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Meade 6" F/5 Schmidt-Newton first light (very brief)


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A clear sky greeted me after dinner, even though all forecasts were for solid cloud. I rushed out the Meade 6" F/6 Schmidt-Newton on the Vixen GP mount (rather than the GP-DX, which isn't as easy to use manually) and quickly aimed it at M45 with the Nagler 31T5 and 2" extension tube in place. To my joy, I could reach infinity focus, and the image was beautifully sharp. I don't think collimation was spot on, but I couldn't see any clear aberrations. Even at the edge of the huge field, stars remained pretty sharp. M45 was beautifully framed in the 3.34 degree FOV. I would have swung over to the Double Cluster, but clouds were rushing in, so I packed up the scope. Really chuffed at this first light. 

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Orion Optics used to make schmidt-newtonians many years back.

From what I've read on the Meade ones, the optics have always been pretty good but sometimes the accessories such as the focuser have been lower quality.

I believe that one of the benefits of the design is that is has around 30% of the coma that a similar specification conventional newtonian produces. Popular with imagers for that reason.

 

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5 hours ago, John said:

Orion Optics used to make schmidt-newtonians many years back.

From what I've read on the Meade ones, the optics have always been pretty good but sometimes the accessories such as the focuser have been lower quality.

I believe that one of the benefits of the design is that is has around 30% of the coma that a similar specification conventional newtonian produces. Popular with imagers for that reason.

 

I read a review that on the minus side listed: "is attached to the LXD55 mount" as the first drawback. They weren't too impressed with the 6x30 finder scope, but it is actually a bit better than the one on my old C8. Having said that, you really need a fairly wide angle finder, because the scope itself has this 3.75° maximum FOV. I will replace the finder with a RACI (9x50) with a 5.6° FOV, but might well try a red-dot finder instead. The focuser has already been replaced by a decent dual speed, which holds even my biggest camera with ease. The optics were praised in the review, and from what I have seen so far, rightly so. 

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