Sky-Watcher Evostar 120 Achromat Overview.

[Chris]

Hands up if you have a soft spot for the good old affordable classic achromat refractor!? Well I do, so after some time without one I decided to rectify the situation. 

I'm unable to access the planets and Moon from my obsy, so this classic refractor on a motor driven EQ5 will be used to access these to the south (if my neighbour turns his security lights off! Pleural).

Looking forward to showing the kids the planets and Moon through this beast, plus some out reach! One or two of the locals have become curious about Astronomy so why not get them hooked by showing then the rings of Saturn...the gateway drug to Astronomy 🤪  (I've also picked up a Semi Apo filter) 

 

[Mr Spock]

I have an older Helios branded scope (with new paint job). They are surprisingly capable. They do have CA, and it is noticeable, but it doesn't stop it revealing fine detail on the moon and supporting x200. With a 42mm 2" fitting eyepiece it can get as low as x23.

If you are at a dark sky site, they are wonderful wide field/deep sky scopes. I had my best ever view of the Orion nebula through mine. It's pretty good on the Pleiades too!

Works just fine on my EQ5. I think the EQ5 plus this 120mm achro is a serious alternative to 6" Dobs for anyone just starting out. 

[AMcD]

I do my imaging with a TS152 achromat.  I could get better images with an APO but a 6 inch APO would require a lottery win 🙂  In any event, I have indeed developed a real soft spot for it.

[Chris]

1 hour ago, Mr Spock said:

I have an older Helios branded scope (with new paint job). They are surprisingly capable. They do have CA, and it is noticeable, but it doesn't stop it revealing fine detail on the moon and supporting x200. With a 42mm 2" fitting eyepiece it can get as low as x23.

If you are at a dark sky site, they are wonderful wide field/deep sky scopes. I had my best ever view of the Orion nebula through mine. It's pretty good on the Pleiades too!

Works just fine on my EQ5. I think the EQ5 plus this 120mm achro is a serious alternative to 6" Dobs for anyone just starting out. 

Looks lovely in the classic white Michael ! I nearly went for a 102 f/10 but thought the 120 f/8.3 would be more versatile as you describe

[Chris]

1 hour ago, AMcD said:

I do my imaging with a TS152 achromat.  I could get better images with an APO but a 6 inch APO would require a lottery win 🙂  In any event, I have indeed developed a real soft spot for it.

I've heard those TS 152's are well corrected for what they are so I would be interested to see a pic or two from it Looks super nice on the G11 too!

[Mr Spock]

I don't have it now, but you can see a 22mm T4 Nagler sitting in the diagonal - x45 and 1.8° - perfect!

[Mr Spock]

41 minutes ago, Chris said:

Looks lovely in the classic white Michael ! I nearly went for a 102 f/10 but thought the 120 f/8.3 would be more versatile as you describe

The white suits it. Unfortunately my ex was unkind to it and it's scraped off on the dew shield. So it need a new coat.

At some point I'll fit a better focuser to it. I think it's worth it though the one fitted does work well, if a little stiff.

[AMcD]

51 minutes ago, Chris said:

I've heard those TS 152's are well corrected for what they are so I would be interested to see a pic or two from it Looks super nice on the G11 too!

It is pretty well corrected and the build quality is excellent, at least on this one.  I picked it up second hand.  Herewith two recent pictures - The Rosette is 10 hours of 300 sec subs with an OSC equipped with an Optolong L-Extreme.  The Elephant's Trunk 24 hours on the same equipment.

[ONIKKINEN]

I was thinking of maybe getting one of these, or a similar size from other brands as a second scope to keep me busy while my main scope is imaging. The weight is a bit concerning though as i would want to mount it on some low effort manual alt-az mount like an AZ4 or AZ5. Difficult to tell without handling one in person but would you say its a bit too optimistic to think i could get away with that or better to go for maybe a 100mm one?

[Mr Spock]

I've used a minus violet filter on this scope and it didn't really help much with the CA. What I want to try is my continuum filter on the moon. It turns everything apple green but I suspect it will wipe out CA completely and provide a bit more bite. I'll try it next time the sky is clear and the moon is out.

[Chris]

2 hours ago, AMcD said:

It is pretty well corrected and the build quality is excellent, at least on this one.  I picked it up second hand.  Herewith two recent pictures - The Rosette is 10 hours of 300 sec subs with an OSC equipped with an Optolong L-Extreme.  The Elephant's Trunk 24 hours on the same equipment.

Hey thanks for posting these! They're better than I expected from the fast 6" fast achromat! Maybe it's worth me popping the Fuji XT1 on the Evo120 after all!

Most of the stars look well controlled so I'm wondering if the L-eXtreme cuts out some CA. I've wondered if this would be the case before.    

Edited February 12, 2022 by Chris

[Chris]

37 minutes ago, Mr Spock said:

I've used a minus violet filter on this scope and it didn't really help much with the CA. What I want to try is my continuum filter on the moon. It turns everything apple green but I suspect it will wipe out CA completely and provide a bit more bite. I'll try it next time the sky is clear and the moon is out.

I once tried the Contimuum filter for white light and it did improve detail a touch, but I was just too distracted by the green.

I've bought a semi apo filter at the same time as the Evo120 and these are supposed to be neutral, looking forward to testing it out. 

[Roy Challen]

Love a nice achro, although I must confess to having acquired a Mak, and last year I had a Tal 1 newt.

[AMcD]

15 minutes ago, Chris said:

Hey thanks for posting these! They're better than I expected from the fast 6" fast achromat! Maybe it's worth me popping the Fuji XT1 on the Evo120 after all!

Most of the stars look well controlled so I'm wondering if the L-eXtreme cuts out some CA. I've wondered if this would be the case before.    

The L-Extreme does seem to help somewhat, although around the very bright stars it does tend to generate halos.  I find that processing the nebulosity and the stars separately courtesy of Starnet++ also helps to keep the stars controlled notwithstanding the images are produced with an achromat.   It is always worth putting a camera on a scope - if only to see what happens!

[Saganite]

Hi Chris,

I enjoyed the video particularly as I had an Evostar 120 some years ago, and it was a good telescope.  As you know I still have three Achromats at f15, f14, and f10, and they do everything I could wish for, and do it very well.  

Good to see you again, and I am glad that all is well.

Steve

[Ian McCallum]

5 hours ago, Chris said:

Hands up if you have a soft spot for the good old affordable classic achromat refractor!? Well I do, so after some time without one I decided to rectify the situation. 

I'm unable to access the planets and Moon from my obsy, so this classic refractor on a motor driven EQ5 will be used to access these to the south (if my neighbour turns his security lights off! Pleural).

Looking forward to showing the kids the planets and Moon through this beast, plus some out reach! One or two of the locals have become curious about Astronomy so why not get them hooked by showing then the rings of Saturn...the gateway drug to Astronomy 🤪  (I've also picked up a Semi Apo filter) 

 

You've got the same setup as me. I replied to you on YouTube. 👍

Edited February 12, 2022 by Ian McCallum

[Roy Challen]

8 minutes ago, Saganite said:

I still have three Achromats at f15, f14, and f10

Ooh, lovely, Steve.

No need for anything faster than f10! Mine are f16+, f15ish and f10

[AMcD]

17 minutes ago, AMcD said:

The L-Extreme does seem to help somewhat, although around the very bright stars it does tend to generate halos.  I find that processing the nebulosity and the stars separately courtesy of Starnet++ also helps to keep the stars controlled notwithstanding the images are produced with an achromat.   It is always worth putting a camera on a scope - if only to see what happens!

This is an image that I did not run through Starnet++ and processed stars and nebula together.  It is really only the brightest star that shows a halo from the L-Xtreme

[neil phillips]

6 hours ago, Chris said:

Hands up if you have a soft spot for the good old affordable classic achromat refractor!? Well I do, so after some time without one I decided to rectify the situation. 

I'm unable to access the planets and Moon from my obsy, so this classic refractor on a motor driven EQ5 will be used to access these to the south (if my neighbour turns his security lights off! Pleural).

Looking forward to showing the kids the planets and Moon through this beast, plus some out reach! One or two of the locals have become curious about Astronomy so why not get them hooked by showing then the rings of Saturn...the gateway drug to Astronomy 🤪  (I've also picked up a Semi Apo filter) 

 

495 LONGPASS is also good. Neil English convinced me of this. And i have to agree its got some great strengths with achros. Nice post love it. 

[Kimboman]

Hi  I enjoyed these articles, and have obtained a Celestron 102mm GT telescope .

The dovetail had to be replaced with a longer one and a pair of tube rings and this came on a goto mount for the princely sum of £25.

the original tripod wasn't suitable and I adapted an old Meade tripod and this holds it quite well 

I was well impressed with its performance and its a definite keeper and it is f9.8 and the CA isn't that bad.

I would like to give it a new paint job by having the tube powder coated but I am worried that the heat could displace the internal baffles which are made of steel but the tube is aluminium,

has anyone had a similar tube powder coated without any problems arising?? the dew shield is plastic so this would have to be painted or I can make a new one from Ali(second tripod is an old surveyor one)

[Chris]

16 hours ago, Saganite said:

Hi Chris,

I enjoyed the video particularly as I had an Evostar 120 some years ago, and it was a good telescope.  As you know I still have three Achromats at f15, f14, and f10, and they do everything I could wish for, and do it very well.  

Good to see you again, and I am glad that all is well.

Steve

Hey Steve, good to hear from you and I hope all is well with you too! Glad you enjoyed the video, I'm looking forward to having some fun with the Evo : ) 

[Chris]

16 hours ago, Ian McCallum said:

You've got the same setup as me. I replied to you on YouTube. 👍

Looks the business Ian! and I see you're using the enhanced motor drive kit for guiding too! 

[Ian McCallum]

1 minute ago, Chris said:

Looks the business Ian! and I see you're using the enhanced motor drive kit for guiding too! 

I was using my Raspberry Pi during previous sessions, then I discovered by chance that my laptop had a USB 3 port on it.  That's the whole reason I bought the RPi, because of the USB 3 ports, plus I could do things remotely...  I use the SW9x50 finderscope as a guidescope, using a ZWO ASI120MM mini and the imaging camera is a ZWO ASI224MC.

I'm looking forward to seeing your results, but also how you go through the whole process including the settings that you use  - obviously condensed down for YouTube.😉

[Chris]

16 hours ago, AMcD said:

This is an image that I did not run through Starnet++ and processed stars and nebula together.  It is really only the brightest star that shows a halo from the L-Xtreme

I'm sure I heard the L-eXtreme causes halos on very bright stars with Apo's also. Now the L-eNhance doesn't cause halos so I'm keen to see how well that works with the EVo as well as the semi apo filter. 

[Stu]

Nice review Chris. I have a Celestron Omni 120XLT and have had some good views with it. I used it recently at an outreach event and it performed very well on the Moon.

It’s pretty handy for white light solar, you do get used to the green of a continuum filter after a while and it does sharpen up the views. Bit of a big boy next to the FC100DC though.