Yesterday I took delivery of the Celestron CR-150 HD
f/8 (
FL=1200mm), a purchase off of AM, and low and behold the sky was cloudless. I now know there are two conditions that make for a great first light, no clouds but that one is obvious, and if you can help it, not on the night of the full moon (that's condition #2). So last night was the night of the full moon plus a sky full of wildfire smoke. My goal was just Jupiter and Saturn.
Set up was a breeze. This scope is paired with a Sky-Watcher EQ6 motor drive mount (no
goto). All I have to say about the mount is that it performed flawlessly. The EPs that were used are my
GSO SV15mm & 20mm
AFOV of 68°, and my Celestron X-Cel LX 12mm
AFOV of 60°, paired with my
GSO 2.25x barlow. Magnifications available were 80x, 60x, 100x, respectively. With barlow 180x, 135x, 225x. The following are observations from someone who has never owned a 6" frac or even observed through one!
I needed Saturn and especially Jupiter to rise a little higher in the sky before any detailed view could be achieved. So in the meantime, I swung that massive yard cannon over to the Perseus double cluster to check out how well this frac displays stars. Wow, the combo of the full moon and a tremendous amount of wildfire smoke rendered this cluster as anemic as I've ever seen it. Using the 15mm (80x) I was able to ascertain the stars remain as little pinpoints well out to the edge of the
FOV. No color fringing was noted. As a side note, this well-balanced mount/
OTA combo effortlessly slid around the sky, what a joy.
On to Saturn. Unfortunately, Saturn's current orbital position puts it quite deep in my southern sky. With that being said, all the detail you'd expect to see at 80x, 135x, and 225x was there with the added benefit of greater contrast from both the ring structure and planetary cloud belts. This was a better display of details on Jupiter and Saturn when compared to my similar
aperture size OTAs with different optical designs (my
RC, and Newt).
Next, Jupiter. This was the highlight of the night. At all powers, Jupiter showed as a bright distinct disk with very little
CA color (there was a hint at 60x & 80x). What was immediately apparent was the increase in contrast that allowed all the cloud structure detail the atmosphere would let through to be witnessed. This was the most amount of detail I've observed on any instrument 8" or smaller! The clock drive was only noticeable because the object never moved in the
FOV. This made it easy to become transfixed by looking at the detail on Jupiter. I still needed to view one last object to complete my planetary review of this
OTA -- the MOON! The FULL MOON! It was BIG, it was BRIGHT! Especially at 60x. Also, now the
CA color becomes apparent. But not so much that you would say "Holy crap, look at all the
CA." In fact, I could see how after a while you might even stop noticing it.
Anyway, it was a party of one and fun was had by all! Here's an image of my new (to me) 6" yard cannon.
Notice that the tripod legs are fully extended, I've never had to do that before.
Cheers,
∞ Primary Scopes: #1: Celestron CPC1100 #2: 8" f/7.5 Dob #3: CR150HD f/8 6" frac
∞ AP Scopes: #1: TPO 6" f/9 RC #2: ES 102 f/7 APO #3: ES 80mm f/6 APO
∞ G&G Scopes: #1: Meade 102mm f/7.8 #2: Bresser 102mm f/4.5
∞ Guide Scopes: 70 & 80mm fracs -- The El Cheapo Bros.
∞ Mounts: iOptron CEM70AG, SW EQ6R, Celestron AVX, SLT & GT (Alt-Az), Meade DS2000
∞ Cameras: #1: ZWO ASI294MC Pro #2: 662MC #3: 120MC, Canon T3i, Orion SSAG, WYZE Cam3
∞ Binos: 10X50,11X70,15X70, 25X100
∞ AP Gear: ZWO EAF and mini EFW and the Optolong L-eXteme filter
∞ EPs: ES 2": 21mm 100° & 30mm 82° Pentax XW: 7, 10, 14, & 20mm 70°
Searching the skies since 1966. "I never met a scope I didn't want to keep."