Mirrors?

[Mike]

Does anybody ever want to talk about scopes with mirrors? I posted about my trip to the 200 inch mirror and I've yet to receive anything nasty in the mail. I'll bet a lot of people here own Newtonians or SCTs. Of course this is the Istar Scope Club and we don't sell scopes with mirrors... yet. I mean it's not out of the realm of possibility that we will some day. If Meade takes a big dump that does leave room for possible expansion into the market.

I bought a used 8" F5 Newtonian with a Royce mirror and Starlight focuser. The reason was I'm interested in imaging Venus in UV. Venus looks pretty plain except in UV which shows the clouds. You can't do this with refractors. The lenses and coatings absorb the UV. You can use an SCT or a Maksutov but a reflector is best. I'm in the process of refurbishing it. The mirror is newly recoated with a very high 98% reflective coating from Spectrum Coatings. I rebuilt the focuser with genuine FeatherTouch parts and am having the tube, which is made of very heavy aluminum, repainted by an automotive body shop. I built my own "fused silica" uncoated barlow. I'll be using a mono Imaging Source camera (618 chip). I need some advice about a mount. I want an equatorial that sits very low to the ground. I don't need goto just a clock drive. I don't want to spend a lot either. I would like to look for something used. I need to research what's been made. I have been looking on Astromart for one.

I use a new C14 for planetary imaging (primarily Jupiter and Saturn).

So what do you guys think? You like the idea or do mirrors suck? Except for the ones in diagonals.

Mike

Also I'm banned and fed up with CN...

[mikey cee]

No mirrors please! You guys got your plate full getting the Raycorr out. Don't need any more distractions. Mike

[Mike]

OK so you don't want us to build them. Does that mean we can't talk about them also?

There is a European company that enjoys an excellent reputation as a mirror producer. They have contacted us about building scopes so it would not be too much trouble for us. A good mirror is the majority of the battle. It is nothing like the nightmares headaches of Raycorr.

[borispider]

I've got a 4.5" sitting in the guest room and the wood for the mount is under the futon.
I got it for the mirror experience. Looked through it once,at the Fak, after Charlie collimated it.

[bn1777]

Ha ha , but my Takahashi Mewlon 210 takes some beating optically and if it was not for diffraction spikes on the brighter stars you would swear you were looking thru at least a 7 inch APO , its that good !~ when well colluminated of course .
Brian

[boomboom]

I got an Orion UK Optics 10" Newt that promises to be fabulous. I say that as it's in my mums garage which is a 1400km round trip from home...I'll be getting it in mid October. Should be perfect with a 6" Refractor. Once had an 8" Newt but sold it as the 6" frac was every bit as good in fact actually better, as it was the scope I always chose to view with.
Mike wish I could make a trip to see the 200", a trip to Siding Spring would be just as good though!
Matt

[Mike]

I've heard good things about UK Optics mirrors. You'll have to let us know how it goes. That is if we don't get booted off this forum for talking about mirrored scopes.

I imaged Mars through a TAK Mewlon one year at the Winter Star Party when it was at opposition. Images turned out really good. Well constructed scope and fine optics.

Mike

[scopejunkie]

I have a Nexstar C-9 OTA that is a great performer. It is well corrected (about 1/20th wave spherical correction according to my 250 line grating. I stated 1/10th on CN to minimize the non-believers. Some of these can end up being well very corrected *rare*) and has given me some nice high power views. The airy disk at high power is well defined. I have split Lambda Cyg, 72 Peg, 78 Peg, Zeta Herc. The planetary views are excellent. One of the better SCT's. I also have a 10" F/8 Newt with high end optics. A beast!

Scopejunkie

[boomboom]

Finally got first light with the 10" f4.8 Orion UK Optics scope.  With a Paracorr and ES 68º and XW eyepieces a sensational scope.

As this was used as an Imaging scope the secondary is 25% but I don't think a sub 20% would do any better. With an old Paracorr type 1 in the Feather Touch (THE BEST FOCUSER EVER) it gives nearly refractor type views to the edge. Only problem is it's on a GEM so I end up in a few not so good positions….after the 6" f12 Refractor is done it's rotating rings for this baby. Love to get this scope out to a dark site.

When I stop taking photos of the refractor I'll take one of the Newt…but we all know what a Newt looks like….. right!

Matt…still a Refractorholic

[bn1777]

Good news Matt , if your Newt is as good as my M210 there is nothing to be ashamed about , a good reflector can perform excellently .
Brian.