magnahrl

Xsubmariner...indeed works well for imagening galaxies. That picture of M94 is just wonderful👍Thanks for sharing! /Magnus A.

Had a clear and steady night Sat - Sun. Startest looked good. Not perfect not bad just simply good. Stars at focus? - well not much to talk about and that means good. (As Ed Ting, usually puts it🙂) Hard round Airy disc and almost uniform rings at 400X (not quite 100% collimated yet?). Lambda Cyg almost fully sep and M13 was so full of pinpointstars. I was actually impressed by the view. So I bought the CC8. Maybe the best thing of all was the seller and I will start observing together now and than. I live in a small town on an island in the Baltic Sea -Gotland. We did not know of each other and thought no one else was intressted in active amateuar astronomy here on Gotland. So I did not just get a new scope, also a friend to enjoy the nightsky with. 2 persons, time to start an astronomyclub.😁 Magnus A.

Sounds like a good idea with a 10" f/8 "shorttube" SCT on a really good alt-az, like Rowan AZ100 for observing DS. Instead of a traditional dob. Especially if you have to walk down and up a couple of stairs. You did not consider a standard C11 + 6,3 focal reducer? I have a C8 and I often use it with the FR, like it -two scopes in one👍 Cheers, Magnus A.

Also looking forward to your first light! Magnus A.

Hello Joe, Once again, thanks for your valuable feedback..🙂 Hmm 38%, after all not all that bad.... The scope seems and feels very well built, almost like my MK66 really. My belief is this scope is actually made in Taiwan and not in China. I am quite sure I will buy this instrument. Like it and the price is so good and the seller has been so serious and sympathic. He prefers his 120 SW Esprit for imagening. The CC8 was a mistakepurchase. I fully understand that if you are imagening. f/7.5 vs f/12 are two different things. I just hope for 1 last night of decent seeing so I can really value this scope. So far the "testingstars" have never really settled. At high mag the images are slowly moving from tight points to points of all sorts of figures. I have been out several hrs it gets better but never stops. I have never seen this effect in my other scopes, not even in the open tube Newtonian. Instead stars tend to quickly flicker before the scope is in terminal balance. If seeing is bad stars look like small flickering cottonballs. In the CC8 it`s something else, something slowly moving all the time. No flickering. As the image is moving it must be the air in the tube or the atmosphere. Not the optics it self. Hmm very strange. Any CC effect? Thanks for reading👍 Cheers Magnus

PS2 I have read Carlinos rewiew of a CC8 where he states the actual aperture is 7,3" and so the 33-34% CO is not correct. Thats bad! I am not so worried the aperture is 0;7" less than stated but the increased CO is irritating. Magnus A.

Thanks josefk for your kind feedback. Yeas the CC8 won`t bring new optical capability to my scope family but it might bring me a better ergonomical scope than the 8" Newt. I don`t have to stand, I sit and relax for reaching the eypiece and turn the ota for comfortable view in the eypiece is not needed and I don`t have to rebalacing the scope when looking at new objects. Maybe a good alt-az mount like Rowan or Losmandy AZ8 will make things easier but that will cost Money!! My C8 and Intes MK66 are dewmagnets even with dewshields on. Indeed there are other ways to fight dew such as "dewbands" to put on the tube. But they need a battery and cables and I don`t want to mess in the dark with such things if I can get a fairly short tube were the optics are resonably protected from dew and the eypiece is as comfortable to use as in an SCT, Mak or refractor. Still it hurts to stop using my excellent (?) 8" Newtonian. Just sell it you might say? Not easy to ship this. In my country the intresst in visual scopes is almost 0. People intressted in astronomy observing just don`t observe, they are imagening. So the demand for shortfocus apo:s is much higher. This might not be the truth -it`s just my experience! I have a small balcony were my C8 (1973) and MK66 are perfect. Yeas I do have the sad light-pollution but those two scopes work perfectly there on my Vixen GP +a Vixen light aluminum tripod. No dew thanks to the roof above my balcony. Still pretty good view of the E and S skies. So there you have it why I want an easy to use scope with little dew problems and a comfortable to reach eypiece. I think CC8 could be the answer. I am 71 years now and I don`t want to give up observational astronomy yet out in the dark nature. My Equinox 120ED is also an instrument I want to use more in the dark sky. With a longer dewshield than the original. Sorry for the long rambling..... And yeas you are correct: my Intes MK66 Mak is a beautiful scope. Very nice views. Pinpoint stars up to ca 360X. Nice planetary views. My 1973 C8 is not so aestetecly nice in good seeing but still it resolvs tighter binaries and shows more and distinct details on Jupiter, Mars and Saturn. An amazing 50+ years orange SCT C8 scope. I have deforked it and put a Vixenrail on instead so I can use it on my eq-mounts. Once again sorry for the rambling. All the best, Magnus A. PS Is the Tak Mewlon 180 worth 2200€?

PS Or should I save money and get a Mewlon 180? Somewhere in the future. Magnus A.

Intressting thread. I am very intressted to purchase a GSO CC8 f12. Partly because it`s an open tube which maybe reduces cooldowntime and the problem with dew. I also like the eypiece is always easy to reach comparing to my 8" f/6 Newtonian. I can get one CC8 second hand which has only been set up 3 times but hardly used since the seller purchased it in 2021. The price is also attractive -1/2 the money vs the cost new. Furthermore the seller has let me loan it before actually buying it. Very kind. I have had it out for 2 nights. They where a bit hazy but I could see brighter stars. It was a bit out of collimation. I have never collimated a CC but it looks as I got right by using a 4mm hexwrench (?) on the secondary. Only tiny movements. I did not touch the primary. I noted some SA in startest but not more than one can expect on a massproduced telescope. No astigmatism, TDE or pinched optics. The seeing was rather mediocre so I was not able to determing the snap focus exactly. I used one 2" extension ring + a 2"diagonal (WO). Mag I used were 100X, 185X, 267X, 300X ,343X and 400X for testing. Delta Cyg was sweet and well sep at 185X and 267X. Lot`s of black space between A-B. The OTA is rather heavy vs my C8, close to 9-10kg is my guess (20lbs) Still my VixenGP+Celestron 2" steeltripodlegs held very solid for visual observing. And yes I am 100% visual. Damping time was ~3 sec after a light hit on the tube at 400X. On my C8 it`s ~1sec. What do I want to use this scope for? Well mainly multiple stars, planets,open clusters, globular clusters and planetary nebulas. I would be happy to here opinions regarding my thinking on this 8"CC scope from you out there..... Yes I know I have too many scopes. But I am very curious on this CC and the price is good? I would not have considered I new one for full price! Maybe....... Clear Skies! Magnus A.

Wonderful, thanks for sharing! Magnus A.

Thank you Stuart, John and Magnus for feedback. Very kind! Magnus A.

@ LunarRob I am with John. Keep the 8" Newt and 4" mak. Magnus A.

I have an Orion Optics UK 8" f/6 Newton. It came with a test called Zygotest. There are some numbers I don`t fully understand. Maybe someone can help me? Strehl 0,982 PV. Wavefront 0.139 wave rms 0,021 wave Ast.Mag 0,029 wave What are those numbers really saying, could be intressting to know.... Test was done Jan 10 2007. Anyway I like this Newtonian. It delivers nice wievs at decent seeing. Startest looks rather good as far as I can judge and it snaps to focus. Clear Skies! Magnus A.

Mr Spock! Splendid sketch of Jupiter. I love all the wonderful details you caught👍Thanks for sharing🙂 Magnus A.

Just 4" and al those details. Wow! Beutiful👍 Magnus A.

I do like your sketches, Mike👍though the nights were not so good. What magnification did you use on the first one? Magnus A.

I have an MK66 std since -09 when I bought it second hand for a very good price. Still love it, though it`s not the deluxe version. Use it mostly for planetary and multiple star observations. Yes it needs cool down time but I can leave it outiside 1-2 hrs before a session depending on temperature. Beutiful star images! During all these years I have collimated it 3X. I even like the standard focuser🙂 Magnus A.