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Skywatcher 190mm Maksutov-Newtonian Astrograph


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Mark, I haven't compared it visually with a good f5 Newtonian but the 190MN will almost certainly be better corrected. The 190MN is tuned primarily for imaging, it is an astrograph, hence the slightly larger secondary than would be usual for a Mak-Newt. If a Mak-Newt were designed for visual then price-for-price I would expect it to comfortably out-perform a regular Newtonian.

Mak-Newts are not often seen larger than 8" as the weight and thickness of the front corrector lens would put off most potential owners. Personally, I would like to see one smaller and faster...

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Mark, I haven't compared it visually with a good f5 Newtonian but the 190MN will almost certainly be better corrected. The 190MN is tuned primarily for imaging, it is an astrograph, hence the slightly larger secondary than would be usual for a Mak-Newt. If a Mak-Newt were designed for visual then price-for-price I would expect it to comfortably out-perform a regular Newtonian.

Mak-Newts are not often seen larger than 8" as the weight and thickness of the primary would put off most potential owners. Personally, I would like to see one smaller and faster...

I'm on my second mak-newt now and I can safely say that the Mak-Newt has a better corrected field than any fast newt I've looked through. I did read somewhere that the amount of coma in a MN is something like 80% (not sure of the exact amount) less than in a normal newt (it's about 40% in a Schmidt-Newtonians). But, I read another nugget of info that told me that the amount of coma lessens the longer the focal ratio of the scope so the Intes f8 models don't have such a huge advantage over a normal f8 newtonian.

I'll have my 6" f6 Mak-Newt for observing at SGL4, and of course, anyone is welcome to take a look though it. Personally, I'd be interested in observing through the SW190 version as it does have that larger secondary just to see if it really does affect contrast like it is supposed to do.

Tony..

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Me too, those f8 models have dinky secondaries (~20%) which theoretically should keep the contrast high but at the expense of field illumination. My MN has a small secondary (a smidgen under 20%) and it's contrast is definately 'refractor like' :)...

Tony..

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Personally, I'd be interested in observing through the SW190 version as it does have that larger secondary just to see if it really does affect contrast like it is supposed to do.

Tony..

I'm bringing my SW190 Tony, if I havnt got it set up for imagining you (or anyone else) is more than welcome to have a look through it :)

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That chunk of glass at the front also takes longer to cool down the larger you go. The bigger Intes Micro ones are very heavy too.

I'm an SCT man, but the Skywatcher looks very tempting as a fast wide-field jobby.

Richard

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Mark, I haven't compared it visually with a good f5 Newtonian but the 190MN will almost certainly be better corrected. .

I have compared them, side by side with a good F5 Newtonian, and the 190MN's optics are better by a long shot. Personally, the views I was getting of Venus with it rivalled most I had ever had with any scope.

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Mak-Newts are not often seen larger than 8" as the weight and thickness of the primary would put off most potential owners. Personally...

Oops, not primary, meant to type 'front corrector lens'.

I'm sure you knew what I meant :)

Original post edited.

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  • 4 months later...

But check the version in my album as it is slightly higher res. Jpegging these pics really hurts them.

In fact I have set up an album just for Mak-Newt images, and will add new ones to it as and when they are processed.

Interestingly, and it is only a hunch, I haven't done a side by side empirical test, but the MN190 @ f5.3 seems to have pulled in more faint Ha nebulosity around M57 than my f4 newt did over the same exposure time. I'll have to get around to testing that properly, it may be that the faster tube doesn't work well with the 7nm Ha filter

Have to say, I am very impressed with the Mak-Newt, almost wishing galaxy season upon us :)

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  • 4 months later...

The Skywatcher 190MN has been updated, it now features a dual-speed Crayford focuser and is known as the Skywatcher 190MN DS PRO. The retail price is unchanged.

(We have been sent two images, one shows a white focuser, the other black. We won't know for sure which is the actual colour until the first delivery arrives next week)

skywatcher_maksutov_newtonian_astrograph.jpg

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Do they supply these new focusers as an upgrade to early adopters of this scope ;)

Or will they offer that focuser as a standalone upgrade for other telescopes?

I'll see what I can find out :)

Skywatcher's importers are a little 'stressed' at the moment as they are preparing for Astrofest - it might be a few days before I can respond.

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