Asteria AT 127-12 vs. Zeiss Halb Apochromat

[Ales - iStar Optical]

Im happy to inform you that testing of our Asteria AT 127-12 R30 went VERY well last night. The seeing was above average (for Central Europe) and temperature did not drop to the usual freezing point. Even though Istar has been producing these new R30 Anastigmatic lenses for about one year, yesterday was my first chance to look thru one of these myself.. and not only that. I had the original Zeiss Halb Apochromat in 80mm clear aperture and F15 co compare. Forget about the big difference in clear aperture. Also Zeiss at F15 was obviously showing less color compared to F12 Istar.. but overall image quality was truly excellent. I spent nearly one hour looking at the Moon's surface under different magnification and surprizingly, even at 300x, which is a total overkill for a compact 5" lens, the image was still amazingly sharp, did not fall apart and in moments of excellentn seeing I felt like Im actually floating above the Moon's surface. The image quality of Zeiss was well comparable and this old Zeiss is considered to be a very best and sharpest doublet ever produced. The Asteria showed only a very slight purplish halo around the Moon's limb. Looking at Venus, the actual planet was extremely sharp, perfectlyl defined with more predominant CA but still not overly disturbing. Bright stars like Vega or Regulus showed some purplish reddish CA but again, nothing compared to what I was used to with regular achromats. The image of M13 really blew me away at 150x, you could virtually count the stars spread across this amazing cluster. I can say that overall performance, extremely high resolution and special optical design optimized for the human eyes' sensitivity to different wavelengths blows away any reflector of considerably larger aperture. This and the fact that quality of image is comparable to the famous Zeiss makes me comfortable that entire line of Asteria scopes will become very successful, especially in F8 to F12 ratios. Please contact Mike Harden or me for more info: mike. [e-mail] [e-mail]

[borispider]

This scope excites me. A f/8 version might be a little more exciting(for dso work).
Now if it will only work on a cg4 mount

[Watcher3]

Apr 29, 2012 9:40:28 GMT -5 borispider said:

This scope excites me. A f/8 version might be a little more exciting(for dso work).
Now if it will only work on a cg4 mount

If you have a nice tight CG-4 with no slop in it, it might be passable depending on how picky you are. The moment arm of my Omni 120 was a little problematic until I adjusted the slop out of the CG-4, but I'm pretty sure I would find the 5" F/8 acceptable for visual. OH! WAIT! Now I want another scope! ALES! STOP IT!

[borispider]

So nogo on the f/12? And yes I'm not picky.
And Ales knows EXACTLY what he is doing
Just like taking $$ from a baby.

[bn1777]

I used my ( now sold in favor of a Takahashi DK Mewlon 210 ) NG127mm f7.5 triplet on my old ( sold as well ) CG4 mount for over 9 months and it held it ok considering the weight and length of the NG127 , similar to Istars 127/8 .
It got the wobbles at about 200x but on good clear and steady nights I could hit 300x by using a very steady hand .
By the way I now have an Ioptron IEQ45 ( that holds my M210 ) and it holds my newly built Istar/Saxon 127mm f/8 extremly well , a very good match .
I use the Istar/Saxon mainly on my TelVue Gibralter alt/az mount and these two are made for each other , light , smooth , 3 miniute set up and most of all sexy .
The views thru my Istar 127mm f/8 achro are very , very good and thats not just me saying that as I have had a few friends look thru it and they are amaized by the quality of the views , when you consider the lense only cost me $354 aud delivered to me here in Australia amazing price !.
By the way powers up to 130x or so in my Istar/Saxon are very comparable to my now sold NG 127 triplet , but over that ,,, well ? ( Its only a bit of CA , that does not bother me at all ) .
Yes use your CG4 untill you save your pennies for an Ioptron IEQ45 , great mounts! perfect for the Istar 127-150mm , f/8-10 scopes .
Brian.

[bn1777]

Hi Boris here is my Istar/Saxon on my IEQ45 mount , looks good and when I find a photo of my (sold) NG127mm triplet on my (sold) CG4 mount I will post that as well , I have 1000's of astro/scope photos in on almighty mess !!! gotta sort them out one day ;D.
Enjoy .
Brian.

Apr 29, 2012 9:40:28 GMT -5 borispider said:

This scope excites me. A f/8 version might be a little more exciting(for dso work).
Now if it will only work on a cg4 mount

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[borispider]

Hi Brian and tnx for the info. Nice scope.