If you could only choose one telescope for everything

[R26 oldtimer]

On 28/03/2019 at 12:52, Lockie said:

Martin aka Grumpy Martian recently started a thread to help him decide between buying a 6" f/5 Newtonian and a 4" f/7 Refractor. I've often thought either of these could be all the scope you ever need.

 

On 28/03/2019 at 18:33, John said:

Of the scopes that I have got, I guess the ED120 refractor is a pretty good "all rounder".

That's funny, my scope herd consists of those two "what if you had one scope", ed120 and a 6" f/5 newt, plus an ed80 for travel and grab n go. And they sure cover every aspect of usage, visual, eeva and a.p.

[mikeDnight]

1 hour ago, R26 oldtimer said:

 

That's funny, my scope herd consists of those two "what if you had one scope", ed120 and a 6" f/5 newt, plus an ed80 for travel and grab n go. And they sure cover every aspect of usage, visual, eeva and a.p.

Personally I'd let the 6" F5 go, as the 120 ED should do everything it can do only sharper with higher contrast and definition, even on deep sky. For a reflector to exceed the 120ED on the Moon & planets it would have to be at least 10" aperture. An 8" reflector definitely isn't enough for me, yet the 120ED is. Weird or what!?   And the ED80 would be the jewel of the bunch, which I would probably use more than the others. 

[steveex2003]

On 30/03/2019 at 14:18, paulastro said:

Yes, it is a great refractor Mark, as you and Mike both know it's myself that is the current custodian of it - and I expect it will be  the last scope I will ever own prior to having to retire from active observing, if that should happen before I fall off my perch .  It's the telescope's 11th birthday on April 21st - and the date is on my calendar so I can buy myself  it a birthday present .  In fact I've been thinking of advertising for an Astro-Tech dielectric diagonal for it. 

It's funny you should mention  the Mercury transit you observed with it, that's exactly what I'm planning to do with it this November 11th!

I quite like Mike's idea of you plying me with drink to try and get me to hand it back.  If we should meet, please ply me with as much drink as you like, though I can't guarantee you will be successful ?

PS Forgot to mention, last night I was using the scope and observing in Gemeni and I saw the ISS coming toward my field of view.  Amazingly, I managed to lock onto it (using a 17.5 Morpheus) and managed to keep it place for 10 - 15 seconds,  I could see the shape of the ISS including the solar arrays either side of it.  Amazing, never done this before - though I've never really previously made an attempt, I had thought about trying it.

 

 

 

Amazing. I managed exactly the same thing myself a couple of nights ago with an even smaller Equinox 80. I knew it was coming, and that it's first pass that evening was almost directly over my head at 80 degrees. Within the 90 seconds I had before it reached zenith, I caught it, focused (10mm EP) and tracked for a good 10 seconds. Fantastic! I too could clearly make out it's form. I doubt I could repeat that in 20 attempts, i'm usually so cack-handed. 
Definitely worth the effort.
I would keep either the 80 or the 127 Mak as I use them the most.

[paulastro]

Well done Steve, it's wonderful to see the ISS shape through a scope isn't it.  It was so good, I'm tempted to try this more often.  The only slight snag is, I don't know about repeating the feat once in 20 attempts, I'd be surprised if I could do it once in 50 attempts .  Mind you, with practice it should be possible to improve the success rate.

[steveex2003]

Paul.

It was indeed. A very organic moment. I am new to this, having owned my first scope (10” Dob) for a little less than a year. Given I would normally find myself quite literally fumbling around in the dark (but I enjoy my clumsiness - it’ll get better) catching a real spaceship and holding it in view on a little AZ mount but for a few seconds (I did actually counterbalance it this time to give myself half a chance) was just epic, Saturn epic. I was jumping about for a good 5 minutes afterwards. I am 49!

ah well, we are what we are.

Edited April 1, 2019 by steveex2003

[niallk]

6 hours ago, steveex2003 said:

Paul.

It was indeed. A very organic moment. I am new to this, having owned my first scope (10” Dob) for a little less than a year. Given I would normally find myself quite literally fumbling around in the dark (but I enjoy my clumsiness - it’ll get better) catching a real spaceship and holding it in view on a little AZ mount but for a few seconds (I did actually counterbalance it this time to give myself half a chance) was just epic, Saturn epic. I was jumping about for a good 5 minutes afterwards. I am 49!

ah well, we are what we are.

Me too when I tracked the ISS for a couple of seconds in my manual 10" dob - very chuffed 

[Alan White]

Calling @Lockie 
I have only just seen this now older thread Chris. 
A shame i missed it at the time, but was busy being unwell.

What a spot on pair of scopes, much as I would choose too.
I have owned several f5 150 Newtonians and always wonder why I sold them on.
Have also owned several f7-f9 4" ED Reflectors and still do own a Vixen Ed103s f 7.8.

I do always wonder about a 5" or 120mm Refractor though or the Hallowed Ground of a Tak 4" Fluorite.
But as a one only, then yes a 4" for ease of use as you say 👍 

[nightfisher]

I ended up doing this, having tried so very many scopes, i reached a point where to be honest my interest had waned a bit and found myself with a skymax 127, this has proved to be all i need and nowadays i just dont look at other scopes

[paulastro]

On ‎31‎/‎03‎/‎2019 at 22:26, mikeDnight said:

Personally I'd let the 6" F5 go, as the 120 ED should do everything it can do only sharper with higher contrast and definition, even on deep sky. For a reflector to exceed the 120ED on the Moon & planets it would have to be at least 10" aperture. An 8" reflector definitely isn't enough for me, yet the 120ED is. Weird or what!?   And the ED80 would be the jewel of the bunch, which I would probably use more than the others. 

I agree with you Mike.  by the way I love your new profile picture - your eyepiece box with one of your Mars maps in the lid, good idea .

[Alan White]

3 hours ago, paulastro said:

Your eyepiece box with one of your Mars maps in the lid, good idea .

Indeed it does look very fine, I keep looking at similar boxes to adjust to use.
So nearly pulled the trigger on one last night, I might just still do so.
Sorry this is off thread though.

[Datalord]

On 28/03/2019 at 15:46, Rick_It said:

Yes, but a C8 is not a rich-field scope, so it's not universal. For example, you can't frame the Pleiades. With a 200/1200 you get up to 2.26° FOV.

Which is exactly why the answer to the question is "No". 2.26 degrees is not at all awesome if you're shooting galaxy clusters 200MLY away.

My RASA is good for pleiades and Orion etc, but utterly useless for the Abell Catalog. My RC is doing great as a galaxy hunter, but would require a huge mosaic to get Orion. 

[Alan White]

I have a cunning plan, hatched from this thread and Chris Locks thoughts......

Owned a number or 4" and 150mm scopes, so have decided to trial this, but not to own just one scope.
But please don't mention that last bit to Mrs W!

Own a Vixen ED103s f7.8 103 mm Refractor.



Also now own a OOUK 1/6 wave 150 mm f5 Newtonian.



Sometimes curiosity gets the better of you.

So I plan to have a run of nights with both scopes and report back on how they compare.
Go into this eyes open and expect things to be similar yet different.

Does this have merit in a separate post or continue here?

 

Edited October 18, 2019 by Alan White

[heliumstar]

Separate thread please. A little eyecandy with both scopes on that Sabre would do us good as well

[omo]

Eye candy for @heliumstar

And on topic, the vixen:

 

 

[heliumstar]

I love it man. Love the 'keep up with times' phone finder

Beautiful setup!

[scrufy]

One scope only, it would have to be a 8”-11” SCT with Hyperstar. Remove it and planetary is amazing, put hyperstar back on and /dSO wide field at F2.

I don’t see how you can beat that for versatility with a 5 minute change out time.

[Alan White]

25 minutes ago, scrufy said:

One scope only, it would have to be a 8”-11” SCT with Hyperstar. Remove it and planetary is amazing, put hyperstar back on and /dSO wide field at F2.

I don’t see how you can beat that for versatility with a 5 minute change out time.

Each of us has a preference, each of us has a different weather type and sky conditions to contend with as well.
I can tell you South UK weather is mostly wet, cold and damp, it's not the sunshine state here.
An SCT dews in moments here and cooling is a real problem.

[scrufy]

11 minutes ago, Alan White said:

Each of us has a preference, each of us has a different weather type and sky conditions to contend with as well.
I can tell you South UK weather is mostly wet, cold and damp, it's not the sunshine state here.
An SCT dews in moments here and cooling is a real problem.

Good points, I have to deal with dew but in So California it is combatible with a heater. I was just saying “for me”, the one scope would be... I also would be getting less contrast that I do occasionally miss from a Tak /fs-102 I had a long time ago but just what works for what I do, today. Even that could change in a few years.

Edited October 23, 2019 by scrufy

[Chris]

On 06/10/2019 at 15:40, Alan White said:

Calling @Lockie 
I have only just seen this now older thread Chris. 
A shame i missed it at the time, but was busy being unwell.

What a spot on pair of scopes, much as I would choose too.
I have owned several f5 150 Newtonians and always wonder why I sold them on.
Have also owned several f7-f9 4" ED Reflectors and still do own a Vixen Ed103s f 7.8.

I do always wonder about a 5" or 120mm Refractor though or the Hallowed Ground of a Tak 4" Fluorite.
But as a one only, then yes a 4" for ease of use as you say 👍 

Hi Alan, oops I didn't find your reply until now also! Sorry you've been ill, I hope you're feeling better now? 

I remember writing down the pros and cons for all the usual suspects for this video, and both the ED120 and the C8 only just didn't make the cut due to transportation, mounting, and cooldown. All important factors with our fickle changeable weather, and limited time with our busy lives. 

If it wasn't for these factors, I think we all would pick much larger scopes for an only scope, but probably only get round to using them a couple of times a year  

Case and point, I drove to Chelmsford to pick up an old heavy duty Meade EQ mount a couple of months ago, and they guy also had his clubs old 12" solid tube Dob sitting there and mentioned he was selling it for his club as it was too large for them to manage. After only a minutes thought I decided to buy it along with the mount with ideas of adapting the mount to take the large Dob OTA. Guess what, it's really big and I'm struggling with it so I've only used it twice so far from almost inside my garage as I can't move it more than a few feet. I think I'm going to see if anyone want's to swap it for something, or I'll sell it. I don't want to go all winter season with a scope I can't move very easily. 

It does look very vintage and cool though, it's an old Beacon Hill scope  

 

Edited October 23, 2019 by Lockie

[Gina]

No doubt I've said it before but you can't have one telescope for everything!

[Chris]

On 18/10/2019 at 17:56, Alan White said:

I have a cunning plan, hatched from this thread and Chris Locks thoughts......

Owned a number or 4" and 150mm scopes, so have decided to trial this, but not to own just one scope.
But please don't mention that last bit to Mrs W!

Own a Vixen ED103s f7.8 103 mm Refractor.



Also now own a OOUK 1/6 wave 150 mm f5 Newtonian.



Sometimes curiosity gets the better of you.

So I plan to have a run of nights with both scopes and report back on how they compare.
Go into this eyes open and expect things to be similar yet different.

Does this have merit in a separate post or continue here?

 

Excellent Alan! I guess a separate thread would be more proper, but I honestly don't mind if you want to continue it here. whichever  

[Alan White]

20 minutes ago, Gina said:

No doubt I've said it before but you can't have one telescope for everything!

Gina, it is something I say everyday as we sit in the Astro Room,
AKA Dining Room and the proliferation of scopes gets mentioned!
Funnily enough it is not received the same way as if it was said here 😪

[Chris]

19 minutes ago, Gina said:

No doubt I've said it before but you can't have one telescope for everything!

You can if that's all you can afford, Gina I only have one scope, a 12" vintage Dob which was a cheap curiosity buy. It's too big so I need to swap it for a 6" Newt or similar. I'm sticking to my guns here lol. I can't afford two scopes like I used to with a house renovation and a term time contract (latest expense £1760 for a new front door!) I'm sure I'm not alone. 'If' you could only choose one Gina which would it be  

open to donations (Only joking ) 

[Alan White]

47 minutes ago, Lockie said:

You can if that's all you can afford, Gina I only have one scope, a 12" vintage Dob which was a cheap curiosity buy. It's too big so I need to swap it for a 6" Newt or similar. I'm sticking to my guns here lol. I can't afford two scopes like I used to with a house renovation and a term time contract (latest expense £1760 for a new front door!) I'm sure I'm not alone. 'If' you could only choose one Gina which would it be  

open to donations (Only joking ) 

I think Chris, you have hit it on the nail, sometimes circumstances dictate one piece of kit.
Very interesting that you go for the 6" Newtonian choice Chris and I don't disagree at all.
But how would you mount the 6", I suspect it will be a Dob Mount based on your previous choices, but....

[Chris]

2 hours ago, Alan White said:

I think Chris, you have hit it on the nail, sometimes circumstances dictate one piece of kit.
Very interesting that you go for the 6" Newtonian choice Chris and I don't disagree at all.
But how would you mount the 6", I suspect it will be a Dob Mount based on your previous choices, but....

Hi Alan,  if I had a bit more spare cash I'd probably opt for a 4" f7 ED refractor, but a 6" Newt is just cheaper, and also does a bit of everything. Moreover, the Meade EQ motor driven pedestal mount I picked up for just 60 quid has the rings and pier height setup for a 6" f/8 Newt.I think the universe is trying to tell me something.

I prefer EQ mounts because I do planetary/ lunar imaging, and a spot of deep sky imaging as well as observing. 

The Big 12" Dob only cost 180 quid which is why I couldn't resist, but it was a silly choice for a 10 stone wet through middle aged guy with a slightly dodgy back   I'll put the Dob up for sale and swaps and see what happens, it might not be a 6" Newt, we'll see what happens, but it will be lighter lol 

Edited October 23, 2019 by Lockie