Celestron C8 vs Skywatcher 200p

[ahlberto]

Hi.The two only scopes i have currently are two 8"-A very good skywatcher newton and a even better celestron C8.The celestron C8 was the last of my purchases.All my astrofriends advice mi not to buy the celestron because the newton has more power and give most pleasent views and being so it will be a redundant scope to have sinçe i already had a 8"-the newt.The eyepieçe i use to work with thw two scopes is a pan 24 and i must say the two are well colimated and have decent optics or at least no imperfections are evident to my eyes trough a star test-the two show perfetly concentric bright an beautiful rings.All this to say that the C8 show more and better than the newt at all targets with the pan 24.At the star clusters the C8 show more dim stars,for example.At planets the C8 is way better.Arent the XLT coatings giving the edge to mthe C8 over a regular newton?

Cheers

[philsail1]

Hello "alberto."

Well, until recently I had a C8 SCT and an Orion Optics 8" Europa Newtonian.

I personally found that although the C8 SCT was indeed better at giving more magnified views of the Moon and Planets and pinpoint views of the stars, the Orion Newt did give the brightest views. The SCT scope was the easiest to set up and use too - and would take a pair of Binoviewers without having to remove part of the focusing mechanism that I have to do on the Newt.

I think if you are prepared to keep both scopes, then I would think that you will get an equal amount of use out of each scope. Both an SCT and an 8" Newt are excellent scopes in their own particular fields. The SCT will give you the magnification, sharpness and ease of set up and viewing position. The Newt will give the slightly brighter view - and definately the wider field of view.

I think value for money, the Skywatcher 8" Newtonian has got to be the better scope "all round."

best wishes,

philsail1

[ahlberto]

Hi.You are right wen you say the 200p is a winner and a good all round scope.Even if it was mi only scope i will be well equiped for many years,if not for a life time.My 200 will never be sold,never.The optics are good as you know-youve had one.Have you ever tried the televue ethos 13mm and a antares barlow as a combo?A friend of mine has a orion XX12 and with that combo seeing the swan nebula was unreal....It was the very first time and the only i said WOW.I dont know if i have the luck to have a C8 with excepcional optics but the C8 is way better than the 200p in every departement.The only downside of the C8 is looooong cool down time.The 200p is usable in 15 minutes.The only thing i need now is a good 5mm eyepiece and i will be loking for a used one-A TV radian or a nagler would be nice but im run out of money....

Cheers

[John]

I dont know if i have the luck to have a C8 with excepcional optics but the C8 is way better than the 200p in every departement.

I've owned both a C8 and a Skywatcher 200P and found the Newtonian just slightly better on contrast than the C8 but there was not much in it. Both nice scopes but I found the longer cooldown time for the C8 frustrating so I sold it.

I'm suprised that you notice such a difference in the performance of the 2 scopes - maybe the C8 collimation is exactly on and the Newtonian a little off ?.

The C8 / 24mm pan combination will show fainter stars in clusters because of the additional magnification which darkens the background sky.

John

[philsail1]

"ahlberto,"

No, I have never had the privilage of owning any "really" goor eyepieces. I think this is my next long term project - to save up (or look out on here) for some top quality eyepieces.

You obviously like your C8! As John says, the optics must be spot on to make you notice such a difference in the quality of views between the Skywatcher 200 and your C8 SCT.

Best wishes,

philsail1