Refractor For Purely Visual Astronomy?

[Sunshine]

If only I could sketch.

[johninderby]

1 hour ago, Sunshine said:

If only I could sketch.

😁😁😁

[Sunshine]

1 hour ago, johninderby said:

😁😁😁

When did that come out!? I spent most of my childhood playing with one, I want that edition.

[johninderby]

Think it’s been out a while and getting hard  to find but Googling the following should turn up one.

Etch A Sketch NASA Inspired Limited-Edition

Edited October 1, 2021 by johninderby

[Ian McCallum]

I suppose I could get another SW Dob, the 12" version...🤔

[mikeDnight]

But that's not a refractor. What you really need is this.... I'm sure that if you place an order the rest of us on SGL will club together and buy you a handle for it. 

 

[Louis D]

Why stop there?  Start with this nice 20" APO lens from Russia and build your own scope around it.  It's a bit of a bummer it's gone up 100,000 Euros in the last couple of years, but you could probably talk them down a bit since it's been sitting on the shelf for a while now.

[johninderby]

Or a decent pair of bins perhaps? 😁

 

Edited October 1, 2021 by johninderby

[wookie1965]

On 30/09/2021 at 23:18, mikeDnight said:

I know the following is labouring the point that a good 4" refractor is a very capable instrument, and I can hear some seasoned SGLers mumbling "here he goes again"!  but I can't help myself. The first image compares the view of Mars on the same night as seen through an 200mm F6 Newtonian followed by that observed through a 100mm refractor.

100mm refractor and Jupiter:

100mm refractor and the Moon:

Here's a lunar sketch using a 10" F6 reflector:

100mm refractor on brighter deep sky and comets:

Here are some of the telescopes through which the above sketches were made:

250mm F6 reflector

Below the 200mm reflector used in the first Mars sketch:

And finally the 100mm refractor both in an observatory and as an easily portable grab and go:

Whatever you do, don't let me try and influence you!!! 

I totally agree my best views of Mars where through my Tal 100rs beat my Meade 127mm may I just say those are excellent sketches.

 

[Alan64]

Oftentimes, it's quality you're after, rather than quantity.

[Ian McCallum]

On 02/10/2021 at 17:59, Alan64 said:

Oftentimes, it's quality you're after, rather than quantity.

Do the StellaLyra or SW Dobs come into the former, rather than the latter?🤔

[Alan64]

3 hours ago, Ian McCallum said:

Do the StellaLyra or SW Dobs come into the former, rather than the latter?🤔

There are some qualitative aspects of Newtonians, therefore a bleeding over I admit, but in the end it's all about quantity rather.

There's simply no cure for aperture-fever, I'm afraid.

[Ian McCallum]

On 28/09/2021 at 09:16, dweller25 said:

Does that include the mount or do you have one ?

And what kind of visual astronomy do you do - deep sky, lunar, solar, planetary or all of them ?

 

As I live in a Bortle 6 area, with quite a bit of LP, I tend to mostly planetary, some moon, no solar and very occasionally DSO's.  I do like looking at double stars.

[dweller25]

About turn from me - Double stars - I think they look best in a refractor 👍

But you want decent resolution too, so as a minimum I would suggest a 4” F/8 or ideally the SW 120ED - more than budget though unless you look around for a used one.

Edited October 4, 2021 by dweller25

[johninderby]

Yes a second hand SW 120ED or a new Tecnosky 125. No way would I buy a new SW 120ED now since the huge price increase as it isn’t that much more to get the Tecnosky with it’s better build quality and has the edge in optical quality as well.

Edited October 4, 2021 by johninderby

[Ian McCallum]

This has caught my eye...

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/sky-watcher-starquest/sky-watcher-starquest-102r-f49-achromatic-refractor-telescope.html

Also, this Mak...

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/sky-watcher-starquest/sky-watcher-starquest-102mc-f127-maksutov-cassegrain-telescope.html

Thoughts, please?

[Louis D]

Remind us please what you're looking for?  Originally you were asking about refractors and now you've expanded to Maks and 12" Dobs in another thread.  Tell us what you want to see better, and what limits you have as far as budget, weight, storage, and transport.

[Andrew_B]

4 hours ago, Ian McCallum said:

This has caught my eye...

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/sky-watcher-starquest/sky-watcher-starquest-102r-f49-achromatic-refractor-telescope.html

Also, this Mak...

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/sky-watcher-starquest/sky-watcher-starquest-102mc-f127-maksutov-cassegrain-telescope.html

Thoughts, please?

A 102mm refractor at f4.9 would be very fast for a triplet fluorite apo and even then it might struggle to match the colour correction of a really good F8 doublet. With the linked scope being a doublet achromat there's going to be a lot of false colour compared to the apo models that have been discussed in this thread.

I've never looked through that scope but even as someone who isn't that bothered by a bit of false colour I think it would have more than I'd be able to tolerate.

[Sunshine]

On 01/10/2021 at 15:35, mikeDnight said:

But that's not a refractor. What you really need is this.... I'm sure that if you place an order the rest of us on SGL will club together and buy you a handle for it. 

 

Just imagine the planetary views through this beautiful behemoth! I would drag it out crawling on my hands and knees if i had to but, it would get mounted handle or not.

Edited October 4, 2021 by Sunshine

[Ian McCallum]

9 hours ago, Louis D said:

Remind us please what you're looking for?  Originally you were asking about refractors and now you've expanded to Maks and 12" Dobs in another thread.  Tell us what you want to see better, and what limits you have as far as budget, weight, storage, and transport.

The $64,000 question!😂 I was looking at the 12" Dob range, but haven't seen what I really want in stock, plus the thought of a really heavy behemoth puts me off, a bit. I know I could build a trolley of some sort to wheel it out, but I don't know if that's the route I want to go.

Edited October 5, 2021 by Ian McCallum
typo

[Alan64]

At this point, I don't think a 12" "Dob" is going to do it for you.  How about this rather...

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/dobsonians/skywatcher-skyliner-400p-flextube-dobsonian.html

[John]

52 minutes ago, Ian McCallum said:

The $64,000 question!😂 I was looking at the 12" Dob range, but haven't seen what I really want in stock, plus the thought of a really heavy behemoth puts me off, a bit. I know I could build a trolley of some sort to wheel it out, but I don't know if that's the route I want to go.

At least, through your questions and threads, you are getting a good idea of the various strengths and weaknesses of the different scope options

The slight irony is that, if you didn't have a scope at all, the 200P dobsonian (that you have already) would probably be recommended by many as a very good all round scope for visual observing !

 

 

[IB20]

15 hours ago, Ian McCallum said:

This has caught my eye...

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/sky-watcher-starquest/sky-watcher-starquest-102r-f49-achromatic-refractor-telescope.html

Thoughts, please?

I think rather than that you'd be better off spending slighly more on something like this https://www.harrisontelescopes.co.uk/acatalog/altair-starwave-102f7.html#SID=1706 and stick it on a AZ4 or AZ5 perhaps? It's more money but I'd expect the false colour you'd see would reduce dramatically.

[mikeDnight]

2 hours ago, IB20 said:

I think rather than that you'd be better off spending slighly more on something like this https://www.harrisontelescopes.co.uk/acatalog/altair-starwave-102f7.html#SID=1706 and stick it on a AZ4 or AZ5 perhaps? It's more money but I'd expect the false colour you'd see would reduce dramatically.

Wow! I'd have killed for a scope like that thirty years ago. And I must have spent hundreds of hours lusting over photographs of beautiful 4" refractors owned by those lucky astronomers in the old books I bought second-hand when I started out in this hobby. Such refractors still set my heart racing when they catch my eye over 40 years on. They may be small but they can pack a punch way above their weight. 

[dweller25]

2 hours ago, IB20 said:

I think rather than that you'd be better off spending slighly more on something like this https://www.harrisontelescopes.co.uk/acatalog/altair-starwave-102f7.html#SID=1706 and stick it on a AZ4 or AZ5 perhaps? It's more money but I'd expect the false colour you'd see would reduce dramatically.

That’s does look like a nice scope 👍🙂