markclaire50 Posted February 16, 2019 Share Posted February 16, 2019 Hi Everyone Like many others I imagine, I am destined to be a 4 scope family! I currently have 80mm ed and 127 mm mak. However, I know their limitations. Basically aperture! I intend to obtain a heq5 goto mount later this year, providing nothing unexpected on the finance front messes that up. I'm also 95% certain, I'll get a secondhand 180mm mak after being very impressed with the 127mm. BUT, I'm very greedy! I feel a gap will still exist. I live in a suburban area. Average darkness on a moonless night. I've not assessed the limiting magnitude yet for naked eye. But we're not talking sugar dusting on black velvet! In the future I'd like to do observation AND AP. I'd also like to keep option of transporting equipment (heq5 and scope) to darker sites although more likely to do majority of observing/AP in my back yard. I'm 54. Not too weak yet! Question.: would it be better to fill gap with 150mm F5 or 200 mm F6? Take into account that I expect the 180mm mak to be weapon of choice for lunar, planets, double stars where I doubt either newt would match it. However, I'm also aware that the viewing experience will be different in the newts (probably brighter and wider fields?). I'm believe long newts are more painful on eq mounts in terms of looking through the eyepiece, or is that a myth? I'm also aware that it may be more of a pain to transport an 8" to a dark site. If this is true, it is likely that a 6" would be better because it would most likely see fainter objects at a dark site, than the 8" in my back yard. Plus, the 150mm F5 would probably be better for AP than the 200mm, due to better balance on mount? So, I guess I'm relying on real world experience from members who have " been there, done that!" with respect to these two scopes. Hopefully this will help others in similar situation. Thanks for taking the time to read this Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dannybgoode Posted February 16, 2019 Share Posted February 16, 2019 I really like my SW150P. Very versatile and a good chunk more manageable than a 200. A 200 is a big scope and whilst it would be fine on an HEQ5 for visual it may be pushing it for AP. The 150P is a great size. Big enough to be useful - I’ve seen plenty of DSO’s from my very light polluted city location and got my first views of Jupiter and Saturn with it - but a doddle to handle and transport. It’s also a very capable AP tube. I’ve been using mine for the first steps down that particular rabbit hole! For my big scope I have a 10” SCT which I think is a better compromise than a big newt for aperture. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scooot Posted February 16, 2019 Share Posted February 16, 2019 My choice would be an OO vx8 F4.5 if budget permits. https://www.orionoptics.co.uk/VX/vx8-8l.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KP82 Posted February 16, 2019 Share Posted February 16, 2019 For AP, a fast newt is preferable. The suggested OOUK VX8 with 1/10 PV mirror is one of the best. However if your main focus is visual, a slower f/6 newt such as a the Skywatcher 200P dob or OOUK VX8L 1/10 PV (if you want the quality) is a lot more manageable in terms of collimation, reduced coma and choice of eyepieces. If you were to get a 6" newt like Skywatcher 150P or OOUK VX6, it would make the 127 Mak obsolete as the apertures would be too close. Personally I'd get a OOUK VX8L on a dob mount for visual and forget about the 180 Mak. You can easily push a quality newt like the OOUK to the same level of magnification as a Mak for planetary, luna and doubles with a short focal eyepiece. As for AP, start with your 80ED + a FR/FF. A smaller frac like the 80ED on a HEQ5 will produce more satisfactory results than a 6" or 8" if you're new to AP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markclaire50 Posted February 16, 2019 Author Share Posted February 16, 2019 12 minutes ago, KP82 said: For AP, a fast newt is preferable. The suggested OOUK VX8 with 1/10 PV mirror is one of the best. However if your main focus is visual, a slower f/6 newt such as a the Skywatcher 200P dob or OOUK VX8L 1/10 PV (if you want the quality) is a lot more manageable in terms of collimation, reduced coma and choice of eyepieces. If you were to get a 6" newt like Skywatcher 150P or OOUK VX6, it would make the 127 Mak obsolete as the apertures would be too close. Personally I'd get a OOUK VX8L on a dob mount for visual and forget about the 180 Mak. You can easily push a quality newt like the OOUK to the same level of magnification as a Mak for planetary, luna and doubles with a short focal eyepiece. As for AP, start with your 80ED + a FR/FF. A smaller frac like the 80ED on a HEQ5 will produce more satisfactory results than a 6" or 8" if you're new to AP. Hi KP82 I had an 8" Dob 30years ago and couldn't get on with lack of tracking at higher magnification. I currently have goto and tracking on a skywatcher az gti wifi and love the fact that at 150-200x mag the object stays static in fov. I can just concentrate on observing. So I'm reluctant to go back down a route I've trodden before. From what I've read a 8" newt won't match the sharpness and contrast of a 180 mm mak. I've also seen some superb images of jupiter and it's moons on astrobin and flickr. I can't see an 8" newt match them, although I will look for examples to see if I'm incorrect. Do you think the viewing experience would be different between a 6" f5 newt and the 127 mm mak? Wider field? 50% brighter? Thanks Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scooot Posted February 16, 2019 Share Posted February 16, 2019 Maybe I misunderstood but I thought you’re two preferred options were newts. I envisaged using the VX8 F4.5 on a tracking mount instead of your 200mm F6 option. I wouldn’t worry about collimating it, they’re easy and hold collimation very well. You will probably need reasonable quality eyepieces. The attraction to this option is it’s relatively light weight, short tube, wide fov and increased aperture. Not sure how useful for imaging it would be though, but presumed you’d use one of the other scopes for that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KP82 Posted February 16, 2019 Share Posted February 16, 2019 33 minutes ago, markclaire50 said: Hi KP82 I had an 8" Dob 30years ago and couldn't get on with lack of tracking at higher magnification. I currently have goto and tracking on a skywatcher az gti wifi and love the fact that at 150-200x mag the object stays static in fov. I can just concentrate on observing. So I'm reluctant to go back down a route I've trodden before. From what I've read a 8" newt won't match the sharpness and contrast of a 180 mm mak. I've also seen some superb images of jupiter and it's moons on astrobin and flickr. I can't see an 8" newt match them, although I will look for examples to see if I'm incorrect. Do you think the viewing experience would be different between a 6" f5 newt and the 127 mm mak? Wider field? 50% brighter? Thanks Mark I use my HEQ5 mainly for learning and practicing AP with my APM 107. I do most of the observations on a manual Alt-AZ mount with my Megrez 90FD or my SW 200P dob and don't mind the lack of tracking. If goto is a requirement and you want one mount the HEQ5 that covers for all of your scopes, then an 8" might be pushing its limit especially if you plan to do AP. In this case a 6" f/5 newt would be the ideal choice. It is like a universal scope that covers most of the subjects while giving you an increase in aperture compared to what you've already got. A Mak certainly performs better than an equivalent aperture newt on planets, but the difference isn't huge. On the other hand the wider fov from a newt is pretty hard to beat. I'd get an OOUK VX6 1/10 PV to replace the 127 Mak. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markclaire50 Posted February 16, 2019 Author Share Posted February 16, 2019 11 minutes ago, KP82 said: I use my HEQ5 mainly for learning and practicing AP with my APM 107. I do most of the observations on a manual Alt-AZ mount with my Megrez 90FD or my SW 200P dob and don't mind the lack of tracking. If goto is a requirement and you want one mount the HEQ5 that covers for all of your scopes, then an 8" might be pushing its limit especially if you plan to do AP. In this case a 6" f/5 newt would be the ideal choice. It is like a universal scope that covers most of the subjects while giving you an increase in aperture compared to what you've already got. A Mak certainly performs better than an equivalent aperture newt on planets, but the difference isn't huge. On the other hand the wider fov from a newt is pretty hard to beat. I'd get an OOUK VX6 1/10 PV to replace the 127 Mak. Thank you. I probably wouldn't get rid of the mak. It's a nice little scope and I only paid £160 off ebay. Bit of a bargain! Perfect collimation too. BUT, I Suspect the 180mm mak may come out more when I need mak- like abilities. ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KP82 Posted February 16, 2019 Share Posted February 16, 2019 Just now, markclaire50 said: Thank you. I probably wouldn't get rid of the mak. It's a nice little scope and I only paid £160 off ebay. Bit of a bargain! Perfect collimation too. BUT, I Suspect the 180mm mak may come out more when I need mak- like abilities. ? Understandable. Some scopes simply grow on you. I bought my M90FD off UKABS and I'd never part with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markclaire50 Posted February 16, 2019 Author Share Posted February 16, 2019 30 minutes ago, KP82 said: Understandable. Some scopes simply grow on you. I bought my M90FD off UKABS and I'd never part with it. Ukabs? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KP82 Posted February 16, 2019 Share Posted February 16, 2019 1 minute ago, markclaire50 said: Ukabs? UK Astro Buy & Sell https://www.astrobuysell.com/uk/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.