I've owned an astroscan now for 32 years. To say its had a lot of use is a big understatement.
To be honest I always thought the optics average collimation is a whisker out and recently it has gone downhill.
I removed the primary and front window with secondary and when I looked at how it is set up the foam behind the primary wasn't pushing it against the metal ring its meant to fit against and was adjustable.
I replaced the foam but in the meantime foucault tested the primary and was stunned to see a smooth beautiful parabola better than 1/10tyh wave p-v.
I then tried putting in secondary and window but collimation was still out slightly and images seemed to go downhill over 60 times as before.
I decided to try using an adjustable spider and secondary and glued this into place taking the window out of the picture as well. The secondary is an enhanced aluminium 1/10th wave Newport one I had lying around.
To say I have an improvement is an understatement 130 times is sharp and crisp on Saturn and collimation is much better.
I also notice an improvement in brightness especially on Omega Centauru which just starts to break into stars now whereas it never did in its original format.
This could be because its now collimated I suppose.
I do wonder how flat the optical window and original secondary are also and may try and test this at some stage.
Astroscans in my opinion are the best quick look scope.
I own scopes up to 17.5 inches in aperture but there is nothing like a quick look in an astroscan.
To be honest I always thought the optics average collimation is a whisker out and recently it has gone downhill.
I removed the primary and front window with secondary and when I looked at how it is set up the foam behind the primary wasn't pushing it against the metal ring its meant to fit against and was adjustable.
I replaced the foam but in the meantime foucault tested the primary and was stunned to see a smooth beautiful parabola better than 1/10tyh wave p-v.
I then tried putting in secondary and window but collimation was still out slightly and images seemed to go downhill over 60 times as before.
I decided to try using an adjustable spider and secondary and glued this into place taking the window out of the picture as well. The secondary is an enhanced aluminium 1/10th wave Newport one I had lying around.
To say I have an improvement is an understatement 130 times is sharp and crisp on Saturn and collimation is much better.
I also notice an improvement in brightness especially on Omega Centauru which just starts to break into stars now whereas it never did in its original format.
This could be because its now collimated I suppose.
I do wonder how flat the optical window and original secondary are also and may try and test this at some stage.
Astroscans in my opinion are the best quick look scope.
I own scopes up to 17.5 inches in aperture but there is nothing like a quick look in an astroscan.
