Brent Boshart wrote:
>
> Okay, I have aperature fever and am considering letting go of my 8"
> LX200 and acquiring a 12" LX200. I would be interested in hearing
> comments from anyone else that ever made this move. Was it worth? Any
> regrets? I'm kinda nervous about letting go of the 8" as it has been
> absolutely flawless in operation for me. I wouldn't have considered this
> before but now I'm putting up an observatory and don't have to worry
> about the weight.
>
> Brent Boshart

I too had aperture fever. I had the 8" then got the 12". The 12" needs
to be in a permanent building in my opinion. That is why I donated it
to the Madison Astronomical Society and built a building for it at their
dark site.

I then got the 10" f 6.3 which I find easier to handle, but still a big
pain to setup for imaging. I may well set it up in a permanent building
as well and soon.

The 12" f 10 and the 10" f 6.3 complement each other since they have
different focal lengths by a factor of two. With focal reducers and
extenders this gives a large range of focal lengths and speeds. I
believe that a medium focal length is most appropriate for CCD imaging
because of the small size of the chips.

I strongly suggest you evaluate your purchase on the basis of focal
length and the objects you expect to image. I follow SBIGUSER
carefully, and see that most of the better imaging is done with modest
focal length scopes.

It is exceedingly hard for a mount like the LX200 to control a scope of
3000 mm focal length.

Unfortunately, there is no single scope that will do everything. You
need a medium focal length for most extended objects, but a very long
focal length for planets.

However, any scope is easier to use with a permanent setup since a major
issue for imaging is precise equatorial alignment and excellent
collimation. Both of these things are easily attainable with a permanent
setup.

May your decision please you. (g)

Doc G <http://www.mailbag.com/users/ragreiner>

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