Celestron C11 XLT Info Wanted

[Grotemobile]

I see that Flow are doing this scope for £1595.I always wanted a big Mac.Can any body tell me what this scope is like to live with.My set up at the moment is a Vixen 102mm F10 refactor & a 840 Tocam.This has done very well.I just use this for astro work.Light pollution is a problem were i live.What is the main problems with this type of scope.Is it easy to set up.I dont want spent all the evening just trying to get it working. Steve

[Mr Spock]

A C11 is a SCT (Schmidt Cassegrain) not a Mak (Maksutov)

As with all things, setting up a scope comes with practice and experience. With my C9.25/EQ6 it's about ten minutes, including carrying the stuff outside. But then I've been observing many years.

The whole thing isn't as complex as you might first think, but you do need to take it one step at a time.

Practice assembling the scope. Do this many times in daylight until you are confident enough to do it in the dark. The OTA is quite large and can be awkward to lift onto the mount.

Aligning the mount - make sure you can align the mount with the pole. Once you get the mount aligned the first time, each time after that will be much easier.

Go through the mount handset set up procedure and understand what everything means.

Going from beginner to this kind of scope can be a steep learning curve. Practice until you are confident and it will all become easy.

[brantuk]

You'll need an EQ6 for it at least cos it's big! Once you've polar aligned the mount, stand a stable stool next to if and place the ota on the seat standing upwards. Loosen the axes and twist the puck round to align with the dovetail.

Ease it in and tighten up. Attach the counterweights, balance up and you're away from some superb planetary viewing/imaging. Chuck in a reducer and you'll have a second scope for some awesome dso's.

[Grotemobile]

Hi, does this mean the mount supplied with the scope

is not realy up to the job.Buying a new mount as well

is not going to make it not the bargin i thought it was.

Would buying the 9.25 be a better bet.I might be better off buying a Mak.I thought that this was.I

should have realised that that at F10 is was not.

This does sound a bit of a beast to set up.The Skywatcher 180 Mak may be the way to go as i only want it for lunar & plantry work.:icon_scratch:The scope i have at

the moment gets a lot of use because its easy to set

up & use.Any thoughs.

Steve.

[riklaunim]

180 mak is smaller but the meniscus lens is quite heavy. Corrector plate in a SCT is light. I use HEQ5 with C11 and that's the limit for this mount. If you want lightweight that can run even on CG5GT they give in sets - choose C8, and not 180 mak.

For visual aperture isn't that much important, but for imaging it is So you need to decide...

[Grotemobile]

I persume that the 180 mak would be ok on the HEQ5 for imaging.Just been on your site,Prccessing planetary images.Very good.Iv got a modded mono 840 Tocam.

Did not realise i could get colour from a mono camera.

You live & learn.

Steve.