New to forum - just bought 80mm apo

[astrodrummer]

Greetings all,

This is my first post to this forum so I want to say hello to everyone. I won't go into detail about me here - you can read about me from my websites (astrodrummer.com and astronomyonline.org).

I have used a variety of telescopes for a long time, and the Meade 80mm Apo is the first Apo I have ever used. I wanted a wide field scope suitable for astrophotography (I have yet to get a camera) and white light solar use. I have to say I am very impressed with the scope.

When I received the scope a few days ago (I bought the deluxe version), I was impressed with the build quality. The focuser is top notch, the case is well made, and the collapsable dew shield is a very nice touch. It's a brilliant white with blue accents, and as mentioned by others here, the images online do not do it justice.

I used the scope for the first time tonight. One thing about me is that I am legally blind. This is somewhat an advantage as averted vision is key to observing. While I have difficulty with planets, nebula and galaxies are easily seen. Without a finder scope and vision limitations, I only observed the Pleiades and M42.

The views using my 27mm Panoptic and Meade 4000 14mm Ultra Wide were simply breath taking. Stars were tack sharp, and I was able to see some subtle structure in M42 - especially with the 14mm. Stars were points throughout the field - even in the extreme edges.

Bottom line is I am very happy with this telescope and I can say that I strongly recommend it. I am eager to start imaging once I buy me a Canon 40D spectrum enhanced camera. I will post here once I have some images available. I do have images by me on the website, but these are done on a friends 20 inch RC Optics scope.

Thanks for reading!

[Toxo]

Astrodrummer,

Welcome to 4M.  Always glad to see new folks around here, and do keep posting your experiences with the Meade APO refractor line.  I dare say most of us are using reflectors of some sort, but many into photography have an APO strapped to the back of it. 

By the way, with the visual challenges you have you should be an inspiration to all of us "normal" sighted people.  As for me after reading your post  I'll never complain about a foggy or dirty lens again!!

Keep it comming....

Toxo

[astrodrummer]

Greetings,

Finally there was a clear night in which I could take a few images. Here are a few: The Orion Nebula is a single 30 second shot through the 80mm using a spectrum enhanced Canon 40d camera. The second shot is the Moon, another image through the 40d, exposure I think is 1/60 of a second.




Hope you guys like them.

Rick