Refractor purchase

$1500 Budget; Widefield/Planetary Viewing; Visual Observations only on a Super Polaris Mount w/ wooden tripod. Eyepiece collection includes assortment of Panoptics, Naglers, and Orthos. What would you buy? Thanks, Luis

I would think something like a used TV 102 (if you could find it) or one of the Vixen refractors. The TV 102 is pretty long focal length but the problem here is that you want to do planetary and widefield viewing which means ideally a fast focal ratio. But getting the good planetary views with a fast scope is a problem because one really needs an APO.

Achromats like the SV 102DN are going to have false color at high magnifications.

One option is the Orion 80ED at $500 but it is only 80mm which means you are giving away alot.

Another option is to wait around a bit. Faint rumours and strong speculation suggest that Synta/Orion/Celestron may come out with an ED refractor similar to the ED80 but in the 4 inch class.

jon

If your widefield/planetary requirements are
weighted more towards planetary, I might suggest
a second hand Vixen 102 F9 Fluorite. Alot of
performance for the $.

I've occasionally attached my 80mm f/6.25 refractor to my Super Polaris Mount. It was good for photography, but I couldn't be bothered doing it for visual observing. I much preferred just sticking that scope on a moderate sized camera tripod with a Celestron delux slow motion control unit.

Whatever you get, I'd make sure it's bigger than 80mm.
Renato