I just bought the Orion Apex 127mm Maksutov OTA (as a "spotting scope"),
figuring that it would be the largest scope that could possibly fit onto the
Celestron 114 Goto mount. Its 145mm dia tube is *slightly* too large for the
140mm rings, but with a little ingenuity it's possible to get it on there.
Will the motors move that much weight? Evidently yes, especially since the
tube is short and the "moment of inertia" is not large. Is the mount and
tripod too shaky with the heavier scope? With the legs extended, and on a
firm surface, yes. However, with the legs retracted (so that I sit at a
chair to observe), and on the grass, it's good and steady.
It's been 80% or more cloud cover, so I really can't see much. However, I
did get a chance to see Jupiter, and the increased resolution compared to
the ETX-90 is quite evident. In fact, the atmospheric scintillations are
evident as "wavy scintillations," instead of just blurs. And one of the
satellites (Europa, as I found out) was just about to go it front of (or
behind) the Jovian disk. Well, keeping watch I found that it went in front,
and because it appeared to be in front of a dark equatorial belt, it was
easily visible as a bright spot.
So, how good is the "Apex 127" Maksurov? I really can't say yet, but the
first impressions are favorable.
Robert Sheaffer - robert@No-Spam
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