About your scopes?

[sirmetin]

It is clear from all the reading I have been doing that having - A decent quality fast APO refracter 4 or 5", a nice compact Catadioptic 6 to 8" for portability and a bigger light bucket 12" plus gives a 3 scopes for all. Yet when I look at the scopes people list they may have a 4 and 5" Refractor, Catas at a couple of sizes close to each other and say a 9 or 10" newt as well. 4, 5, 6 or more scopes

Do you have all these scopes by design as ther seems to be a lot of overlap in a lot of lists or are they mainly historical you got them and they worth so little its not worth moving them on etc. In other words why do you have the scopes you have.

[philhas]

I think you will find most people start with a scope then realise that one size doesn't fit all and in the end you end up with many scopes! I bought a reflector as it was recommended then I looked through a refractor and just loved the pin sharp images and wide field of view....something you just don't quite get in a reflector however you can't beat a reflector for light gathering so for those fainter objects many people go for a big Dob. A lot of people image so they often have a few sizes of refractor using some for guiding etc...the short answer is there isn't one just an amazing hobby which can cost a lot of money!

[sirmetin]

Yup as noted I can clearly see the need for 3 scopes what I am wondering is when people have a few if not many more than that - I have visions of a garden full of scopes with the manic astro hopping from one to the next :-)

[Moonshane]

I currently have two scopes, both dobs - a 6" f11 mainly for planetary/lunar/doubles plus a 16" f4 mainly for faint stuff. that said, the 16" with an aperture mask will compete with the 6" for sharpness and contrast.

I only have plans for one more, a 70-80mm APO for wide field observing/traveling/solar/quick grab and go but in the interim I'll be looking for a Startravel 80 until I can afford the APO.

Personally I much prefer the Newtonian design and in an alt az format, hence dobs for me all the way.

I agree with you about collections of scopes and three is more than enough for me.

[philhas]

"I have visions of a garden full of scopes with the manic astro hopping from one to the next :-)"

Lol, your last comment reminded me of the video of "she blinded me with science" by Thomas Dolby!

[Coco]

Give me a Big Dob 14"+ with 1/10PV mirror and a case full off Televue Ethos and such and I'll kiss goodbye to everything else...

Personally no matter how excited I get when I see images appearing on the screen it pales into insignificance against seeing M13 / Saturn / M82 / Jupiter

[philhas]

but in the interim I'll be looking for a Startravel 80 until I can afford the APO.

.

That's exactly why I picked up a cheap ST80, the optics for the price are great and give great views with a decent 32mm, it wil lkeep you going till you've got the cash for an APO.....I am still saving for mine

[philhas]

Give me a Big Dob 14"+ with 1/10PV mirror and a case full off Televue Ethos and such and I'll kiss goodbye to everything else...

an amazing hobby which can cost a lot of money!

Like I said it can cost a lot of money! That would be a nice setup Coco

[RikM]

I have 3 scopes at the moment and plan to add another some time next year. I have a 10" f/4.7 Dob for looking through, a 6" f/5 Newt for deep sky imaging, a 5" f/12 Mak for lunar / planetary imaging, and I intend to get either a PST or Lunt 35mm solar telescope. In my sig I also list a 5" f/9 refractor which is lovely to look through, but it's not mine, I look after it for my local astro soc.

[philhas]

I have 3 scopes at the moment and plan to add another some time next year. I have a 10" f/4.7 Dob for looking through, a 6" f/5 Newt for deep sky imaging, a 5" f/12 Mak for lunar / planetary imaging, and I intend to get either a PST or Lunt 35mm solar telescope. In my sig I also list a 5" f/9 refractor which is lovely to look through, but it's not mine, I look after it for my local astro soc.

That's a nice range of scopes you have there Rik

[JamesF]

Hmmm, well....

I have an ST80 to use for a guidescope when I get that far, and an ED80 for widefield imaging. The ST102 I share with my son, and the ST120 is what I now use for visual DSO observing. The 127Mak is handy for travelling with, being so compact, and it's what I've been using for working on my planetary imaging. The C9.25 will take over as my main planetary scope when I finish my observatory. The ST102 and ST120 also get used for solar observation as I've made solar filters for both and my son likes to have his own scope to use when we're out doing that. The 200P I bought partly because i fancied having a play with a moderately large diameter newt, and I'm going to make a dob base for it so I can use it on that when my EQ6 is otherwise engaged. It's entirely possible that it will pick up the fainter DSOs that I can't find visually with the refractors.

So, each has its intended purpose and whilst there's some crossover, each has its own niche. There's still room for a dedicated solar scope and a stupendously large dob though. There's always room for one more

James

[kev 102 42]

Id love a 6" Frac to add to my collection.............................kev

[John]

I guess there is some overlap between a couple of my scopes - the 6" maksutov-newtonian performs very similarly to the ED120 refractor but I like them both very much so I can live with that

Either side of those two lies the Vixen 102mm ED F/6.5 which is a nice (and quite rare) portable "grab and go" type scope and, at the other end of the scale my 10" Orion Optics newtonian is the largest aperture scope that I can handle with relative ease and it's good to have some decent aperture for when I fancy some DSO hunting.

In the past I have owned 25+ scopes, a number of which I really regret parting with so I'm much more cautious about letting a scope go these days

[Vali x]

my 2 cents: i spent several days on several forums, asking myself and other what's that?what's this?...and i understand sirmetin's point of view. for a newbie is very difficult to understand an more advanced astronomer why he/she choose that kind of scope and not the other ..what that type would give and other wont ! i was there, still think i wonder on that side..

.....something you just don't quite get in a reflector however you can't beat a reflector for light gathering so for those fainter objects....this gentleman pointed out the main reason for me buying the scope that i have and to avoid having aperture fever, i spent a little more to get a bigger baby ! is true that i still want/need some extra accessories (EP, filters..etc), but that will be in time.

[ollypenrice]

I split into imaging and visual, first off.

For imaging I want to offer a range of focal lengths so I have 85 and 200mm camera lenses then apos of FLs 328, 450 and 980mm.

For visual I have a little widefield apo (TeleVue Pronto), a 10 inch SCT and a BIG dob.

My entirely bogus excuse for all this is that I use it professionally. Monique knows this is a fake excuse but can't see a way to get me for it!!!

Olly

[ronin]

You ought to have a read of the Cloudy Nights forum, think the thread was "How many scopes are enough".

If you think 5, 6, 8 are a lot then you are a factor of 10 wrong. One person had converted their loft space into scope storage. They knew of something like 168 that they had, but also knew there were some that they had't included in the count.

I think 6 will be OK for what I want. Just 2 more to go.

[nightfisher]

I have four at present but i want to knock that down to just 2, i will never part with my tal100rs, i firmly believe this is as near to a perfect al rounder scope as i will ever get, to be honest im not sure about the other 3 in my sig though im fond of my helios 6" , i think either the mak or klevtsov will have to go

[brantuk]

Well you've got me worked out sirmetin - large (ish) dob for dso observing, couple of half decent refractors for imaging and guiding, and a nice general purpose Sct for everything in between (imaging or observing). The Sct has eq or alt/az mounting options too depending on how energetic I feel lol

[sirmetin]

I can easily see how someone doing both imaging and viewing could lead a lot more, I can also see that there may be more astros in the house. I can also see a need for perhaps a home set and a mobile set, this could get to 12 or more without difficulties. Some I guess at as spotters for the big scopes and I had missed solar observeing. My question was primarily aimed at those I saw where there was a large collection of very similar scopes 4 to 8" say and a lot of them, I thought either people are just scope hoarders or I am missing something about the advantages of a collection of scopes.

So now the reasonable collection looks - Large reflector long focal, spotter scope for the reflector (80mm achromat), Compact long focal length Mak or SCT 10" aperture for high mag binary, compact sct for mobile 6-8", compact apo 90-100 for mobile, 5-6" Apo for planets long focal, same but short focal for imaging, large reflector short focal length for DSO. About £20 000+ should do!!!

So that's 9 and need more focal lengths if into imaging like Olly, but that doesn't explain the 4 or 5 - newts with 6 to 8" apertures.

[AndyH]

Mmmmm

Most of the scopes I have, have a story to them, so it's hard/impossible to part with them.

My PZO Mak was an xmas/birthday pressie from my Dad, when I was about 10-12yo, so that'll NEVER go.

Dark Star Dob - recently re-discovered in my parents loft when I was clearing it for their house move. Just starting to clean it up etc. Not sure what I'll do with this. If I hear a relation has an interest in the heavens, it probably will go to him/her.

Tal Alcor - 65mm Newt(!) An early model, superbly engineered and with beautiful fitted case. Total collectors item, in my eyes anyway.

Tal 1 - everyone should own a 2nd hand Tal 1

Tal M - just the ota. Curious and ingenious tiny newt.

Tal 2M - Magnificent scope, magnificent 'old school' eq mount. I use the mount to carry most of my scopes, so it's going nowhere. I've not used the ota in years, but if the mounts staying, then I'm not going to sell the scope.

Tal Klevtsov - Read everything about this scope around the turn of the century and had a full on lust for it. Finally got a 2nd hand one about 3-4 years ago. My main scope. Love it.

Burgess Apo - Was lucky to pick one of these up. Bought for various reasons - After Thomas Back gave a very positive thumbs up of the lens on these(even although it wasn't one of his designs) many moons ago, coupled with the fact it has a not so common FLCa2 lens(which has always fascinated me), good price, I had the funds in my paypal account.....

Very sharp, contrasty scope that can be pushed to silly mags, perfect holiday scope, has a split tube, so binoviewers can be used without an OCD.

Downside? It blocks me from getting one of the improved Tal 100RS's

Carton 60/1000 - Lens and tube cost me US$40. Stunning optics. Never seems to be troubled by poor seeing. I've had moon/planetary views that would shame much bigger scopes.

Dream scope/mount that could make me consider selling some of the above? An Intes Micro 8-10" F10 Mak on an Intes Alter D6 eq mount. Silly money, but one should always have a dream.

Andy.

ps: I've sold on a handfull of other scopes too. Few regrets, apart from the Intes Micro 5"F10 and the Ylena 85.

[vlebo]

As a casual visual observer only I find my 120 Equinox and 300p Flextube and a large pair of binos for a quick look as much as I need.

[Charon]

And here's me thinking how good my ETX80 is!!! (apart from the GOTO never working that is )

[Pitbull]

Excuse my ignorance but what is APO?

[A McEwan]

Well for me a lot of it is curiosity. I want to try as many scopes as I can. A quest for perfection? Not really - just an attempt to experience what each type and model is capable of and to soak up the experience. Then there's the tweaking and modifying and matching accessories and comparing the views. It is a part of the hobby.

I've owned probably about 40 or so now, and as of this spring I thought I was settled. Then the 6" f8 Helios and 60mm Astral 500 refractors came along...

Some are simply too good a bargain to pass up - others become projects.

And yes - there are a couple I've regretted selling too.

Ant

[A McEwan]

Edit: There are also a few I've regretted not buying...