New Huge Celestron 20" Scope and Mount. Adv...sort of.

ValeryD wrote:

(mike bieler) wrote in message . com...

Celestron has just announced a new 20" Telescope.
The scope itself is a Dall-Kirkham design and the mount is fully
computerized with a 180 pound payload capacity. The scope is called a
concept telescope, so it doesn't have a ship date or solid pricing.
Complete price is expected to be around $30,000 to $50,000 or the
price of a nicely equipped 5 series BMW.

Clear Skies,
Mike/astronomics



Ha ha! In this case Meade 16" is MUCH MUCH better choice.

Elaborate, please. Why do you say that?

So one confirmation of something I suspected; the mount is undersized for
the Meade scope.

And a Dall-Kirkham design, if well done, is a great telescope. Better than
any SCT in my books. I hope Celestron pulls it off, but this is definitely
a better observatory scope than a "portable" one.

--- Dave

"Del Johnson" delastro@{right star in Orion's belt}.sdsu.edu wrote in
message ...
Don't be so sure about that. The 16" Meade SCT has been less than
stellar.
Not a very good mount for starters.

Del Johnson




"ValeryD" wrote in message
om...


Ha ha! In this case Meade 16" is MUCH MUCH better choice.


Valery Deryuzhin.

So one confirmation of something I suspected; the mount is undersized for
the Meade scope.

And a Dall-Kirkham design, if well done, is a great telescope. Better than
any SCT in my books. I hope Celestron pulls it off, but this is definitely
a better observatory scope than a "portable" one.

--- Dave

"Del Johnson" delastro@{right star in Orion's belt}.sdsu.edu wrote in
message ...
Don't be so sure about that. The 16" Meade SCT has been less than
stellar.
Not a very good mount for starters.

Del Johnson




"ValeryD" wrote in message
om...


Ha ha! In this case Meade 16" is MUCH MUCH better choice.


Valery Deryuzhin.

lal_truckee wrote in message ...
ValeryD wrote:

(mike bieler) wrote in message . com...

Celestron has just announced a new 20" Telescope.
The scope itself is a Dall-Kirkham design and the mount is fully
computerized with a 180 pound payload capacity. The scope is called a
concept telescope, so it doesn't have a ship date or solid pricing.
Complete price is expected to be around $30,000 to $50,000 or the
price of a nicely equipped 5 series BMW.

Clear Skies,
Mike/astronomics



Ha ha! In this case Meade 16" is MUCH MUCH better choice.

Elaborate, please. Why do you say that?


1. SCT has closed tube. Less air turbulence in the tube.
No dust inside. Mirrors always perfectly clean.

2. No spiders. No spikes from the stellar images.

3. primary in Dall-Kirkham is ellipsoid - very close to parabola.
This is huge aspherics. I am not sure Celestron will make it right.
This is one by one product. In serie I don't believe it will be well
made.

4. Too big difference in the price 15K and at least 30K for only
25% aperture increasing.
For exstra money it is possible to order optics refiguring or re-touching
to very high quality + to buy very good CCD equipment + build observatory
with moveable roof.

16" is much more cost-effective.

V.D.

lal_truckee wrote in message ...
ValeryD wrote:

(mike bieler) wrote in message . com...

Celestron has just announced a new 20" Telescope.
The scope itself is a Dall-Kirkham design and the mount is fully
computerized with a 180 pound payload capacity. The scope is called a
concept telescope, so it doesn't have a ship date or solid pricing.
Complete price is expected to be around $30,000 to $50,000 or the
price of a nicely equipped 5 series BMW.

Clear Skies,
Mike/astronomics



Ha ha! In this case Meade 16" is MUCH MUCH better choice.

Elaborate, please. Why do you say that?


1. SCT has closed tube. Less air turbulence in the tube.
No dust inside. Mirrors always perfectly clean.

2. No spiders. No spikes from the stellar images.

3. primary in Dall-Kirkham is ellipsoid - very close to parabola.
This is huge aspherics. I am not sure Celestron will make it right.
This is one by one product. In serie I don't believe it will be well
made.

4. Too big difference in the price 15K and at least 30K for only
25% aperture increasing.
For exstra money it is possible to order optics refiguring or re-touching
to very high quality + to buy very good CCD equipment + build observatory
with moveable roof.

16" is much more cost-effective.

V.D.

"Chuck" wrote in message ...
It should be interesting, the competition is the 20" D&G Classical
Cassegrain on a Paramount ME for $30,000. It would seem Celestron would be
hard pressed to provide better performance at that price point ....


Or better 14.5" or even 16" RC on the Paramount ME.


V.D.

"Chuck" wrote in message ...
It should be interesting, the competition is the 20" D&G Classical
Cassegrain on a Paramount ME for $30,000. It would seem Celestron would be
hard pressed to provide better performance at that price point ....


Or better 14.5" or even 16" RC on the Paramount ME.


V.D.

16" is much more cost-effective.


HI Valery:

I agree, though the jury is still out, to some extent, on the new GPS 16.
Actually, if you can stand to drop down 2 inches, the Meade 14 is a tremendous
value and is garnering some rave reviews--I'm told it may be the best of all
the GPS LX200s...

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

16" is much more cost-effective.


HI Valery:

I agree, though the jury is still out, to some extent, on the new GPS 16.
Actually, if you can stand to drop down 2 inches, the Meade 14 is a tremendous
value and is garnering some rave reviews--I'm told it may be the best of all
the GPS LX200s...

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

"Del Johnson" delastro@{right star in Orion's belt}.sdsu.edu wrote in message ...
Don't be so sure about that. The 16" Meade SCT has been less than stellar.
Not a very good mount for starters.

Del Johnson




"ValeryD" wrote in message
om...


Ha ha! In this case Meade 16" is MUCH MUCH better choice.


Valery Deryuzhin.

Like all SCT gotos on forks over 8" in size, it works ok in horizontal
mode. Equatorially, too much stress on the polar bearing and forks.
-Rich