Flog it all for an SCT?

[Charic]

Regarding dew control, when i had my 180 mak it came with a huge flocked dewshield that initially i thought i would be cutting down to a more sensible length, however as i never got any trouble with dew i left it as was, they are very easy to make and very effective if plenty long enough, the dew shield wants to be longer than the OTA by a few inches

I have read that a dew shield needs to be about 1.5 times the Aperture of the scope, to be of a sensible length, so as to not become too unwieldy. so a 12" shield is more than adequate for a Skyliner (in my situation) if needed. Is there a ruling on this, as our thoughts differ completely here?

[nightfisher]

I have read that a dew shield needs to be about 1.5 times the Aperture of the scope, to be of a sensible length, so as to not become too unwieldy. so a 12" shield is more than adequate for a Skyliner (in my situation) if needed. Is there a ruling on this, as our thoughts differ completely here?

Your scope is a 200 f6 newt ? these are not so "needy" of a dew shield so a shorter one is okay. Maks and cass scopes are more "needy" and being much shorter tubes benefit from a long dew shield 

[Charic]

That makes sense, thank you.

I thought my OTA was already sufficiently long enough anyway to prevent dew.

I have constructed a  short Dew extension (camping foam in a nice shade of Blue, not that that matters much to me?) but I sense it helps just a little with direct light pollution issues in my local area, rather than any real  dew issues.

On that note I have also considered flocking, but that no doubt would entailing Dysoning my telescope at some stage, what  ever next?

[russ.will]

Got to be a Meade, surely ?

Indeed, but which one?

Russell

[Joves]

14" LX200

[Chris]

12"?

[nightfisher]

Funny looking CPC1100

[russ.will]

Nah. 8" Something somebody said to me chimed with something I've typed lately. Namely, there's about 3 days a year when you can really bring all of that aperture to bear on high magnification subjects like planets. Drop down in size and it's easier to peer through the instability and lets be honest, that's most of the time.

There were other reasons, but it mostly boiled down to the fact that the Celestron felt cheap and all of my existing peripherals (diagonals, finders, EPs, etc) will work with the LX200. It also helped that it was in virtually showroom condition. I couldn't lift the LX90 12" due to a dodgy elbow, but both the CPC1100 and LX200 have hand-holds underneath the forks as well as handles - two of each in the case of the LX200 - and were quite manageable.

From the feel of it, the 8" LX200 wasn't much lighter than the CPC1100, which just makes it feel like it's hewn from granite. I was out viewing the moon this afternoon in blustery wind and it just doesn't budge. It's so insensitive to wind and human hand, the Meade Microfocuser is pretty much redundant.

Russell

[nightfisher]

Russ, looks a lovely bit of kit, and a scope i have toyed with in my "sell it all and have just one scope" moments.....................................i am puzzled by the Ritchey chretien logo,  i thought this scope was near same as the celestron C8 as in Mak cass

[Cath]

If you're going up a big hill to slide back down again for fun, then I'd honestly say, forget about astronomy/telescopes/lifes other problems. Perhaps spend the time you have up there going up and down doing what it is you went there for.

Complicating our short existence trying to mix past times doesn't sound like an optimal path to me?

But then, saying that, thank fully we're all different, in one way or another.

[John]

It does look very solid - hope it's a good one Russell !

I thought Meade had to stop using the RC description as it's not a true RC ?:

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-news/telescope-companies-bury-hatchet/

It would not have been resaonble for them to be required to re-badge the ones they had already sold though !

[russ.will]

That's the way I understood it. There's still a fair few out there with the R sticker though, this clearly being one.

Russell

[Astro_Baby]

Russ...please post after some time and tell how you get on with it - I have very often pondered just flogging all of the hardware and going to single scope myself.  Oddly I have always wanted a Meade (something about being younger with face pressed to astro shop window) but I have always been put off by stories of their unreliability on the mechanicals side of things. So please do post up once you have settled down with it and let us know how its worked out.

[russ.will]

Will do. It's out on the lawn now, but we're off round to some friends for half the evening. Grrr! I did have a quick peak at Polaris to check collimation and it all looks spot on.

[Chris]

Congrats Russ, As said I'm a fan of the 8" SCT's for a few reasons. Looks good! 

I can't agree with you about the Celestrons looking cheap, but each to their own

[Charic]

Nah. 8" Something somebody said to me chimed with something I've typed lately. Namely, there's about 3 days a year when you can really bring all of that aperture to bear on high magnification subjects like planets. Drop down in size and it's easier to peer through the instability and lets be honest, that's most of the time.

There were other reasons, but it mostly boiled down to the fact that the Celestron felt cheap and all of my existing peripherals (diagonals, finders, EPs, etc) will work with the LX200. It also helped that it was in virtually showroom condition. I couldn't lift the LX90 12" due to a dodgy elbow, but both the CPC1100 and LX200 have hand-holds underneath the forks as well as handles - two of each in the case of the LX200 - and were quite manageable.

From the feel of it, the 8" LX200 wasn't much lighter than the CPC1100, which just makes it feel like it's hewn from granite. I was out viewing the moon this afternoon in blustery wind and it just doesn't budge. It's so insensitive to wind and human hand, the Meade Microfocuser is pretty much redundant.

Russell.....Seems Al Nagler shares a similar view, check out,  OUR TARGETS - Resolution-how much do you need? http://www.televue.com/engine/TV3b_page.asp?id=102#.VMPxX_6sV8F

[Gazabone]

Well, as you can probably see, I've mulled over what you all said and by dint of the classifieds, committed to the idea of an SCT. As a result of my UKABS wanted Ad' (that was £3 well spent) I've got a couple of ongoing discussions over a CPC 1100 and an LX90 12" ACF. That I'll get on or t'other seems likely.

I have couple of other questions for the SCT owners 'round there here parts.

1 - I understand these things are utter dew magnets - My 12" Dobs have shown me that issue with dripping secondary mirrors despite dew shields. I therefore guess my first additional purchase will be an Astrozap Flexi-Heat Dew Shield, or similar. What are people using, what controllers do you recommend and what power source. I have a spare 7Ah Deben Tracer battery, but it seems to me that might only give 2-3hours of use, unless you only use the lowest settings on the controller.

2 - I've pondered focal reducers. I'm not sure there's a point yet, as my intentions are visual at this time. But am I correct in thinking thateven the Meade 0.63x FR is unsuitable with the the ACF scopes as they already correct for coma; an over correction resulting with the FR? I've read similar about the Celestron FR and EdgeHD scopes which copy the Meade ACF - The CPCs are unaffected by this issue, as far as I can tell.

Russell

Yes, they certainly are dew magnets but £60 or thereabouts (depending on the size of the cat) will get you a heated dew shield (check out FLO). They work remarkably well. Alternatively if you're handy with resistors and capacitors and stuff (ie massively more handy than me) you could make your own a lot more cheaply.

[Astro_Baby]

I use a basic astrozap heated dewshield, i could have just bought a dew band and used my existing dewshield but then thats two bits of kit to carry instead of one and I place a big premium on less hardware to lug about. I use a really basic controller with mine.

This one in fact http://www.firstlightoptics.com/dew-prevention/hitecastro-single-channel-dual-port-dew-controller.html

I use a very low setting, almost nil, you dont have to roast stuff just keep it a bit above ambient most of the time. Usually what I do is put it on full blast for a few minutes and then turn it down to minimum, if dew starts to appear turn it up slightly. I also cool my scope by pointing it vertically up and removing the diagonal so air can get in and cool it down while I am setting up and faffing at the start of a session.

I tried getting away without dew control a few times at the start with my Mak and in every case it dewed up badly, my own opinion on these things is I would rather cough up some wonga now rather than be sat under a perfect sky unable to use the scope later on.

[Chris]

Bit of a thread bump, just wondering if you are still using the LX200 Russ? If so do you have a verdict? The Evolution 8 and CPC 8 are out my price range by about double, so I'm looking at the more classic Celestron and Meades.

I don't think I've seen you post in a while, so either you're so loving the Meade you're spending all you cloudy nights polishing it, or it's put you off astronomy