E Q U I P M E N T
telescopes

• Telescopes
• Mount
• Camera
• Lenses
• Guiding
• Coldbox

TEC 140 In the summer of 2009 I bought these second hand TEC140, a perfect telecope for astrophotography. The focal length is 980 mm. See Latest Pics for the first results. In the coldbox under the telescope is a modified Canon 40D. On my first images I found that the stars in the corners were not perfectly round. The chip of a Canon 40D is 22.2 x 14.8 mm, so the sensor diagonal is 26 mm. TEC is recommending a field flattener for diagonals larger than 15 - 20 mm. So a flattner is indispensable when using a DSLR. The coldbox is designed to deminish noise. The temperature in de box is 10° to 12° C lower than the ambient temperature.

Meade 10 inch LX200R In december 2007 I purchased this 10 inch (254mm) Meade LX200R (the tube only). The focal length is 2500mm, so the focal ratio is f/10. That is too slow for astrophotography, so I always use a focal reducer, which makes it a f/6,3 system. My primary goal is to photograph galaxies and nebula which are too small for my Vixen. Meade called this telescope an Advanced Ritchey-Chrétien system. Now they call it an Advanced Coma Free system (ACF). Untill last year I used a Celestron C8. I found it difficult to make good pictures with it. Off-axis guiding with an ST4 was practically impossible. The stars on the edge of the field were too smeared because of the coma. Meade claims that the Advanced Coma Free system has no coma. I found that this claim is correct.

Vixen ED102SS Several years ago I bought this used 4 inch (102mm) apochromatic refractor. The focal length is 660mm, so the focal ratio is f/6.5. In Sky&Telescope of november 1999 the ED102SS was tested. The conclusion was that it is a very good telescope, optimized for deep-sky shooting. "Stars at the corners exhibited just a small degree of distortion due to the astigmatism inherent on most fast refractors." When you look at the high resolution pictures, you can see that the stars in the corners are not perfectly round, but the color correction is very good, as you might expect from an apochromatic telescope. This telescope doesn't have the quality of a TEC, Takahashi or Televue, but it is a good, affordable telescope. With my Canon 20Da there is no need to buy a better focusser. A lot of pictures on this site are taken with this telescope. On this picture the telescope is shown with my good old Olympus OM1, with which I spend many nights... For guiding I use a Vixen Guiding Scope 70S (D=70mm F=400mm). It's always very easy to find a guide star with this system. Unfortunately it is no longer in production. I bought a used one.

Televue 85 Some pictures on this site (M45, IC5070, NGC1499, M8 + M20, Barnard's E) are made with a Televue 85 telescope. Unfortunately this telescope is not mine. I borrowed it from our local public observatory Copernicus. With a focal reducer / field flattener the focal length becomes 480mm at f/5.6, with an absolutely flat field and pin-point stars. A perfect telescope, very difficult to return it...