Bigger Zerochromats

[John]

I see from their website that there are now larger instruments in the Zerochromat range:

http://www.zerochromat.net/254mm-305mm-and-406mm-super-zerochromats.html

If you have £110,000 to spare you can order a 16" / 406mm one with a focal length of nearly 5 metres

Luckily it's a folded design so the physical tube is just 3.4 metres.

The 8" model is pictured below with it's developer, Peter Wise. Imagine how large the 16" would be !

[damnut]

These are the chaps from Nwales (prestatyn/abergele)  John, that I mentioned in one of the alternate refractor threads.

[Peter Drew]

Interesting, going to have to upgrade the EQ6!  

[Tomjo59]

I would have thought that the NEQ6 would be near its limit with a scope that size - visual only?

[pete_l]

If you have £110,000 to spare you can order a 16" / 406mm one with a focal length of nearly 5 metres

Do they do a double-OTA binocular version?

[Stu]

Has anyone actually tried one of these things?

I find it a little annoying that they seem to constantly making different versions but don't get the initial product established...

[ronin]

If you have £110,000 to spare you can order a 16" / 406mm one with a focal length of nearly 5 metres

Luckily it's a folded design so the physical tube is just 3.4 metres.

From a business aspect: Why ?

What market is there for one of these?

Any market will have to be a professional, or semi-professioanl, observtory, it is not exactly something to take out into the garden on a clear night, and I assume any professional or semi professional observatory wiould use a reflector or SCT these days.

I just don't get it. :confused:

[John]

From a business aspect: Why ?

What market is there for one of these?

Any market will have to be a professional, or semi-professioanl, observtory, it is not exactly something to take out into the garden on a clear night, and I assume any professional or semi professional observatory wiould use a reflector or SCT these days.

I just don't get it. :confused:

Beats me. I've just posted it out of interest.

Orion (USA) offered a range of dobs up to 50 inches in aperture but I'm not sure the larger ones ever made it off the glossy brochure pages.

[wiseone]

From a business aspect: Why ?

What market is there for one of these?

Any market will have to be a professional, or semi-professioanl, observtory, it is not exactly something to take out into the garden on a clear night, and I assume any professional or semi professional observatory wiould use a reflector or SCT these days.

I just don't get it. :confused:

Refractors are still used by professionals. The Vatican Observatory has very recently installed a 51cm apo. If you have never used a large refractor, you will never 'get it'.

[wiseone]

Large refractors are still being used by professionals. The Vatican Observatory has very recently installed a 51cm apo refractor (made by a German company).

To fully appreciate the marvels of a large refractor, the only way is to spend some time observing through one. Only then will you 'get it'.

Yes, they are expensive, but so is a Ferrari!

Peter

[Mr Spock]

51cm apo... now that's on my Euromillions shopping list

[ollypenrice]

From a business point of view, asking for a £55,000 deposit is going to require £55,000's worth of credibility. That's a lot.

Olly

[niallk]

... Or buy a 32" Webster, ship it to the Atacama desert and live there for a year

[Chris]

The polychromatic Strehl looks very impressive, 0.99 on the 10" version!

I've just checked my two's and one's jar and I don't quite have enough for one. 

[barkis]

I hope the Paramount MX+ comes with the price of the 16" version. 

EQ6 looks way under spec. for the 8" even. 

Ron.

[Stu]

From a business point of view, asking for a £55,000 deposit is going to require £55,000's worth of credibility. That's a lot.

Olly

Very true Olly. I've not seen a review even on the entry model, that would be a start, but there don't seem to be any in production yet?

[YKSE]

Very true Olly. I've not seen a review even on the entry model, that would be a start, but there don't seem to be any in production yet?

Actually, there seems to exist a review on the other site of pond

[jetstream]

Large refractors are still being used by professionals. The Vatican Observatory has very recently installed a 51cm apo refractor (made by a German company).

To fully appreciate the marvels of a large refractor, the only way is to spend some time observing through one. Only then will you 'get it'.

Yes, they are expensive, but so is a Ferrari!

Peter

I wonder why the space agencies NASA, ESA etc don't use refractors up in the far beyond? When sitting with my dob it feels nice to know that my little scope and the Hubble have things in common

[ollypenrice]

Suppose the £110,000 Zerochromat were let down by third party suppliers failing to meet QC, whose fault would that be? Who would take responsibility?  Where would the £55,000 or £110,000 be?

Olly

[Stu]

Suppose the £110,000 Zerochromat were let down by third party suppliers failing to meet QC, whose fault would that be? Who would take responsibility? Where would the £55,000 or £110,000 be?

Olly

Totally agree Olly. It's the manufacturers responsibility to ensure their suppliers are selected and contracted properly so they don't pay if components aren't up to spec!

[Dave Lloyd]

Interesting beasts. I suppose a danger for Zerochromat is that customers won't want to pay huge amounts of money to allow them to recoup their development costs and then some Chinese company will come along and undercut them by about 80%.

[Stu]

Actually, there seems to exist a review on the other site of pond

Interesting. I wonder why nothing over here, or no review unit with a prominent observer? Would certainly clear up a lot of uncertainty.

[wiseone]

Yes, it's true that it is the manufacturer's responsibility to maintain a high quality for all the components. This is the reason for the switch to a European supplier for the corrector lenses after appalling variation in quality from the Far East. A valuable lesson learned, and is why it has taken so long to move into modest production. Existing instruments are being upgraded at no cost.

Peter

[Dave Lloyd]

Interesting beasts. I suppose a danger for Zerochromat is that customers won't want to pay huge amounts of money to allow them to recoup their development costs and then some Chinese company will come along and undercut them by about 80%.

Or hopefully not in view of wiseones comment re quality.

[ollypenrice]

Interesting beasts. I suppose a danger for Zerochromat is that customers won't want to pay huge amounts of money to allow them to recoup their development costs and then some Chinese company will come along and undercut them by about 80%.

I suppose this has to be a danger for the Zerochromat project but I think that the market for F12 instruments is pretty specialized and may not tempt the mass market producers. The popularity of SCTs at F10 derives from their compact size, I suspect, and also from questionable marketing by a couple of large manufacturers who imply that they are ideal for astrophotography when this is not everyone's view. (Well, it isn't mine, at least!)

The Vatican's website doesn't seem to be confessing to the purchase of a huge refractor.   I'd like a look at it though.

Olly