I'm in the process of building my ultimate portable telescopic platform, with emphasis placed on long-exposure astrophotography. Here's what my ultimate scope will involve: Celestron NexStar 11 GPS 11" Schmidt-Cassegrain with Fastar * Borg 76mm ED aprochromatic refractor piggy-backed on the SCT JMI NGF-S Crayford Focuser with SmartFocus computer interface, can be mounted to either 'scope * SBIG ST-7XE or ST-8XE CCD camera SBIG CFW8 filter wheel Olympus OM-2000 manual SLR * Laptop * * already have Man, I wish I was rich.... err... more rich. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! - Warren
hehe an 11" Schmidt-Cassegrain damn you Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Have a brochure here from meade where they have an awesome 16" Schmidt-Cassegrain Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! too bad it's about $ 29.000 Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
I love it! If you're nearby, you're welcome to come observing with me anytime! Bah, you don't want a Schmeade anyway. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! - Warren
not in the USA currently, should be there this or more likely next year, might keep you to it Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! not at that cost anyway Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Actually, a 16" SCT is beginning to get a little stupid anyway. The entire point of the SCT is to put a large aperture in a small package. My 11" weighs about 65 pounds, which puts it at limit of what I would personally call "portable." A 16" SCT would probably weigh in at something like 300 pounds or more. It's terribly expensive, and not portable! Anything larger than 12", IMO, warrants a move to the Newtonian design. If you're looking for a permantly mounted solution, you could build an entire observatory around a 20" Newt for the price of the 16" SCT OTA. If you're looking for a portable scope, a Dobsonian-mounted 16" Newt is actually much more portable than a 16" SCT. - Warren
i wasn't really thinking of buying that (not even because of the price). i'm happy getting my 127mm Maksutov-Cassegrain
Your telling me, this is not a good telescope? Its sweet and I want it damit. Ahh... Actually I really wanted to buy it, then I wanted to build one, but i have no help and knowlege so I think Ill buy this one when I get the money.
No, that's a nice telescope, as well. The entire LXD55 series has been reviewed to be rather good. I personally am not a Meade fan, though. - Warren
