A Cautionary Tale

Wellll, it's been both head cold and weather cold time for me. Clear and cold nights have coincided with my lingering head cold, so I have no news to report.

The Tale? Earlier today I spotted a for-sale ad on Cloudy nights from the person who sold me my used AT72ED. He sold that scope because he wanted to move to something larger, an AT111EDT. He bought the AT111 and sold his AT72 thinking he no longer needed it, and that the smaller scope would help pay for the bigger scope. Sensible plan, really; how many scopes can a person use at one time?

The AT111 weighs 11.2 pounds compared to the AT72's 5 pounds, and perhaps more important is larger and a little more difficult to handle. I know my TV-102 surprised me at how large it was and how careful I had to be when moving it around. Not the the 102 is fragile, but I think that refractors in general are deceptively small in appearance.Once you start carting them around you find out otherwise. Just ask anyone who owns a 6-inch refractor--it doesn't have the same portability as a 6-inch Dob!

Sadly, the AT72 seller developed back problems that needed surgery to correct, and his new AT111 is now too much for him to handle. He's put it up for sale. It's unknown if the larger scope caused his back problems. I sort of doubt it, as back problems can reassert themselves for no clear reason at all.

The caution to this tale? It's tempting to suggest that one should never sell one's telescope, but that's utterly illogical and makes little economic sense. And besides, if everyone did that, where would I get my telescopes? 

I think the lesson here, if there is one, is that a factor in deciding when to sell a telescope should be the "niche" it fills in your hobby. The AT111 and AT72 are different enough that they can serve different purposes; the former is a serious scope good for almost any purpose, while the latter is a great grab-and-go scope.

Sorry for this. I know it's not as if you wanted another reason to anticipate "seller's remorse." But it can and does happen.

Yet Another Telescope

Telescope #5 joins the fleet.

For a while I've been looking for a better way to do wide-field astrophotography. I started by trying to use my ST-80 in this role. Its focuser (a replacement GSO model) just wasn't up to carrying the weight of my SBIG ST-8300M, and its optical quality was not very good. As I've mentioned in past posts, I looked at getting an adapter that would let me mount Canon lenses on the SBIG. That seemed a little too single-purpose, given the cost ($280).

Last night (Christmas Eve) someone put an AT72ED up for sale on Cloudy Nights, and I jumped on it. At $285 + shipping I hope it will be the most flexible solution.  It's a bit faster than my TV102 (f/6 vs. f/7)and much shorter in FL (432 vs. 700 mm). Its field of view is a spacious by 2.4 by 1.8 degrees. Questions remain: How robust is the focuser? How well will the Orion field flattener work with it? Commenters have noted that its focuser is much better than the standard 2" focuser by GSO. I've never read about someone pairing the Orion FF with this scope (most people use the AT or WO FF) so I'll have to find out for myself.

The seller is someone who just upgraded to an AT111 and apparently decided he could do without the 72. As for me, this will probably take the place of my ST80 as my travel scope. The ST80 now can retire to its role as Autoguider, for which it is well suited.