Posts Made By: Chuck Burton

Dan McConaughy said:

The best pictures I have seen by amateurs are from Celestrons. Does that make them the best planetary scope?

As a former C-14 owner, I would agree with the other people posting replies to your message. The C-14 is without question the finest scope I've ever owned. With that said, collimation is absolutely critical, and so is good seeing, and a scope that is temperature-acclimated - if you expect to get excellent lunar/plnaetary views. And the C-14 will deliver them. But if the seeing is marginal, you'd probably get more pleasing lunar/planetary views with a good quality 90mm refractor. For extended deep-sky objects, Lumicon's Giant Focal Reducer brings the C-14 down from f/11 to about f/6.5. Add a 31mm T5 Nagler and it'll blow your doors off! Good luck! - Chuck

Hi Alex:

I also have a C-14 on a Schaefer mount (see my profile for a pic). Best scope/mount combination I have ever used. I know a lot about Schaefer mounts. I used to visit Bill Schaefer in his machine shop when I was in high school back in the 70's. Used C-14 OTAs go for $2500 - $3000, depending on condition and coating options. Value will also depend on the size and condition of the mount. Most of Bill's mounts used Byers gears. They were solid and accurate-tracking. Okay, probably more information than you wanted. Approximate values, for a complete mount, including dual axis drive corrector, in excellent working condition:

7" $1200
9" $2000
10" $2500
11" with Byers StarMaster $3000+

Your mileage may vary depending on the marketplace, of course.
In fact, let me know what the guy is asking - I might be interested. (Smart move on my part giving you all the above "value information!" )

Feel free to contact me if you need any further information on Schaefer mounts - and good luck! - Chuck

Hi Roger: I have two Lumicon O-III filters. One I purchased on the used market several years ago, the other I've had since it was new in 1985. Never had a problem, but then I've never cleaned them with a solvent, either - only compressed air and a blower brush. Maybe your cleaning technique is affecting the coating. Lumicon is still in operation. Try asking them about it. Good luck! - Chuck

Hi Brian: I used to have a Meade 10" LX3 SCT. I have a C14 now, but the observing tips I have apply equally to both systems. There are lots of good suggestions here from others. One thing you should really consider that hasn't been mentioned is a focal reducer. If you want wide, pleasing deep-sky views with an f/10 system, these are a "must have." There are used, $100 f/6.3 versions available from Meade and Celestron, however they have a small lens and will vignette pretty badly with long focal length eyepieces. Lumicon offers a better choice with their 2" lens version new, for about the same price. They will not vignette as badly. Lumicon also offers this reducer in a "photographic" version with a built in guider, just in case you're thinking about astrophotography. Another fellow suggested getting an adjustable barlow so that you can make one eyepiece perform like three separate ones. I think that's a great idea. Get a couple of Naglers, the adjustable barlow, and a focal reducer and you'll have one of the most versatile scopes around. For Naglers, the 31mm will just blow you away. It might be a problem to use with a barlow - I don't know. I have used my 31mm on the C14 with the focal reducer. It's long and bulky hanging off the back of your scope, but the wide field views were just jaw-dropping. I'd recommend that you consider the 20mm T5 Nagler to test the waters. Nice eye relief and relatively small/light compared to other Naglers. Should work quite well with the barlow and the focal reducer also. You can then decide if you want a lower and/or higher powered version(s). Good luck and welcome back to this fascinating hobby! - Chuck

My C-14, mounted on a 7" Schaefer GEM with Parallax rings. Highly portable, yet extremely stable. Sets up in just a few minutes, breaks down into easily-handled components (important at age 50! ) This particular C-14 provides breathtaking lunar/planetary image with faint, low contrast cloud bands on Saturn easily visible on nights of good seeing. Attach the Lumicon Giant Focal Reducer, and the C-14 becomes an excellent wide-field f/6.5 scope, providing "fast Newtonian-like" views of extended nebulae and other DSOs. A pic of this setup is on my AM profile.

Hi Keith -

Sorry no one answered your post. I doubt that the holes would line up. When do you think you'll upgrade the rest of your scope by putting a Celestron OTA on the C8 fork mount? [Keith - I'm just kidding! I'm a "Celestron guy" and I just couldn't resist! Like the "Ford vs. Chevy" thing, you know?] Good luck with your project!

- Chuck

I had a pair of the older Celestron 25X100 SkyMasters and they were very nice. Heavy duty build quality, clean star images and nice detail visible in large deep sky objects like M42, M8, and M31. The Apparent Field of View was a bit on the narrow side. If you don't mind the narrow AFOV, you'll love these nice binocs. For myself, wide field sweeping through the Milky Way is one of my favorite things to do, so the narrow AFOV didn't work for me. I ended up buying a different binocular. If you can afford it, I'd recommend looking at some of the 100mm binoculars with interchangeable eyepieces. If not, see if you can find a pair that has a 60- to 65-degree AFOV for best results. Good luck!

Paulo: I've owned many different binoculars over the years. To answer your question, I assume you are planning to mount these so you can have a nice, steady view. IMHO, it's tough to hand hold a binoc steady enough to detailed observing at 10X. For hand held sweeping of the Milky Way, I prefer a 7X50 or 9X60. I also assume that you've personally looked through some 10X70 and 10X50 binocs so you have an idea about how they perform. If not, head out to a star party and see if you can test some.

If you have relatively dark skies, the for Milky Way sweeping, aperture is important. I would choose the largest aperture I could afford. However, another poster is correct regarding exit pupil size. Also, if you observe from heavily light-polluted areas, you might do better with a smaller aperture/smaller exit pupil as the constrast will be better. If neither of those applies to you, then I'd recommend the 10X70 binocs.

I agree with the other poster who advised purchasing a high-quality binocular. Get the best ones you can afford. Good luck!
- Chuck

I called Losmandy today to get that information, but even THEY are out of stock and could not provide that info.! If you have one of of those, I'd appreciate the information.  Thanks! 

I called Losmandy today to get that information, but even THEY are out of stock and could not provide that info.! If you have one of of those, I'd appreciate the information.  Thanks!