[AZ-Observing] Re: Refractor Comparison

Will Stan I can tell you if your in the market for an Astrophysics telescope 
and your not on the waiting list your not likely to get one for yourself, not 
unless you surf Astromart daily the 5 inch F6 and the 6 inch F7 do show up 
from time to time. Currently there are two AP's on the Astromart Auctions the 
155 
F7 is currently at $6600 and there is an older 6 inch F12
As far as the optics go. My AP 130 F6 the color correction is phenonominal? 
The sharpness of the optics well instead of talking 1/10th wave we can safely 
say we are in the .98 to .99 strehl Basically when I took delivery of my 130 F 
6 eight years ago I compared it on Jupiter with my Quantum Six Maksutov this 
scope for some who may not know had a focal length of around F16 and was a 6.5 
inch instrument and it beat the pants off of a Questar seven at one the RTMC's 
in the 1980's well 8 years ago my AP 130 at F6 beat the pants off of the 
Quantum Six. With either of my 130 F6 or my AP 155 F7 I can use 100x per iinch 
power with either scope when the seeing permits. that is 500x of the 130 and 
600x 
for the 155 F7 Never really had the powers higher although I have talked to 
people who had taken there AP's to the Florida Keys for the annual winter star 
party and they were using powers in excess of the above without breakdown. 
Putting it bluntly there is not a Chinese made scope that cannot even touch an 
AP 
or even a Takahashi for that matter. The wide field performance has to be 
seen to be believed. 20 to 30x and the stars are tiniest pin pricks with 
absolutely dark sky in between the double cluster is a knockout with my AP 130 

Takahashi scopes are the next grade where you can use ridiculously high 
powers without image breakdown the drawback with the Taks since they are 
imported 
by Texas Nautical are generally priced higher that the AP's Currently however 
you can get a decent sail price for Takahashi FS128 and its around $4500 and 
available right now it you want it. They are nearly every bit as good as the 
AP's I say nearly every bit as good for one reason the FS series are doublets 
and 
they do not focus the blue however it is so slight most people don't notice 
it. I know its there because my eyes seem to pick up on color more so than 
other people.

This brings us to TMB optics This next group the optics are made in Russia to 
the Specifications of Thomas Back there are two outlets for TMB scopes one 
through Astronomics AKA where Thomas himself checks out the optics for USA 
sales 
and then there is Markus Ludes out of Germany where you get what you get. I 
will not elaborate. Just take my word you want the optics to go through Thomas 
Back before you get your hands on them.

                http://www.tmboptical.com/

Next source for TMB is Stellarview and they seem to have a really neat short 
tube 115 mm Triplet made by TMB optics its F7 and looks like a real winner and 
has a steep price to go with it but if your interested you can check out the 
WEB site below

                http://www.stellarvue.com/

Next there are the Televue 4 inch refractors I myself am partial to the 
Televue NP101 I found this scope to compliment my Astro-Physics F7 Stowaway. 
The 
NP101 has some really sharp optics and is essentially color free. What really 
neat about this scope is that it can be used at 300 x and then at something 
like 
around 12x with a big whopping 5 deg field of view all in one package.


                Last there is one other manufacturer out of Colorado and that 
is TEC for Telescope Engineering Company they make a killer 140mm F7 triplet 
that is also every bit as good as AP and Takahashi there WEB site can be seen 
here and the waiting list is mush more manageable

               http://tec.idcomm.com/tec_us/index.html

   Astro-photography with all the instruments mentioned above have been 
absolutely stunning, both film and CCD these scopes really can do there stuff I 
have never seen a disappointing image with one of these scopes. Tony Hallas, 
George Greeney and a whole host of others have used Astro-Physics instruments 
for 
film and now CCD with Rob Gendler using the SBIG STL 11000 and his STL 6303 
with his AP 155 F7 and John Gleason using an AP 130 F6 and an AP 180 F7 to 
capture some really neat imaging in both Hemispheres both with film and his 
ST-10 
camera


            http://www.astrophoto.com/

            http://www.astrophoto.com/

            http://www.robgendlerastropics.com/

            http://www.celestialimage.com/index.html

       
           
    The last thing I might mention is that it all depends on what you want to 
do with you scope. Just comet hunt with low power widefield views then you 
common imported refractor may be all you need. or attempt high res work and 
then 
photography then you might try to go for one of the above scopes
            

            Clear Skies
            Dwight L Bogan
                
                


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