Altair Astro 152 vs Equinox 120

[moriniboy]

Simple question, I own a 120 Equinox, comparing this to an Altair Astro Starwave 152 would I see much more due to its extra light grasp or would the differences be negligible visually.

I'm aware there would be differences CA wise as the Equinox is an ED.

[vlebo]

Good question , I await your responses !!

 

[Brian Nordstrom]

The Equinox will show as much on the moon and planets , probably more in the higher powers 250x plus that you need for this type of viewing as the 152mm f5.9 but it will start to show LARGE amounts of CA that will intrude and degrade finer details at about  200x max .

But if you are a deep sky observer the 152 will show so much more delicate details in nebular , globulars , open clusters ,,,etc that the 120 will only hint at .

How do I know ? , over the years I have owned a SW 150mm f5 , an awsome deep sky scope easily keeping up and at times besting a friends sweet 203mm f10 Meade SCT on deep sky  .  This scope had seriously sharp optics  and showed great detail on Jupiter abit shrouded in a purple halo ( Purple haze ) but still very good at 200x .

I still own a very good Chromocorr'd  Saxon ( SW )  150mm f8 refractor but its in NZ and I am working here in OZ and loving these nice large frak's  and missing the views , I first got a very good 127mm f7.5 triplet and as almost as perfect as this was ,,,,, I  had the chance to build an iStar sourced telescope ( search the threads here you will find my story ) an 127mm f8 achromat and found I liked the achro's views better , with a small amount of CA of course so I sold the triplet APO with heavy heart to fund many other astro goodies , $3000 - $620  was kind of a no brianer .

To cut a long story short , I still have and love my 127mm iStar frak and have since sourced  a very good 2nd hand XLT carbon fibre C9.25 for deepsky and they both sit on my HEQ5 mount very well , so I now have Luna/Planetary and deep sky covered .

I think its up to what you want to view ? your choice here but dont write off the Equinox , these are a seriously good scope ,,,,, as is the 152mm achromat ,,,,

,,,,, hard chouce .

 

NBrian.

[John]

Great summary from Brian there

I reckon the Equinox 120 would be more of an "all rounder" whereas the deep sky would be the staple diet for the 152mm acrhomat.

There would be some cross-over of course so a deep sky enthusiast who likes occasional views of the moon and planets might pick the 152 but a lunar / planetary nut who likes to browse the deep sky from time to time would go for the Equinox 120 perhaps ?

 

 

[Brian Nordstrom]

49 minutes ago, John said:

Great summary from Brian there

I reckon the Equinox 120 would be more of an "all rounder" whereas the deep sky would be the staple diet for the 152mm acrhomat.

There would be some cross-over of course so a deep sky enthusiast who likes occasional views of the moon and planets might pick the 152 but a lunar / planetary nut who likes to browse the deep sky from time to time would go for the Equinox 120 perhaps ?

 

 

Like he said .

Brian.

[moriniboy]

Well put, and thanks for your advice