Good 80 or 90 mm Refractor for Imaging?

Hi,
I currently have a Meade LX-90, but even with the 3.3 focal reducer,
the focal length is too much to give me wide fields of view - so I am
looking for a decent (but inexpensive) wide-filed fast scope to do my
imaging. I would like to mount the scope to the LX-90, and have it
track that way. Is the Apogee 80 or 90 mm, or the Orion Short Tube 80
well suited for this? Any other suggestions?

Thanks in advance.

imaging. I would like to mount the scope to the LX-90, and have it
track that way. Is the Apogee 80 or 90 mm, or the Orion Short Tube 80
well suited for this? Any other suggestions?

I think the false color issue is going to bite you with those scopes..
Probably the cheapest solution is a Orion ED-80

Jon

imaging. I would like to mount the scope to the LX-90, and have it
track that way. Is the Apogee 80 or 90 mm, or the Orion Short Tube 80
well suited for this? Any other suggestions?

I think the false color issue is going to bite you with those scopes..
Probably the cheapest solution is a Orion ED-80

Jon

RS wrote in message . ..

Is the Apogee 80 or 90 mm, or the Orion Short Tube 80
well suited for this? Any other suggestions?

I recently bought an Orion 80ED for use as a guide scope with my 10"
SCT. I haven't done much imaging yet because I'm waiting to get the
SCT permanently mounted first (installing pier and observatory later
this summer).

So, although I can't directly comment on the 80ED as an imaging scope
(yet), I can certainly recommend it as a fantastic scope for wide
field AND planetary use. Comnined with a 6mm-3mm Nagler zoom, it is
brilliant for planets (100x @ 30arcmin FOV to 200x @ 15arcmin) while a
31mm Nagler gives an amazing 4 degree FOV at ~20x (albeit with heavy
field curvature). Even a simple 26mm Super Plossl gives you a good 2
degrees FOV.

In summary - I think you'll find the Orion 80ED a good complement to
your main scope. I'm extremely pleased with mine and have used it as a
main observing scope FAR more than I anticipated (I expected to use it
for guiding only).

Cheers
Beats

RS wrote in message . ..

Is the Apogee 80 or 90 mm, or the Orion Short Tube 80
well suited for this? Any other suggestions?

I recently bought an Orion 80ED for use as a guide scope with my 10"
SCT. I haven't done much imaging yet because I'm waiting to get the
SCT permanently mounted first (installing pier and observatory later
this summer).

So, although I can't directly comment on the 80ED as an imaging scope
(yet), I can certainly recommend it as a fantastic scope for wide
field AND planetary use. Comnined with a 6mm-3mm Nagler zoom, it is
brilliant for planets (100x @ 30arcmin FOV to 200x @ 15arcmin) while a
31mm Nagler gives an amazing 4 degree FOV at ~20x (albeit with heavy
field curvature). Even a simple 26mm Super Plossl gives you a good 2
degrees FOV.

In summary - I think you'll find the Orion 80ED a good complement to
your main scope. I'm extremely pleased with mine and have used it as a
main observing scope FAR more than I anticipated (I expected to use it
for guiding only).

Cheers
Beats

In article ,
(Jon Isaacs) wrote:


imaging. I would like to mount the scope to the LX-90, and have it
track that way. Is the Apogee 80 or 90 mm, or the Orion Short Tube 80
well suited for this? Any other suggestions?

I think the false color issue is going to bite you with those scopes..
Probably the cheapest solution is a Orion ED-80

Jon

I would ask a related question. Is the drive of an LX-90 up to handling
an ED-80 (or similar)? How did you attach the small refractor to the
LX-90?

In article ,
(Jon Isaacs) wrote:


imaging. I would like to mount the scope to the LX-90, and have it
track that way. Is the Apogee 80 or 90 mm, or the Orion Short Tube 80
well suited for this? Any other suggestions?

I think the false color issue is going to bite you with those scopes..
Probably the cheapest solution is a Orion ED-80

Jon

I would ask a related question. Is the drive of an LX-90 up to handling
an ED-80 (or similar)? How did you attach the small refractor to the
LX-90?

On 16 Jun 2004 20:58:27 GMT, (Jon Isaacs) wrote:


imaging. I would like to mount the scope to the LX-90, and have it
track that way. Is the Apogee 80 or 90 mm, or the Orion Short Tube 80
well suited for this? Any other suggestions?

I think the false color issue is going to bite you with those scopes..
Probably the cheapest solution is a Orion ED-80

Jon

THe CCD Camera I will be using is black & white (no color). Will the
false color from the scope still be an issue?

Thanks.

On 16 Jun 2004 20:58:27 GMT, (Jon Isaacs) wrote:


imaging. I would like to mount the scope to the LX-90, and have it
track that way. Is the Apogee 80 or 90 mm, or the Orion Short Tube 80
well suited for this? Any other suggestions?

I think the false color issue is going to bite you with those scopes..
Probably the cheapest solution is a Orion ED-80

Jon

THe CCD Camera I will be using is black & white (no color). Will the
false color from the scope still be an issue?

Thanks.

THe CCD Camera I will be using is black & white (no color). Will the
false color from the scope still be an issue?

Thanks.

It will probably be worse since CCDs have broader response than your eye.

jon