a seesaw!!

I have to say, when my wife first saw the 200P she went ballistic. She was soon enjoying the Orion nebula, though.

[klytus]

brilliant idea maybe it would be possible to see some comparisons on meade and celestrons eg etx,nexstar etc please.

[G2EWS]

Hi Astro-Baby,

A great thread for us newbies. Fortunately I had decided I am not buying anything without seeing it. Hopefully I will spot all that I am looking at on Friday when I go to Astrofest.

Best regards

Chris

[li'l john]

Very good idea Astro Baby, very useful. I agree with Maryinoxford re publishing dimensions and weights in ads. Surely not too much to ask of the manufacturers. I've spent far too much time trawling internet ads and making phone calls often with nothing to show for it.

[boborange]

Thanks astrobaby, i think you might have been refering to my post from last week!

The thing is, although I saw the scope before i bought it, it completely passed me by to consider practical applications such as storage, ease of use etc, plus i swear it was smaller in the shop!!

However, my mistake has actually been a good thing as im off to astrofest to buy a much smaller scope, the WO megrez 72 after chatting to ian king today. Another massive plus is that i can take it on a plane and use it when i go to yosemite NP, grand canyon and death valley which apparently are great sites for a bit of viewing.

[black5f]

Very helpful, great to get some scale. Comparative size of mount vs scope useful as well as I'm thinking of saving for a HEQ5. I remember looking at a 150pl and thinking blimy, it's just over 4ft long! Really useful to get some scale though. Why don't online scope shops show some scale, would be very useful?

PS No one else has mentioned so I will cuz I can, "quite heavy build"... not a very accurate description of youself!

[nicnac]

good post.

(just dreaming on how that 180 mak would look on my CG5)