Celestron SUPER C8 vs Hardin Optical 12" DOB

[deepspacehunter]

I recently moved from the LIGHT POLLUTED city of TAMPA to a beautiful spot out in the country where we can see the MILKY WAY.. and I traded my 12" Reflector for a Celestron SUPER C8 with a Meade lxd75 mount with AUTOSTAR... seems to me that the OPTICS on the C8 are QUITE GOOD... the STAR IMAGES are much better and I have the collimation SPOT ON on both telescopes...I am surprised at the views through the SUPER C8...I made the trade because I wanted a lighter telescope and I thought that I would be losing out on the great views of the BIG DOB, but much to my surprise, I am very happy with my new rig... if any one has any opinions on this, I would appreciate their input !!! CLEAR SKIES and KEEP LOOKING UP !!!

[deepspacehunter]

UPDATE... I actually traded back the Celestron Super C8 for the HARDIN OPTICAL 12" Reflector... I missed the big scope and the freedom to just point and aim it anywhere... My freind told me that I should be getting quite good images in the BIG DOB... we tracked down the reason for the images not being as crisp as they should have been.... I had been using a laser collimator and it was lined up perfectly with the center ring on the mirror.... BUT, a star test showed that I was not properly collimated.... using POLARIS (since it has very little movement) I collimated until the secondary shadow was dead center (on the out of focus POLARIS) and I turned the BIG BEAST to a star field in CYGNUS and WHOAH !!! WHAT A VIEW !!!! seems that the center mark on the Main Mirror was not in the center after all... I was VERY PLEASED with the IMAGES...and it seems like I got a new telescope.... AWESOME !!! so once again the old fashioned way is the only way to go...... check those mirror center marks to see if they are in THE CENTER....close does not count !!!! but you cant go wrong if you COLLIMATE using a star !!!!!