Why a MAK?

[Davekyn]

Why a MAK?

Hello fellow scope masters,

After some time away from the hobby, I am now contemplating my return to stargazing. Before I sold my 12” inch Dob, I enjoyed a wide variety of mind blowing views.

Whilst I enjoyed viewing DSO’s I have to admit I always tried to go as higher Magnification as possible on most targets only to be disappointed with the moon and planets. Whilst such targets did look very good with such a large app, if it was not the washed out, molted look of Jupiter; it would be the constant moving of the object due to lack of tracking ability. No matter how much I would try to perfect collimation, make adjustments for the wind factor and so on, I could never really get in any good viewing session at high magnification, without wind shake/shimmer/target sitting still and a hell of a lot of visible air turbulence in the F4.5 12” DOB

So after researching somewhat on what makes a good planetary scope, and taking into consideration all of the following:

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Telescope Considerations:

http://www.cloudynights.com/item.php?item_id=410

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In a Newtonian 8" to 12" with small central obstruction under 20%, very thin spider, longish F ratio above F6

In a Cassegrain (this includes open and closed tube systems, Dall Kirkam, Maksutov, classical, Schmidt Cass. etc) 8 to 10" minimum diameter. I would aim for a system with less than 30% obstruction by diameter, F12 or longer.

Refractor, 7" to 9" Apo, F8 to F11, or 8" to 12" achromat, F12 or longer. These scopes will cost the most, although excellent achromats can be gotten at reasonable prices from builders like D&G Optical.

If you can only afford a 6"or 7" instrument, don't despair that you will not see anything. I know some top planetary amateurs who regularly observe with those apertures and have seen amazing detail on the planets.

Other Factors:

Viewing conditions-

Light pollution has zero effect, so you can observe right from your backyard in a downtown area

Most important thing is the stability of the air above

The better you’re seeing i.e. steadiness of the image, the larger the instrument I would install

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I think the sacrifice on DSO’s for me will not be all that bad when I consider just how hung up I get on the disappointments my large dob gave me with solar system targets. Also having a scope that is specialized for back yard observing will most likely get more use despite the light pollution. I would also most likely have a good scope for playing around with different imaging options later down the track....hmmmmmmmm...begging the question...I know!

It truly would be awesome to slip in that one extra eye piece, get in the closer and see those craters inside the craters and still have a crisp and sharp image with reasonable brightness!

Regardless of perfect collimations...once again, I am hoping that stars may appear a little sharper as well in comparisons to my dob which seem rather sketchy on close ups with stars as well. What are the options for high mag views of doubles and all that?

Would it be possible to install a light weight short tube 80mm scope on a 180mm Mak?

SO MUCH TO CONSIDER...I have been thinking to hard...might just post this as is and go over it later.

Thanks for your time in reading it. If your after more concise information, its best you go help someone else as I’m not really good at speaking in such short terms with things I don’t understand. Thanks to those of you with a little more patients.

I’m opting out of SCT’s at this moment due to the slightly lager obstruction, also that in the same price range of the f15 BD-180mm Mak...I don’t think the 8” F10 SCT’s are up to the same standard as the real McCoy as far as SCT’s go.....or so I have read?

Not sure if it makes sense...but I’ve had enough of all round devices when it comes to spending thousands...I’d much prefer to extract as much performance aimed at a specific task this time as the more I desired to look at planets with the obs I would read from magazines...I was poorly disappointed with my 12” dobs efforts.

I definitely want to focus on a good planetary scope with some good punching power on the moon...what a difference I bet it will be also to observe with tracking. (although I expect the moon will still fly by at such high mags???)

Will be using the HEQ6 for such purposes........would be awesome if I could piggy back the light weight short tube 80 refractor I mentioned...but I guess that might be pushing it?

I understand EP's will also play a large part...BUT...but I will deal with that after picking the best scope for my needs...sometimes I wonder how one would go taking the $2000 they spent on two ePs and put in on the $3000 to get a $5000 scope.....NO WAY IN HELL I CAN DO THAT....but it does make one think.............I guess other will say a $2.00 scope with a $5000.00 EP will be just as good

Lets Talk

[nightfisher]

a short answer to a nice long post, maks are awsome for lunar and planets and you might be surprised when looking at some dso objects, my omc 140 deluxe has given me the best view of M42 i have ever seen! but maks only give their best on nights of really good seeing, and have a long cooldown time

[Merlin66]

A good scope.

Remember back to the good ol' days when a 3" Questar Mak would appear to wipe the floor with anything under 5" aperture...

Difficult to add a guide scope...(why would you need one for the moon/ planets?) Difficult to add reducers to increase FOV.

At f12 and above any good eyepiece will work well.

The NEQ6 is a great mounting....

[Davekyn]

Thanks guys,

Always good to soak up more information.

Cool down times are no probs for me as I pretty much allocate many hours to setup. Nothing like taking the scope out before hand whilst doing something else and allowing a few good hours on nights of good seeing!

Perhaps working with a scope more often out my back door, I may change my perspective on this to which a 150 Mak may serve just as well???

Damn...I have to stop thinking like that...

Good point on the finder scope, just figured with the high powers and narrow field of view it would help....overkill hey...fair enough.

Thanks again guys

Later