So, What's an APO like?

Hello all. Just received my AR 6 this weekend. Got to use it the other night before clouds and dew shut me down. Seeing wasn't bad and I was pleased with Jupiter detail, more detail than I have seen with a 4.5 inch newtonian (big suprise). First time I clearly saw the GRS. I am looking forward to a night of good seeing.

Stars were sharp and crisp, but bright stars had color. Sirius has serious color (I know - really bad). Jupiter had a definite violet / purple haze. I dont mind the color so much, but several posts I have read equate the unfocussed wavelenghts to a significant central obstruction in a reflector. I have done some reading on the Chromacor. Reviews agree that unnatural color is corrected. Several reviews mention increased sharpness and planetary detail.

Has anyone had any first hand experience? The piece is fairly expensive ($600-$800) and as they were designed with Synta OTA's in mind, there may be some "tinkering" required to get a proper set up. (John Hopper @ Astrobuffet - [email protected] - has been very helpful).

Several reviews have claimed APO or near APO performance. As I have never viewed through an APO refractor at all - I am not sure how much of an improvement this will be. APO's certainly demand a premium so there must be something to it. I know the best advice is to view for myself, but this probably wont work - unless someone drags their APO to my backyard (joking).

How much better will near APO viewing be?

Looking back, cost of scope, new diagonal, Ronchi gratings & chromacor - could have gotten LX 90 or even 8" LX 200 GPS. Given the obstructions - Alan Dyer equates planetary performance of 8" SCT to that of a 5" scope. Do you think I'll do better with the 6 inch refractor? With or without chromacor?

Any comments or recommendations before I spend about as much as I did on the scope for the chromacor. Is APO / Near APO performance worth it?

Thanks.

All I can say is that I was pleased as punch with my LX90, then went to a star party and had a look through a couple of apos (TV101 and a Tak FSQ) and *had* to have one. But others have done the same and wondered why anyone made a big deal of it. You really do need to get out there and see for yourself because you won't know if you're a potential apo freak until you do.

Some random comments:

I personally found the "purple haze" while viewing
Jupiter in the 6" F8 Synta to be very distracting.
Some people say they can see past it, but I had trouble
doing this.

My experience with Chromacor has been fairly positive.
The purple haze is 90% - 95% gone. Details I see
on planets are virtually the same as with a 6" true
APO scope, so it does work quite well.

At least for me, Jupiter looks much, much better
with the Chromacor. I think differences on Saturn and
Mars are much less, since they don't have much purple
(or blue) to begin with.

I find that the cool-down time on an SCT is a
real limiting factor here in the mid-Atlantic
region. Mine sometimes takes a couple hours to
put out great images, whereas with the 6" refractor
its more like 1/2 hour. So if you like looking
at planets, the SCT may have some issues.

The best planetary views I've ever seen were with
an 11" Newtonian with a mirror by Carl Zambuto.
But a scope in this class is going to cost alot more
than a 6" achromat + Chromacor, and probably have a
long wait-list, too.

I think before I sold the farm to get a good apo, I'd invest $50 in a minus violet filter. Sirius optics MV-1 or MV-20. Call Al and ask what he'd suggest. At least on my smaller C-102 the MV-20 worked wonders.
brian