Altair Astro Starwave 115 ED Triplet

[centroid]

As someone who is considering returning to  astro imaging, after a  break of several years, I am out of touch with what is good, and what is best avoided in terms of telescopes, so am seeking your advice/opinion.

 

Before having to withdraw from the hobby, I had an observatory with  attached warm room, and my final setup was a 12" Meade SCT, and William Optics 110 Triplet refractor (supplied by FLO) . The WO scope was  an excellent piece of kit, which gave some superb result.

 

This around time around  I do not anticipate going  to the lengths that I went before, but am just  looking to  have something like a 110 - 115mm Triplet refractor, on a  tripod supported EQ mount, that I  can deploy in the garden when needed.

 

I don't want to be spending the sort of money that I spent before, but I don't to buy cheap (buy cheap buy twice). I would love another WO scope, but do not want to be spending £2.5k,  as I have to buy both a mount, and a camera. I will ask about cameras, and mounts in a separate  post.

 

So back to this post. The A  A Starwave 115 ED Triplet. This seems to be at the price point that I have in mind, for this item of kit. Does anyone have any experience of this scope, and if so, how do you find it?

 

Chromatic aberration as I have experienced with doublets, would be a 'no-no' for me.

[vlaiv]

As far as I can tell, consensus is that it is very good piece of kit - for both visual and imaging.

It is sold under many different labels, StellarVue, Telescope Service, AstroTech, TechnoSky just to name a few.

You might be interested in review of that scope by Ed Ting (lately in form of YouTube videos - so that is new):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sE18PBQRzDQ

 

[johninderby]

FPL51 triplet or modern FPL53 / Lanthium doublet. Nothing to choose from CA wise. The latest crop of doublets are extremely good. I looked at the 115 triplet but chose  the 125 doublet even though it was a few hundred £ more. 

Edited August 14, 2021 by johninderby

[centroid]

7 minutes ago, vlaiv said:

Thank you Vlaiv

 

 

[centroid]

2 minutes ago, johninderby said:

FPL51 triplet or modern FPL53 / Lanthium doublet. Nothing to choose from CA wise. The latest crop of doublets are extremely good. 

Thank you John.

[vlaiv]

1 minute ago, johninderby said:

FPL51 triplet or modern FPL53 / Lanthium doublet. Nothing to choose from CA wise. The latest crop of doublets are extremely good. 

Visually yes, but for imaging - not so sure.

I've seen images taken with OSC sensors and 102mm F/7 FPL53 scope and there is residual blue bloat around hot stars. Yes, it can be removed in post processing or by use of Astronomik L3 filter, it won't be there if one uses mono + LRGB, but still - I'd rather use triplet for imaging if I had the choice.

[johninderby]

110 FPL53 triplet? But there goes the budget. 😢

[vlaiv]

2 minutes ago, johninderby said:

110 FPL53 triplet? But there goes the budget. 😢

Not sure I follow.

I just said that this FPL-51 triplet is better corrected for astrophotography than any fast FPL-53 doublet. It is rather affordable scope as well.

[johninderby]

The WO 110 TEC triplet shows up occasionally. 🤔

Or a 107/700  but that’s still over budget.

https://www.365astronomy.com/apm-telescopes-super-ed-apo-astrograph-107-700-apochromatic-refractor-telescope-with-3-apm-focuser

Edited August 14, 2021 by johninderby