opinion on a good wide-field refractor.

Hello,

I am searching a good wide angle refractor telescope.For wide vistas of deep sky.Any advice or opinion are welcome.

Thanks,
paulo

Not in the inexpensive side of the scale, but APM does have several larger models of fast refractore.

Good luck in yuor search and choice.

Paulo martin said:

Hello,

I am searching a good wide angle refractor telescope.For wide vistas of deep sky.Any advice or opinion are welcome.

Thanks,
paulo

Paulo, There are any number of good semi-apos available (Orion's ED-80 comes to mind) in any number of sizes. Others are better able to comment on them. If price is an issue I can certainly recommend Orion's ST-80. You could pick one up used for about $150.00 or so, and with a 24 Pan, I get a field of over 4*

Paulo
Hard to beat a Televue NP101 for excellent wide field views. Maximum Tfov with a 55mm Plossl is 4.9°. I have a 31T5 which will give 4.5°. Not too many objects that can't fit in that much FOV.
Just my $.02
Buck

Paulo martin said:

Hello,

I am searching a good wide angle refractor telescope.For wide vistas of deep sky.Any advice or opinion are welcome.

Thanks,
paulo

Lots of choices, depends on the budget I think...

No one has mentioned the various 102ED F/7s. Not quite an RFT but still plenty capable.

Jon

How about the WO Megrez 110 f/5.95? Not exactly an APO as advertised, but I would think it would be a great RFT, and is probably color free at low powers. I have heard it is a bit soft and a little colorful for planetary observing.

I figured a good wide field refractor should be under f/7. I bought the Vixen ED102SS f/6.5 (there is an Orion version by Vixen, only the paint is different) which comes up on the 'mart every month or two. It's a fine wide field scope offering 4.25 degrees. These sell used for about $1k, I've seen the Orion versions go for $900. Put a Moonlite focuser on it and it will be a nice "high end" visual scope. The f/6.5 gives you a bit more fov than the 105mm f/7s. Color correction is very good.

I like this scope so much I started looking for a 5" f/6 and to make a long story short I ended up buying the Tak FS128 used, the scope is f/8.1. I was SURE I wasn't going to like it because it had "only" 2.7 degrees fov.

Instead I find it to be a stunning instrument and I'm very happy with it as my "wide field solo refractor" (the 4" rides on a big SCT). I have never felt field-of-view deprived.

So it all depends on what's big, I can tell you a c14 with 43 arc minutes is not a big fov, and a 9.25 with about 1.1 degrees is not particularly a big fov, but somewhere on the high side of the 2's one has what, in fact, is a big fov. Anyhow it's a fine instrument and a fine wide field and it's well color corrected. Much pricier than an achro or the Vixen Neoachromat, much less expensive than the triplet apos.

Incidentally the Vixen R130 5" Newt is f/5 and offers 2.5 degrees fully color corrected and costs $230. You could put a Moonlite on that and have that "precision feel" and a 9 lb OTA and a 2.5 degree fov; not bad. I'm looking into whether it could be modified for a two inch focuser and 4.3 degree field of view.

regards
Greg N