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$3000 and which scope???



 
 
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  #1  
Old October 12th 03, 03:31 PM
david
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Default $3000 and which scope???

If you had a limit of $3000, what scope setup would you buy and why?
No, I haven't won the lottery...
David
  #2  
Old October 12th 03, 08:59 PM
mjd
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Default $3000 and which scope???

3k gets you a nice scope.

My first choice would probably be a Discovery 15" DOB with the
observers package added on. That gives you a 35mm Panoptic and
digital setting circles.

If I wanted total go to, I'd look at a Meade 200 series scope or a
Celestron GPS. You could get 10 or 11" of aperature with 3k.

mjd














(david) wrote in message . com...
If you had a limit of $3000, what scope setup would you buy and why?
No, I haven't won the lottery...
David

  #4  
Old October 12th 03, 09:28 PM
Mike Fitterman
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Default $3000 and which scope???

How about a 15" discover PDHQ, and a DGM Optics 4" scope and a platform for
a drive!
Get the big dob and still have that 4" APO ability. A grab and go setup as
well as a big setup.
all for right around 3K

Mike.


"Alan W. Craft" wrote in message
...
On 12 Oct 2003 07:31:51 -0700, (david) ...reflected:

If you had a limit of $3000, what scope setup would you buy and why?
No, I haven't won the lottery...


...but you obviously have $3000 burning a hole in your pocket.

8^)

The answer is simple...well, for me anyway:

A Parks 8" f/5 or 10" f/5 Newtonian on either their "Superior"
equatorial mounting or a similarly substantive mount by another
maker, like the Losmandy G11 for instance, perhaps.

Why?

Why, to have something more, and a lot more, to observe once you
quickly exhaust the Moon and the planets. Though, there would
still be a plethora of double and multiple star systems to gaze upon
with a lesser instrument; and by "lesser" I refer to aperture, and
specifically to various and sundry apochromatic refractors incurring
similar expenditures. Still...

But don't get an f/4! You'd be asking for trouble; f/5 and slower,
only.

Of course, then there's Parks's 12.5" f/5 Superior...and for a "paltry"...

...$4,599.95.

Now, that's what I call a "YEEHAW!" 'scope...

"Billy Joe Bob! Toss me 'nuther beer! I done got that thar Whirly Pool
swirly thang in thuh eyepace!"

Alan



  #5  
Old October 12th 03, 11:14 PM
Rod Mollise
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Default $3000 and which scope???

If you had a limit of $3000, what scope setup would you buy and why?
No, I haven't won the lottery...
David


Hi:

No ifs, ands or buts, the Celestron Nexstar 11...'nuff said.

Peace,
Rod Mollise
Author of _Choosing and Using a Schmidt Cassegrain Telescope_
Like SCTs and MCTs?
Check-out sct-user, the mailing list for CAT fanciers!
Goto http://members.aol.com/RMOLLISE/index.html
  #6  
Old October 12th 03, 11:23 PM
Alan W. Craft
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Default $3000 and which scope???

On Sun, 12 Oct 2003 16:28:55 -0400, "Mike Fitterman" ...reflected:

How about a 15" discover PDHQ, and a DGM Optics 4" scope and a platform for
a drive!
Get the big dob and still have that 4" APO ability. A grab and go setup as
well as a big setup.
all for right around 3K

Mike.


You've introduced...variables.

8^)

Alan
  #8  
Old October 13th 03, 01:18 AM
David Carlstrom
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Posts: n/a
Default $3000 and which scope???

Is this your first scope? If it isn't, I'd start with an 8" dob from
Discovery or whomever. If you already have a "large"scope, I'd go with an
11" Nexstar from Celestron.

I started with a 4.5" Bushnell reflector, then an 11" Celestron dob, and
currently have a 17.5" PDHQ from Discovery. I was pleased with all of the
above scopes, and am really happy with my 17.5" dob.

If I could do it all over again, I would do it the same way, except maybe
scrounged up some money for a Nexstar 11" along the way. It is really really
great to have 17.5" of crisp aperature, but when the CCD bug still lingers,
you have to suffer.

Good luck!

David Carlstrom



"Alan W. Craft" wrote in message
...
On 12 Oct 2003 07:31:51 -0700, (david) ...reflected:

If you had a limit of $3000, what scope setup would you buy and why?
No, I haven't won the lottery...


...but you obviously have $3000 burning a hole in your pocket.

8^)

The answer is simple...well, for me anyway:

A Parks 8" f/5 or 10" f/5 Newtonian on either their "Superior"
equatorial mounting or a similarly substantive mount by another
maker, like the Losmandy G11 for instance, perhaps.

Why?

Why, to have something more, and a lot more, to observe once you
quickly exhaust the Moon and the planets. Though, there would
still be a plethora of double and multiple star systems to gaze upon
with a lesser instrument; and by "lesser" I refer to aperture, and
specifically to various and sundry apochromatic refractors incurring
similar expenditures. Still...

But don't get an f/4! You'd be asking for trouble; f/5 and slower,
only.

Of course, then there's Parks's 12.5" f/5 Superior...and for a "paltry"...

...$4,599.95.

Now, that's what I call a "YEEHAW!" 'scope...

"Billy Joe Bob! Toss me 'nuther beer! I done got that thar Whirly Pool
swirly thang in thuh eyepace!"

Alan



  #9  
Old October 13th 03, 01:35 AM
Theo Ker
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Posts: n/a
Default $3000 and which scope???

Best advice. I would take the nextstar 11.

If you like it more complicated: why not a nextstar8+orionED80
refractor?
Or a C8 on a CGE mount (bit mo 3.5K)
At the end, i think with the celestrons you get aperture, very good
optics (forget the ones that tell you they see much more detail on
planets with their 100mm apo, they must have dropped their celestron
first.)
As for celestron, it is versatile, even with reductors and a faststar
system if you want to do ccd with a F/2 system! Not any other
instrument gives you that.
Prices of the whole celestron line are so incredible at this moment
(at least in the US), that they just beat them all.

But: for 3K, i just would take the nextstar 11.



(Rod Mollise) wrote in message ...
If you had a limit of $3000, what scope setup would you buy and why?
No, I haven't won the lottery...
David


Hi:

No ifs, ands or buts, the Celestron Nexstar 11...'nuff said.

Peace,
Rod Mollise
Author of _Choosing and Using a Schmidt Cassegrain Telescope_
Like SCTs and MCTs?
Check-out sct-user, the mailing list for CAT fanciers!
Goto http://members.aol.com/RMOLLISE/index.html

  #10  
Old October 13th 03, 01:59 AM
Jon Isaacs
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Posts: n/a
Default $3000 and which scope???


I disagree, as the focal length would be quite a run given
a common set of oculars, and therefore not as observationally-
versatile as, say, a 12.5" f/5 Newtonian;
not that the
catadioptric's useless; just not as versatile...



2800mm focal length / 32mm ocular = 87.5x...

...so much for even an inkling of a wide-field view.


2800mm focal length / 32mm ocular = 87.5x...


2800x0.63=1764mm With a 42 mm ocular this will provide about 42x, and a FOV
greater than 1 degree.

SCTs are versatile because they put a lot of optics into a small package. You
want to do astrophotography with a 12.5 inch F5 Newt it will end up costing
well over that $3000 figure to get it on the mount.

Newtonians are nice scopes and so are SCTs.


There was a time when Meade, and perhaps Celestron, too,
offered f/6.3 instruments, but no more, and out of manufacturing
difficulties, I suspect, rather than lack of demand. Now, focal
reducers are proffered en lieu


As I understand it, optically F6.3 is pushing the SCT design and results in
some rather unfortunate compromises and that a focal reducer/corrector is
provides a flatter field as well.

If I had $3000 to buy a telescope I would put it the bank as I am happy with
what I currently have.

jon
 




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