Celestron CPC Deluxe 800 HD 8" f/10 Cassegrain GoTo AZ

[James Tricoli]

I wanted to know if anyone owns or has experience with the Celestron CPC Deluxe 800 HD 8" f/10 Cassegrain GoTo AZ telescope. I am looking to purchase a GoTo scope that has decent aperture and is fairly portable. One that I could set up easily and quickly as opposed to my 5.1" Takahashi, or my 11" Celestron SCT with the incredibly heavy CGE mount. I would be using it to perform primarily observational astronomy and some spectroscopy. I would also be transporting it to some star parties. Appreciate any insight anyone may have. Thanks.

Clear skies,

Jim

[Stephen Gauss]

I have had the CPC1100  11" Alt-Az for at least 10 years. It was my primary telescope till I moved to where I could have a dome and pier and a 14" equatorial.
I still use it for things that  the 14" can't reach and I took it to Alpha Ridge a few years ago. At 83 years old I am still able to lift it onto the tripod mount. The OTA yoke has carrying handles, so not awkward to lift.  An 8" should be pretty easy. Because of the field rotation of an Alt-Az it is not great for long exposures, but is great for observational work. The azimuth motors are in the base and the altitude motors in the OTA yoke, so the weight is actually divided between the two parts.

Stephen Gauss

I wanted to know if anyone owns or has experience with the Celestron CPC Deluxe 800 HD 8" f/10 Cassegrain GoTo AZ telescope. I am looking to purchase a GoTo scope that has decent aperture and is fairly portable. One that I could set up easily and quickly as opposed to my 5.1" Takahashi, or my 11" Celestron SCT with the incredibly heavy CGE mount. I would be using it to perform primarily observational astronomy and some spectroscopy. I would also be transporting it to some star parties. Appreciate any insight anyone may have. Thanks.

Clear skies,

Jim

--
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Anyone posting topics not related to astronomy or the Howard Astronomical League will be moderated immediately and without notice. Obvious spammers will be banned.
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Howard Astronomical League" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to howardastro...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/howardastro/3efcf0b2-6595-4a0a-b43b-3f5e227f8323n%40googlegroups.com .

[Stephen Gauss]

Sorry, correction. i should have just looked at it. The motors are all in the yoke and base. But with handles on both sides of the yoke, is not awkward to lift, even at the 65 lbs of the 11-inch.

Stephen Gauss

[James Tricoli]

Thanks Stephen. Yes, I noticed the handles on this model. Will make it much easier to lift onto the mount as opposed to the 11" Celestron SCT that attaches to the CGE equatorial mount and requires me to align the dovetail while balancing the weight of the scope. At 72 I can still easily do that, but it becomes a pain after a while, especially when you set everything up and it clouds over just as you are ready to observe and then have to disassemble! The 8" version should be no problem at all. Thanks for your input!

Jim

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/howardastro/692a0c93.050a0220.27ddcb.573cSMTPIN_ADDED_BROKEN%40gmr-mx.google.com.