a quick experiment AZ3 + SW150P

[tinvek]

cant call this a proper test or review so stuck it in the general equipment forum

there's a chap on nights with me who's almost 60 and has never looked through a telescope so i said that i'd take one in when we had a quiet night. trouble is work is in the middle of town and there's lights all round so the seeing isn't that great and i was worried that the obvious choice of the c80 ed on AZ3 wouldn't really show him anything and i didn't really fancy taking the 10" dob down there just for a 15 min viewing session so i thought i'd try a stupid idea, namely putting the Sw150p on the AZ3. apart from anything else the extra focal length would allow me to get some decent moon views for him with just the cheap standard SW 25mm, 10mm and 2 X barlow.

to my surprise the mount coped very nicely, obviously it was prone to vibration from any wind but apart from that, the fact i was using a newt allowed me to get away with the legs not extended, which meant it was surprisingly stable and any balance shift when changing alt didn't seem to cause any problems.

obviously not an ideal situation but a usable setup in a sheltered spot.

oh and he loved his views of mars and the moon despite there being a bit of high mist present

[John]

Interesting ....

I've used a Celestron 5" SCT on an AZ-3 and it coped very well with that - nice short tube though so little in the way of vibrations.