New Old Refractor!

Santa and a super-cool wife left this under the tree for me! Last night was the first time I've had this under the stars and it was a nice surprise. This scope star tests very nice and is as close to perfectly collimated as I can tell by star and Cheshire. It was a local sale and I'm the third owner. We had some spectacular views of M42 through a pair of Denks BVs and an Astronomik UHC filter. With an 8.8mm UWA the E star in the Trapezium was easy but neither of us saw F. The CA in this scope is evident on Rigel and Sirius but far better controlled than I expected. I'm going to side by side compare it with our Skywatcher 120ED on the next clear night we have. I hope every had a safe and Merry Christmas.

Clear Skies,

Steve

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Hi Steve,
Merry Christmas, congrats! I had one of these scopes and it was very nice. The optics were quite good and the images were superb.

I just picked one of these as well. I have had one clear night but the temps were tooooo cold for me, so I have not had a chance to look through it yet.

Steve W.

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Hi Steve,

I sure like mine (thanks Floyd). Its high resolution performance is off the scale. This is, without a doubt, one of the best lenses I have ever looked through in 30+ years of observing. The only other refractor I can remember with this high of an overall correction was a D&G F/15 made for NASA that I once owned.

IMO, the residual color error is very minimal and is excellent for visual use. I have owned a couple of standard F/9 achromats and the 127ED is a big leap in color correction by comparison. You can keep all those "color free" high priced "astro camera refractors". As a purely visual observer I don't need "maximal" color crossings to be happy with my visual experience. The moon, Jupiter and Saturn have no color even at high magnifications. The low power star fields are breathtaking with pinpoint stars across the entire field of view. The view of the double cluster (Perseus) in a dark sky will bring a tear to your eye. Just flat stunning! The E&F stars in the trapezium are easy when the seeing settles down. I could go on but I'm sure you know what I'm talking about. Enjoy your "new-to-you" toy!

Keith

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