Calling Jake Jacobson (Konus questions)

Jake,

After searching through the posts concerning the Konus line of scopes, I would like to ask you a few more questions (I know I have already asked one of you) concerning them. Correct me if I am wrong, but you own both the Mak 5.1 and the Konusky 8" Newt.

Are both of yours on the "EM10" mount? The mount seems almost like overkill (although there is no such thing when toys are concerned, right?) for the Mak, but how well does it support the Newt? Is it really grounded and stable? Or does it seem to be near its limits and having to really work at it? Also what is the weight on the mount and the OTAs (portability concerns)?

It seems you are taking your astrophotos from LA (awesome pics btw!). I am assuming you are dealing with light pollution from hades. (I live on the plains of West TX and I think the motto for lighting is that they should be able to see our skyglow from 100 miles away.) Which of the two deals better with light pollution? Or do both need some type of filtering? I do have the opportunity to get out of town relatively often (an astro buddy has bought a country home that has pretty dark skies!), but most of my observing will be from my backyard (I turn off my security lights, but have to contend with a street corner lamp and four neighbors' outdoor lighting - one actualy has what seem to be TWO airstrip landing lights mounted on the front of his house pointed directly at my backyard!) I guess you can see where I am going with these questions. Which of the two would perform better under my conditions?

I currently have a 90mm/F11 refractor (traded for non-astro items) and a pair of 9x60s w/tripod. I am having a blast with what I have, but you know the itch...

I have started an astro fund and it will be a while before I will be ready for either scope financially, but want to know as much as I can about what is available. The Konus scopes seem to be a whollata scope for the money. Just wanted some more "in depth" opinion from someone who has some hands-on experience with these scopes. Also, figured that by asking the question in this forum (rather than email) would benefit others who might be entertaining the same questions concerning the Konus scopes.

Thanks for any input you can provide.

Clear skies to all.
David

Hi David -

Sorry I missed your post until today...

You are right, I now have the 8" newt, and the 5" maksutov. The 8" is the older model, and came with a CG-5 (EQ4) mount. The Mak came with the "EM10", and you are right that it is more than enough to handle the little mak. The CG-5 does fine with the 8" for visual use, and I have also pushed it's limit by taking astrophotos -for which it is not ideal, but certainly possible. The newer EM10 should also have no problems with the 8" for visual, as it is basically a CG-5 knockoff mount. It wouldn't work as well for photography, however, because of the way the drive corrector works - you wouldn't be able to easily make corrections during long exposures.

As for which does better in light pollution, I would have to say that the 8" does - I feel aperture always wins in light pollution. Planet observing is a different story, as they aren't affected much by light pollution. On planets, both scopes do well from L.A. I basically purchased the Mak because it is easy to setup for planet observing. I use it most of the time now, but if the seeing is really good (i.e. can handle more than 400x), I pull out the 8".

Hope that is helpful....

-Jake