Who sells the Tak FS/FC 60 O.T.A?

"Tom E." wrote in message ...

I already have a 114mm newt, a cheapo, and don't really want another one.

I can understand that, especially if the scope has poor mechanical quality,
as many of that breed do. Nonetheless, aperture is aperture, and 114mm is
a lot bigger than 90mm or 60mm. It's not unlikely that if you were to
fix up your scope and supply it with decent eyepieces, it would show
the planets better than *any* 90mm Mak possibly could -- which is,
in turn, better than any 60mm refractor can do.

Is that Stellarvue Nighthawk any good? Better or worse than the Orion ED?
I sort of like the refractor idea because I can eventually put it on an
accurate mount ...

Actually, you can put almost any optical tube onto a German Equatorial
Mount, unless it's welded to its original mount, which is unlikely. All
you need to do, in most cases, is buy some tube rings, which are readily
available or can be custom-made for a modest price.

But if you're eager to buy a small refractor, don't let me stop you!
For what it's worth, when I started to get serious about telescopes
8 years ago, I first bought a 114mm GEM-Newt -- not a bad one,
either -- and then replaced it with a 70mm f/6.9 refractor. I've
never regretted that, despite the fact that the Newt's planetary
views were at least as good as the refractor's and the deep-sky
views were significantly better.

Small refractors are cute, rugged, extremely portable, and surprisingly
capable. Reasonably fast ones, like mine, also give great low-power
views, which I value quite highly. But you do have to understand
their limitations. As far as I'm concerned, the real strength of
a small refractor is for viewing deep-sky objects under a dark sky,
or for viewing double stars under any conditions. No matter how
small your scope, there's some DSO and double star that's just
right for it.

As for planetary views, I'm spoiled by my 7" and 12.5" Newts. The
level of detail that they show is so huge that little refractors
seem disappointing by contrast. The only transient planetary
features that show really well in small refractors are shadow
transits of Jupiter's moons. Having said that, I must admit
that some people have done amazing planetary work with 100-mm
refractors.

- Tony Flanders