My Telescopes
Over the years I’ve acquired and used a number of telescopes. From refractors and reflectors (Newtonians) to catadioptric optical systems like the Schmidt-Newtonian, Schmidt-Cassegrain and Maksutov-Cassegrain. Several have been purchased simply because the deal was “to good to pass up.” As a result (for better or worse) I currently own 6 telescopes. I’ve listed them below.
- 10″ Meade LXD55 Schmidt-Newtonian
- Celestron Super C8+ Schmidt-Cassegrain
- 5″ Meade 127NT Newtonian
- 3.5″ Meade ETX-90RA Maksutov-Cassegrain
- 3″ Celestron FirstScope Dobsonian Reflector
- 70mm Meade Series 6000 APO Astrograph Refractor
So why all the telescopes? Surely you don’t need that many telescopes people say to me. Truth be told I probably don’t need them all but many do serve specific purposes. I like to think of it more as a telescope tool kit. What’s the best or most practical scope for observing a certain sky event or imaging an object. You get the idea.
The 10″ Meade SN is my primary star party telescope. It’s fast optics and goto mount make it ideal for dark skies and sharing views of faint nebulae and galaxies. I really love the star rich, wide-field views this scope provides, and judging by the compliments party goers provide to me, so do they.
I use the Celestron C8 mostly for binoviewing the planets and the Moon. It’s not that other scopes I have can’t handle the job. It’s just that the C8 works best. The 90mm Meade ETX is a terrific telescope with fantastic optics. It’s portability makes it a great grab and go scope for shooting eclipses. Not only is this scope ultra portable but it’s quick and easy to set up too. Finally, the newest scope in my line up, the Meade Series 6000 70mm Quad APO Astrograph is the scope I use for wide field imaging.
I’ve also owned, at one time or another, an Orion 12.5″ Deep Space Explorer Dobsonian, 6″ Celestron Starhopper Dobsonian Reflector, Meade StarPro AZ 102mm Refractor and a 60mm Orion refractor (my first scope).