The first time I looked thru a telescope was at the age of 12, during the Apollo missions. It wa
s my dads old 50 mm refractor? (I think it was a Sears & roebucks model) telescope. That's all it took to spark my interest in astronomy, not to mention the Apollo missions.
My first telescope was a Celestron EQ 80mm refractor with a manual EQ mount. Much better than my dads old 50mm. For the first time I could see the rings around Saturn. Now I was really into the heavens. But I wanted more.
So, I traded my EQ 80 in for a Konus 5." Maksutov Cassegrain. Wow! what a slam dunk that was. I went from 900mm of focal length to 2000mm of focal length with better light gathering capabilities. But, still I wanted more. I wanted more light, which means bigger diameter telescopes.
So, I went with a Orion 10." Newtonian with a focal length of only 1200 mm. Wow, much more
light, plus a much more crisp image. But then I no longer had the close view that I had with the
Konus 5.".
Of course this lead me to search for a more powerful telescope. The Meade 10." LX200R OTA. Sitting on my Meade LXD75 mount with AutoStar 497.
Supposedly the most widely used research telescope in use today? I was not as impressed as I thought I would be. It certainly has the power I was looking for but the Orion 10." Newtonian has a much brighter and crisper image. I just pop in a 2." 12mm lens and go. It would seem as thou the more lenses you have to look through the less light you get. I think the Orion is a much better scope then the Meade LX200R.
I liked the Newtonians so much that I went with the Meade 12."
LightBridge. By far the best scope I have. From my back yard, I can point the 12." Dobs at the darkest part of the night sky and Wow! there are stars there! The only drawback is its a Dobs. I can't use any of my CCD equipment with it. It would require a heavy duty concrete mount for tracking.
s my dads old 50 mm refractor? (I think it was a Sears & roebucks model) telescope. That's all it took to spark my interest in astronomy, not to mention the Apollo missions.My first telescope was a Celestron EQ 80mm refractor with a manual EQ mount. Much better than my dads old 50mm. For the first time I could see the rings around Saturn. Now I was really into the heavens. But I wanted more.
So, I traded my EQ 80 in for a Konus 5." Maksutov Cassegrain. Wow! what a slam dunk that was. I went from 900mm of focal length to 2000mm of focal length with better light gathering capabilities. But, still I wanted more. I wanted more light, which means bigger diameter telescopes.
So, I went with a Orion 10." Newtonian with a focal length of only 1200 mm. Wow, much more
light, plus a much more crisp image. But then I no longer had the close view that I had with theKonus 5.".
Of course this lead me to search for a more powerful telescope. The Meade 10." LX200R OTA. Sitting on my Meade LXD75 mount with AutoStar 497.
Supposedly the most widely used research telescope in use today? I was not as impressed as I thought I would be. It certainly has the power I was looking for but the Orion 10." Newtonian has a much brighter and crisper image. I just pop in a 2." 12mm lens and go. It would seem as thou the more lenses you have to look through the less light you get. I think the Orion is a much better scope then the Meade LX200R.I liked the Newtonians so much that I went with the Meade 12."
LightBridge. By far the best scope I have. From my back yard, I can point the 12." Dobs at the darkest part of the night sky and Wow! there are stars there! The only drawback is its a Dobs. I can't use any of my CCD equipment with it. It would require a heavy duty concrete mount for tracking.For astrophotography I use the Meade DSI Pro2 with Autostar suite. I also have a Celestron 
NexImage LPI CCD but the two don't seem compatible. Something with the drivers gets crossed. I like the Meade DSI for its resolution but its old and of course, I want more. I am looking into the Orion Starshooter family of CCD's. As soon as I get one I will let you know what I think of it.
NexImage LPI CCD but the two don't seem compatible. Something with the drivers gets crossed. I like the Meade DSI for its resolution but its old and of course, I want more. I am looking into the Orion Starshooter family of CCD's. As soon as I get one I will let you know what I think of it.Meanwhile, what telescope do you like?
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