Leroy's SCTs

The instruments of a passion ...

Astronomical Catalogs
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Maksutov-Cassegrain Telescope (ETX)
Schmidt-Cassegrain Telescopes
Solar System Observations

	It took awhile, but I eventually got fork-mount fever. Criterion was the first major competitor to try to take on Celestron with their catadioptric (mirror-lens) telescopes. I bought mine used with serial No. 1328 and corrector plate ring No. 740158. This was my first Schmidt-Cassegrain Telescope. That was in January of 1978, and a little over a year later, we took it to Washington state for the eclipse.
	As soon as Meade Instruments produced their first LX5 10" aperture, I bought one—serial No. 102725. It was classified as their model 2120/LX5 Schmidt-Cassegrain Telescope. That was in the winter of 1987. Pictured at left is a six-year-old astronomer checking out the optical alignment. This sky veteran has served me well.
	I couldn't bring myself to inch up to a C-11, so I got a Meade 12" LX200 Schmidt-Cassegrain Telescope, serial No. 126548. It is one beauty of an optical and computer marvel. Field testing has reinforced this notion. (company photo)
	*I wanted a portable telescope for travel by air, and something I could piggyback for photography or guiding. This Celestron 5" SCT, serial No. 52105 fit the bill. It is the fourth fork.*

Schmidt-Cassegrain Optics
8” SCT courtesy Meade Instruments Corp.

On 6/6/2000 a pre-order was placed for the sixth of six Meade 12" LX200 SCTs which shipped on 6/30/2000.
It was received on 7/9/2000.
Now, you can read more about how I select telescopes.

Accessories/Specifications include: (12" specs in BLUE, 10" specs in BLACK, 5" specs in GREEN)
Telescope focal length	f/10	f/6.3	Notes
	2500mm	1575mm	Below, you will find my Field of View (FOV) calculations for the various eyepieces I use. Calculations are provided for both the native f/10 version of my telescopes, as well as those for these same telescopes employing the f/6.3 focal reducer (and field flattener). I recognize that (Schmidt-)Cassegrain optics' focal length is truly an effective focal length due to varying the separation of the primary and secondary mirrors. However, the tabulations below are more intended as a baseline comparison of the relative performance of the eyepieces, rather than a precise value to be used in some (unclear) way.
	3048mm	1920mm
	1250mm	788mm
Telescope Aperture	Clear	Primary
	10"/254mm	10 3/8"
	12"/305mm	12 3/8"
	5"/125mm	5"
Limiting Magnitude	Visual	Photographic
	14.5	17.0
	15.0	17.5
	13.0	15.5
Version	Keypad	EEROM
	3.20	4.341L
Wedge/Mount	Equatorial
	Deluxe Latitude Adjuster
	Deluxe Milburn Wedge
	Celestron Table-top Wedge
2" eyepieces	magn. at f/10	magn. at f/6.3	FOV° ' 10/6.3	Notes
55mm	45.5x	28.6x	1° 6' / 1° 43'	Tele Vue Plössl, 50°
	55.4x	34.9x	54' / 1° 24'
31mm	80.6x	50.8x	1° 1' / 1° 35'	Tele Vue Nagler type 5, 82°
	98.3x	61.9x	50' / 1° 18'
26mm	96.2x	60.6x	51' / 1° 20'	Tele Vue Nagler type 5, 82°
	117.2x	73.9x	42' / 1° 5'
22mm	113.6x	71.6x	43' / 1° 8'	Tele Vue Nagler type 4, 82°
	138.5x	87.3x	36' / 55'
17mm	147.1x	92.6x	33' / 52'	Tele Vue Nagler type 4, 82°
	179.3x	113.0x	27' / 43'
1.25"/2" eyepiece
14mm	178.6x	112.5x	28' / 44'	Meade Ultra Wide Angle, 84°
	217.7x	137.1x	23' / 36'
13mm	192.3x	121.2x	26' / 40'	Tele Vue Nagler [discontinued], 82°
	234.5x	147.7x	21' / 33'
12mm	208.3x	131.3x	24' / 37'	Tele Vue Nagler type 4, 82°
	254.0x	160.0x	19' / 30'
1.25" eyepieces
32mm	78.1x	49.2x	38' / 1°	Tele Vue Plössl, 50°
	95.3x	60.0x	31' / 49'
	39.1x	24.6x	1° 17' / 2°
25mm	100.0x	63.0x	28' / 44'	University Optics Abbe Orthoscopic, 47°
	121.9x	76.8x	23' / 36'
	50.0x	31.5x	56' / 1° 28'
24.5mm	102.0x	64.3x	39' / 1° 1'	Meade Super Wide Angle, 67°
	124.4x	78.4x	32' / 50'
	51.0x	32.1x	1° 19' / 2° 3'
21mm	119.0x	75.0x	25' / 39'	Tele Vue Plössl, 50°
	145.1x	91.4x	21' / 32'
	59.5x	37.5x	50' / 1° 19'
18mm	138.9x	87.5x	26' / 40'	Tele Vue Radian, 60°
	169.3x	106.7x	21' / 33'
	69.4x	43.8x	52' / 1° 21'
18mm	138.9x	87.5x	19' / 30'	University Optics Abbe Orthoscopic, 45°
	169.3x	106.7x	16' / 25'
	69.4x	43.8x	39' / 1° 1'
14mm	178.6x	112.5x	20' / 31'	Tele Vue Radian, 60°
	217.7x	137.2x	17' / 26'
	89.3x	56.3x	40' / 1° 3'
12.5mm	200.0x	126.0x	14' / 21'	University Optics Abbe Orthoscopic, 45°
	243.8x	153.6x	11' / 17'
	100.0x	63.0x	27' / 42'
12mm	208.3x	131.3x	17' / 27'	Tele Vue Radian, 60°
	254.0x	160.0x	14' / 22'
	104.2x	65.6x	35' / 54'
12mm	208.3x	131.3x		Meade Modified Achromat
	254.0x	160.0x		Astrometric eyepiece
	104.2x	65.6x	20'/32'	35.2431° direct measurement at f/10
12mm	208.3x	131.3x		Meade Modified Achromat
	254.0x	160.0x		Alignment/Guiding eyepiece
	104.2x	65.6x
10mm	250.0x	157.5x	14' / 22'	Tele Vue Radian, 60° ¶
	304.8x	192.0x	12' / 18'
	125.0x	78.8x	29' / 45'
9mm	277.8x	175.0x	10' / 16'	University Optics Abbe Orthoscopic, 45°
	338.7x	213.4x	8' / 12'
	138.9x	87.5x	19' / 30'
8mm	312.5x	196.9x	12' / 18'	Tele Vue Radian, 60°
	381.0x	240.0x	9' / 15'
	156.3x	98.4x	23' / 36'
7mm	357.1x	225.0x	8' / 12'	Meade Research Grade Orthoscopic, 45°
	435.4x	274.3x	6' / 10'
	178.6x	112.6x	15' / 24'
Other	info on my other/older eyepieces
Finder/Guiding Scopes	Notes
Meade	9x60mm Polar (right-angle) with Illuminated Reticle Eyepiece
Telrad	1x7mm with Illuminated Reticle projection and Dew Shield
Celestron	C80 EQ WA 80mm f/5 Achromat, w/mirror star diagonal
Celestron	C5 w/erect image star diagonal, 1.25" visual back, and 5x24mm finder
Milburn	Dovetail Piggback Mounting system w/rings for the C5 and C80 EQ WA
Milburn	Dovetail Counterweight system
Binocular
Celestron	Noble 10x50mm
Swift	7x50mm
Orion	#5259 Tripod Adapter
Dew control
Kendrick	Dew Remover system #2014 for 12"
Meade	#612 Dew Shield for 12"
Celestron	#94011 Dew Cap for 5"
Telenegative Lens
Tele Vue	BIG 2X Barlow BLW-2200
Celestron	#93506 Ultima 2x Barlow 1.25"
Telecompressor Lens
Meade	rear cell thread, f/6.3 focal reducer/field flattener
GPS
Garmin	etrex, 12 channel
Planetarium
E.L.B. Software	Megastar v5.0.04
Photo-visual adapters
Intes	2" Star Diagonal mirror w/2" (48mm) filter threads
Meade	#929 2" Star Diagonal mirror w/1.25" Eyepiece insert
Lumicon	LAD248 2" insert for 1.25" Eyepieces w/2" (48mm) filter threads
Peterson Engineering	80mm (3.27") Visual back for 2" accessories on LAR thread
Orion	2" Visual back
Meade	1.25" Visual back
Peterson Engineering	EZ Focus kit
Meade	#1220 Field De-rotater
Lumicon	LGEG14 Giant Easy-Guider with f/4,5,6 focal reducer and guider extension tube
Lumicon	LADGGF10 Giant f/10 Viewing Adapter
Meade	12mm Modified Achromat Illuminated Reticle Eyepiece
Meade	#1206 Electric Focuser
Meade	1.25" Basic Camera Adapter & Tele-Extender
Meade	1.25" Variable-Projection Camera Adapter
Meade	1.25" Variable Tele-Extender
Meade	Piggyback Bracket
Bogen (Manfrotto)	Medium Ball Head w/quick release dual 1/4"-3/8" base for piggyback/tripod
JMI	ADPT2THREAD 2" insert for SCT rear-cell thread (w/Eyeopener)
Meade	#62 T-Adapter (rear cell thread)
Antares	DP2 48mm threaded 2" T-Adapter
Bottorff	1.25" T-Adapter
Lumicon	LADT48 48mm threaded T-Adapter for 2" prime focus adapter
Lumicon	LAD235 48mm threaded 2" extension tube/camera adapter (for GEG f/4 operation)
Nikon	T-Ring
Nikon	DG-2 Eyepiece Magnifier (2X)
beattie	Intenscreen for FM2
Hoya	52mm step ring to 48mm adapter
Filters	Read my Filter Evaluation for a list

New Telescope: As mentioned above, I now have a Meade 12" LX200. Anacortes did a pretty good job of getting me in the queue, so I have no complaints about about it taking a month to receive it. <G> Backup Telescope: My Criterion Dynamax 8 has legs again. United Parcel Service lost them years ago when my father shipped the telescope back to me after borrowing it. The good people at ASTROPTX found a replacement pair for me. A pair of photos may be found at the top of this page. Photography: I use a Nikon EM and a Nikon FM2 with wide-angle (28mm, 35mm), normal (50mm), and 105mm, 200mm, 500mm telephoto lenses (seen mounted piggyback, above right on the LX5), the 80mm f/5 (400mm f.l.) C80 EQ WA, or the 1250mm C5, along with an off-axis guider, prime focus, and eyepiece or barlow projection adapters. Desired: a permanent pier for my backyard and/or a dark site. Hands on Optics and S&S Optika contributed a lot to my FilterQuest, among other things. Note: items (if any) in Gray are on order, or will soon be.

Also ...

You might enjoy (hate?) reading about my nearly complete FilterQuest.

I am definitely a Meade-Lover and you can read my LX200 tips page. I also have an interest in difficult planetary observations.

many people have visited my pages since my web-site moved on 10/9/1999.

Last Update: 12 November 2002.

Leroy's SCTs

The instruments of a passion ...

my

Astronomical Catalogs
Astronomy Section
Astrophoto Gallery
Filter Evaluation
Maksutov-Cassegrain Telescope (ETX)
Schmidt-Cassegrain Telescopes
Solar System Observations

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