Celestron C8 on SkyView Pro mount

[JimStan]

I am happy to report that after a LOOONG delay, I finally was able to fit my Classic Celestron black tube C8 to an Orion SkyView Pro clock-driven mount. This mount uses a Vixen Keystone and dovetail, and I was concerned that the refit might not be strong enough. But all went well, and the GEM is so steady that I was able to observe Jupiter tonight at 400X using a 5mm Orion Ultrascopic eyepiece! There were some moments of incredible seeing, and I was easily able to see the festoons in the belts, and watch IO pop out from behind the planet and start swinging around toward the front !

The view was a bit sharper at 167X and I could see all 4 moons nicely spread out on both sides of the planet.

The telescope just balances nicely with the two stock weights extended almost to the end of the rod. There is enough weight-heaviness so that a heavy eyepiece makes the balance almost perfect.

I have been using the mount with a 500mm/750mm Nikon telephoto and D-80 camera, which is slightly lighter than the C8. I can't wait to try out the camera on the longer FL scope ! The telephoto for the bigger DSOs and the C8 for the small stuff ! Joy-joy !

Jim S.

[ehorvath]

Does this really work well?  I just ordered the SkyView Pro GoTo mount which will arrive tomorrow (11/19/14) and was going to put the C8 on it but the C8 itself weighs 17 pounds and the max on the mount is 20 pounds.  Just wanted your advice to make sure your mount really held it well and it didn't end up being too heavy for the gearing.  How much does your camera weigh?  I was looking into putting a Canon D-series on this but what I found was they weigh close to 3 pounds........that is literally right at the 20 pound mark which is all the mount is rated for.  Thanks for your input!!!  Eddie