Skywatcher 250Pds From A Nexstar 6Se

[spacebloke]

Hello everyone,

I currently have a 6" ota from a 6se for visual and planetary work, and I'm thinking about changing to a skywatcher explorer 250pds.

Would the views be greatly enhanced (I know the weight will!!?)

Thanks for any input people have!

[Dunkster]

Almost certainly... the mirror is almost 3x the area of the one in your 6SE

I would also say that with the shorter FL you'll get wider max FOV but see the 80ED in your sig so you've got it covered!

[spacebloke]

Thanks Proto star.

The 80ED is just for imaging.

I've desperatly tried to see the GRS on jupiter for the past couple of years with my 6se, but no matter how much I try I can't (and thats with a 7mm Axiom ep!).

[Dunkster]

Should be an easy target for the 6SE, conditions permitting... although its been more of a beige spot in recent years. Last year I was picking out multiple bands and the beige spot, and also the barges being very obvious.

I've never had to do this yet but have you checked your collimation?

[spacebloke]

The collimation seems ok (thats the nice round doughnuts isn't is ).

Will the views be 'lots' better or just a little?

[Damo636]

When I made the jump from the 8" to the 12" dob I would say the difference in the views was quite substantial, so the 6"-10" should be equally impressive. I would have thought though that the GRS should be easily bagged in your 6SE, I have managed it with a 4" refractor. As mentioned above its more of a pale salmon colour as opposed to red so its easily overlooked. In a 10" dob it will be unmistakeable

[southernman]

I made the jump from a 6" f/8 achro to a 10" sw dob late last year. The difference on deep sky objects was astonishing. When seeing conditions allowed the 10" showed more planetary detail as well. On the moon however there is very little difference and in fact I use the frac more for this target. You will notice a substantial difference!

[Dunkster]

As everyone above has said, the difference is appreciable... I recently added a C11 to my collection as cluster season was getting underway and looking at M3/5/13/92 one week in the 6SE and the next with the C11

If you're getting nice round donuts when defocussing that should be OK (from what I've read!)... I've never attempted collimation of mine.

[spacebloke]

Thanks for all the responses folks!

I've also been looking at the Celestron XLT OTA's and noticed the price difference is quite substantional compared to the Skywatcher 250pds, is there any reason for this?

[Dunkster]

I'm guessing that manufacturing a primary mirror, secondary mirror and corrector plate for an SCT is a little more tricky than a primary mirror (without a hole) and a newt secondary.