Arena 900x114 Reflector

[Edgardinho]

Hi all,

I was given a free telescope today off a very kind old friend and was wondering if anyone had any information on it or indeed the brand.

It's an Arena 900x114 reflector and the tripod, mount and OTA appear to be pretty solid. The eyepieces are a bit poor but as I'm still new to all this I don't really know for sure.

Cheers,

Phil

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

The 114mm F=900 (I assume these are the specs) Newtonian was a favourite starter scope in the past, but usually came with dud EPs. The same scopes were sold under a variety of brand names, some no doubt better than others. Many older ones have focusers for .965" EPs rather than the (now) more common 1.25". This means it can be harder to get good EPs for it (though good 0.965" EPs do exist). A 114mm (=4.5") scope is very good for deep sky objects, and at F/8 focal ratio it is more tolerant for bad collimation. It also means you can use cheaper EPs with no ill effect. Also, at F/8 it has a small central obstruction, which makes it a very decent planetary scope.

In short, if you can get some decent EPs, you have a very nice starter scope (for free, at that).

[Edgardinho]

Well that is good news. I took it outside last light alongside my current scope and it was surprisingly good. All ep's are 1.25 so I mixed and matched and got a very good view of Saturn.

I think my next purchase will be some decent eyepieces that will fit both and it'll be nice to have a goto and a standard mounted scope.

Cheers for the info. My mate needs a few drinks from me.