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Very VERY first look through an Starwave Ascent 102 ED f7


fwm891

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The scope arrived about an hour ago, a day late (but that's another story) didn't worry about photos of unboxing the scope - there are too many of them anyway. Put up my iOptron CEM25P in the garden and placed the OTA onto the saddle. I used a Wiliam Optics 2" dielectric diagonal and a 24mm panoptic to first focus on a tree about 1/2 mile away. Balanced everything up - no power attached, I then locked the mount with it pointing at a tree.

First to get a feel for my widest fov I put a 35mm Panoptic in the diagonal (gives 20.4x) and focused up. Wow. Now a tree isn't the best optic test for a astro scope but the contrast (bright overcast weather here today) and sharpness of leaves, branches and twigs is visually striking. Ok other extreme my shortest eyepiece a 13mm Delite (55x) and suddenly I'm bringing into focus ladybirds walking along a branch, a spider repairing it's web and bugs just flying around the fov. If I ever get tired of astronomy I can take up bug watching!

The scope is quite light and very easy to handle on and off the mount's saddle. The CEM25P will handle this with ease. Principally for visual so I see some a shorter fl eyepiece  around 4mm in the near future. Possibly even a barlow.

Once i've had chance to expose the scope to starlight I'll update this first impression review.

Francis

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I'll be interested to read what you make of this 'scope Francis, it has been top of my list of relatively affordable upgrades to my 102s Bresser achro now I've established that this size of refractor suits my purposes as a grab & go really well.

Heather

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50 minutes ago, Tiny Clanger said:

I'll be interested to read what you make of this 'scope Francis, it has been top of my list of relatively affordable upgrades to my 102s Bresser achro now I've established that this size of refractor suits my purposes as a grab & go really well.

Heather

Had you seen this thread:

 

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Yeah, you get great views through these AA ED scopes. I’ve got both an 80ED f7, and a 102ED f11 ‘fracs which I use primarily for planetary, lunar, solar with the f11, and widefield with the f7 ‘frac. Stars are all pin sharp too.

Edited by Knighty2112
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Congratulations on your new scope! isn't it the most exciting thing? unboxing a new telescope!.

Welcome to the 102mm owners club,  a small but fierce lot who's scopes often punch above their aperture class 😂 

Cant wait for first light report!

Edited by Sunshine
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Congrats. In my not so expert opinion, fantastic quality for the price. A few weeks ago I had my best view of Saturn with this scope and a Vixen LV 4mm for 178x, riding on a Celestron AVX mount.

A lunar and planetary session was cut short last night by cloud, however I managed a decent view of Jupiter with an easily discernable GRS.

Recommended.

Edited by ScouseSpaceCadet
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Congratulations on your ED102 refractor :thumbright:

I've owned my Vixen ED102SS F/6.5 refractor for over 14 years now (longer than any of my other scopes) and it's given me hours of observing pleasure :icon_biggrin:

Powerful enough to deliver some really interesting views but still pretty portable.

 

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14 minutes ago, Mark at Beaufort said:

Very nice Francis you are really becoming a visual observer first a 16" Dob and now a 4" ED Frac - it must be the dark skies in the Golden Valley.. Hope you will be able to bring it along later in the month. 

Really hope to. I’ve got fingers crossed for tonight but there’s a building veil of high stuff…

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I had a very quick race around during a short gap in the cloud before blobby got too high.

The Starwave 102ED now sits on a Scopetech mount zero alt-az mount.

After rain today the transparency was good, so I had a quick tour round the sky to get as many objects as I could before the moon made it too awkward.

What I glimpsed: M’s. Started with M13, shifted left to M57, then M27. Longer move now to M52 and it’s close companion (?) followed by 52 Cygnii and the bright part of the broom. I picked the scope up to locate M81&82 these fairly easy even with being near the northern horizon. Couldn’t find M108 or M97 which I thought would be easy. Back up to Cass to find M103. At this point Andromeda and Pegasus’ Square were well covered with high cloud. I finished up going back to Cygnus and having a low power scan along its neck to finish on Alberio. Thoroughly enjoyed this brief spell, even if I didn’t spend much time at each. I also had a quick look at Jupiter and Saturn but I need a shorter fl eyepiece to see much more than general features and moons.

TBC…

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4" ED scopes are great. Big enough to see plenty and small enough to get out and use at a moments notice. Don't think you can beat the Starwave 102ED for it's price point really. I have the f/11 version and it's a big improvement on the achromatics I've had in the past. 👍

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 16/10/2021 at 14:10, Tiny Clanger said:

I'll be interested to read what you make of this 'scope Francis, it has been top of my list of relatively affordable upgrades to my 102s Bresser achro now I've established that this size of refractor suits my purposes as a grab & go really well.

Heather

Hi Heather, Well I’ve been out a few nights with the Starwave Ascent 102 now.  I started with it mounted on a CEM25P but soon decided to get an alt/az manual mount so I could go where I pleased and avoid meridian flips! To that end I bought a Scopetech Mount Zero and been really pleased I did.

The 102 has really struck me with it’s contrasty views. The past few nights around last quarter moon have been superb, a darker sky has added to the contrast and objects ( here I admit to at present being a Messier grabber). I use a Tele Vue Nebuster II filter for planetary objects like M57 & M27 and the Veil which doesn’t seem to effect the views as much as I thought it would in a 4 inch scope.

It’s deep lens hood has kept dew at bay so far, if I have to make a critical comment it would be that the separation of the eyepiece and finder scope when using a diagonal are too close and I’ve found myself holding my breath when looking into the finder to avoid steaming up the eyepiece. I’ll try moving the finder to the other side or changing their relative angles and see if that helps.

Image wise I haven’t seen any fringing on brighter objects, it handles easily,  not overly heavy or too long. It’s focuser is smooth and stays in place even with my 35mm Panoptic mounted.

Really pleased with my purchase.

What next - find a right angled rdf because trying to sight along the tube to get a general alignment on a target when overhead is worse than trying to use a polar alignment scope!

Francis

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Reading a very experienced astronomer being happy with their Starwave 102ED is a relief after my review earlier in the year.

The finder can get in the way a touch. A 9x50 RACI helps although I tend to mount the scope on a Celestron AVX(no meridian flip worries😀), so just a decent rdf is used unless the AZ5 comes out.

I look forward to further observing reports Francis. Thanks for your thoughts.

 

Peter.

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Thanks for that Francis, it's always interesting to hear of the practicalities , particularly from someone getting used to a 'scope. Those little inconveniences we end up finding solutions for, or simply working around, are more prominent in our minds at the start I think.

The Ascent 102 is confirmed as top of my shopping list  🙂

Heather

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Good to hear some more positive comments on this scope as I have one ready at Altair to collect (hopefully) tomorrow!

I am certain the weather will conspire to keep me from testing it for a few weeks (like the last time I got a new scope) but I'll try and do a review / comparison with my current 90mm achro when I get a chance!

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13 minutes ago, wibblefish said:

Good to hear some more positive comments on this scope as I have one ready at Altair to collect (hopefully) tomorrow!

I am certain the weather will conspire to keep me from testing it for a few weeks (like the last time I got a new scope) but I'll try and do a review / comparison with my current 90mm achro when I get a chance!

I sincerely believe you will not be disappointed. They even look the 'biz'.  I'd be surprised if you look through the 90mm achro again. I've certainly not bothered using my 102 Mak since the 102ED arrived, except for a little solar observing. I'm considering (procrastinating) selling the Mak.

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  • 1 year later...

I have just acquired this scope and have not had chance to check it out, but great to hear your rave review. It certainly looks and feels well engineered, the focuser, tube rings and retractable dew shield are all impressive.

A shame its firework and fog season here in the Midlands!

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