Celestron C9.25 & Losmandy GM-8

The scope I always dreamed of! I bought this setup off of a good friend who upgraded to a large dob. Its one of the first C9.25s - pre focusing micrometer era and the optics are sharp! My friend is into binoviewers and actually had this scope sent back to Celestron to be 'fixed' for more back-focus. (Celestron no longer does this) This is a boon for work with CCD as a lot of back-focus is required to accommodate flip mirrors, reducers, etc. It sits on a Losmandy side-by-side saddle in place with a Lumicon 80mm finder scope. The legs attached to the CG-9 are actually the G11 version giving the GM-8 a little extra rigidity holding up that C9.25 OTA. Best of all I have the Losmandy DSCs and encoders mounted and working great.

I've heard a lot of people say that the C9.25 is too heavy for imaging use on a GM-8. The way I look at it moving up from an LX50 is a big improvement no matter what. :o) Maybe one day I'll sell the GM-8 for a G11 but I know I'll have to have some place permanent to put it... This setup is at the very upper limit of anything I'd care to call portable.

Celestron C5 & CG-5

My hunt for the perfect portable scope continues! After having gone through a C80 F/5 and EQ-1 (Too shaky and too low magnification for me.) and an ETX90 (*Incredible* optics - pity about the dinky system.) I've gravitated to one of the best small SCT OTAs - the C5. I've mounted her on a CG-5 which is pretty portable and adds some decent stability and motor drives to the equation and hopefully DSCs in the near future.

Meade 8" LX50 f/10 - Now 'Retired'

Complete with 6x30 finder, standard wedge, deluxe field tripod, hand controller, diagonal and series 4000 Plössl eyepiece. What a babe! ;o) The old 8 incher has now been discontinued but I still love her. Mine has been moded, flocked, DEC fixed, you name it I've tried my hardest to make it a bit better. One of these days I'll take the OTA and stick it on a decent gem...

This scope is up for sale BTW. Unfortunately its still in Portugal so if anybody from the Lisbon area is reading this and is interested please send me an e-mail... Here are the particulars:

- 8" LX50 bought October'99
- Standard wedge
- Adjustable field tripod.
- Celestron 8x50 finder & bracket
- Meade 6x30 standard finder
- Telrad with base
- Standard Meade diagonal & visual back
- Bob's Knobs installed
- Scopetronix LX50 DEC Fix Kit installed
- Scopetronix Deluxe Latitude adjuster installed
- Tube flocked with ProtoStar flocking paper