Celestron Omni XLT 102ED Review - Part 2

[Deneb]

Hi

I had a chance to use this scope a couple of nights ago. As I expected like with my previous ED scopes, I usually leave the scope out for about 15mins before I start an imaging session, due to a bank of cloud appearing, the scope was outside for an hour before I started using it.

Well after aligning the mount, I turned the scope toward Aldebaran, a Orange Giant located 65 light years in the constellation of Taurus. I proceeded with using a 25mm eyepiece to center the star into the fov. With using a 9.7mm & defocusing the star, the scope showed equal concentric rings, Perfect !

The focuser has some image shift, but very little to be concerned with, it is quite smooth in operation, tell you the truth I was quite surprised with the performance of the focuser as it seemed a better build compared to the Single Speed Crayford focusers supplied by Skywatcher. With a Canon 500D mounted on the 2" focuser, there was no slop or slippage.

It handled the weight of the camera quite well, but I do wonder will it handle a Reducer in combination as well, or would I be better off changing the focuser before attempting to try this combination.

So far im quite happy with the results that I have achieved from it, here's the image link in the DSO Section of M35 & NGC 2158, which I imaged with the scope. Taken without a Reducer/Flattener.

http://stargazerslounge.com/imaging-deep-sky/123092-m35-ngc-2158-a.html

Cheers

Nadeem.