Post by Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe on Feb 25, 2013 7:45:48 GMT -6
Clear skies + near full Moon + 3 Telescopes = Scope shootout
24 February 2013
24 February 2013
Heading home in the later afternoon, the near Full Moon was making a very nice showing in the east...and I decided it would make a great night to test out the 3 smaller scopes in a Lunar Shoot Out comparison test...
Starting out with the 102mm Celestron Refractor, we use the MaxviewII Scopetronix 40mm imaging 2' Eyepiece and the handy Samsung pocket camera. The skies were a bit hazy, but workable...
Swaaping out the 102mm for the 90mm Meade...
And finally, loading the Celestron 5" SCT...
Now...they all perform well, each with it's pros and cons.....
But...I think the 102mm edges out the other two with clarity and sharpness. The C5 is brighter at five inches of aperture...even with the secondary obstruction. There is Chromatic Aberration with the refractors, but not as much as I thought I would get. (A Fringe Killer is my my future.)
The object image size of the C5 is the largest, followed by the 102mm and then the 90mm.
It was cold and hazy, but a better shoot out is upcoming.