dweller25

The big advantages of the CC over the SCT is that it has no front corrector so the scope will reach ambient temperature much faster which is vital for best planetary performance AND it will not dew up like an SCT does. Also the optics are made from quartz which improves thermal stabilty.

@BS269 You might want to consider the TS 8” Classical Cassegrain..... https://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/product_info.php/info/p10753_TS-Optics-8--f-12-Cassegrain-telescope-203-2436-mm-OTA.html

Precisely - the current scope he has may well be the best option ?

Oh - you want us to spend your money 😁 Well, you have a very capable 150mm Newt so what are your expectations from buying a refractor ? To get brighter views with more resolution you will need a large refractor - perhaps as a minimum the Skywatcher ED120 ? BUT it will need a suitable mount so the price rapidly climbs. A much cheaper option to improve on your 150mm Newt would be a 10” Dob.

Have you been drinking again ? 😂😂😂

There may be trouble ahead......

@Stu Please stop hitting your scopes or I will report you to the RSPCT 😂

Excellent images, particularly considering your latitude 👍

Hello @dara_t and welcome to SGL. The CT152 F/5.9 will be great for low power views but will show a lot of chromatic aberration at high power when looking at the planets for example. The 150mm reflector on the other hand will show no CA at all. Personally I dislike CA but others don’t mind it. It all depends on what you want to use it for that will dictate your choice.

Looking forward to see how it works out under the stars.......

Great report @HollyHound I have a similar weight refractor so things are looking good 😀 Where did you get the the M10 to 3/8” adaptor from please ?

I had the same tripod and could not keep the feet on - the glue failed on all 3 !!! So hopefully Louise a bit of hot water followed by cold water will break the glue 🙂

Looking forward to the reviews .......

That’s OK - it’s not our money 😂😂😂

Has the wrapping shown benefits ?

There is also the SW 150ED...... https://www.firstlightoptics.com/pro-series/sky-watcher-evostar-150ed-ds-pro-ota.html

Well @pbyrne As you said “any thoughts are welcome” ........ For deep sky/lunar and planetary a 10” Dob : https://www.firstlightoptics.com/bresser-telescopes/bresser-messier-10-dobsonian-telescope.html And for double stars/lunar and solar a long focal ratio refractor : https://www.firstlightoptics.com/scopetech-telescopes/scopetech-stl-80a-maxi-80mm-f15-classical-refractor.html That’s £964 for the pair 😀 However of the two scopes you mentioned I would chose the lighter, cheaper, quicker cooling 120ED doublet.

I would chose the Cassegrain over the Maksutov for three reasons... 1. The CC had Quartz optics. 2. The CC has an open front so no dewing and better cool down. 3. The CC had an independent focuser so no image shift.

Sell 👍

I gave up on Ebay and Paypal when someone got access to my credit card details - that only PP had - to steal £1500 from me. I got it all back but it was worrying. I did report it to the Police fraud department who told me that despite all the safety nets, all it took was a dodgy employee at PP with access to customer accounts that they could simply copy. I never heard anything back from the Police though.

@Greymouser I had an 8gb i5 laptop running windows 7 that was running painfully slow. I replaced the HDD with an SSD (£30) loaded on Windows 10 and it now boots and runs SIGNIFICANTLY faster 🙂 Once you get used to Win 10 it’s great and very stable with an excellent built in virus checker So for £30 you get a better PC and a Tak 😀

Hello and welcome to SGL Mars currently rises in the south east at around 1:30am but is best viewed at around 3:30am when it had risen a little higher in the sky. Mars is small and still very distant from us - closest approach is around 4 months away so you will not see much detail and as it is very low the atmosphere will blur the disk. Always try to keep your magnification as low as possible - x120 in your scope would be good which is a 6mm eyepiece.

I would leave it attached and just take extra care

Your mirror was not fully cooled which can affect how the out of focus doughnut looks. Suggest you insulate your scope and try again.

@johninderby Thanks for the heads up. Handle from WDS Components now fitted, it’s well made and makes a big difference to the handling of the scope......