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Olivier Biot
Amused
Reged: 04/25/05
Loc: 51°N (Belgium)
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Orion 120ST EQ review
#4818557 - 09/20/11 04:19 PM
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Orion 120ST EQ review
By Ed Wawrzaszek
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gmartin02
sage
Reged: 04/11/05
Loc: Santa Clarita, CA
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Re: Orion 120ST EQ review
[Re: Olivier Biot]
#4821293 - 09/22/11 03:06 AM
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Ed,
I am glad you are enjoying your 120ST. I also just purchased a used one for an unbelievable price from an Astromarter. The front of the objective was really dirty & it was missing the dew cap (and had a spider web inside the OTA and a living spider in front of the objective inside the dew shield - it was stored in a garage for many years.) I disassembled everything (except for the lens cell), cleaned it all up, including the front side of the front lens of the objective & the rear side of the rear lens of the objective. The optics turned out to be absolutely pristine after cleaning, and the rest of the scope cleaned up nicely too. I ordered a replacement dew cap from Orion to keep the objective protected, and it is now ready for observing.
I really love using a fast refractor - it doesn't have the light gathering of my C11, or the top notch optics of my Tasco 10TE or my Intes MK-67 Deluxe, but it fills a gap in my viewing because of the much shorter focal length. Being so light, it is really easy to set up & use, and it has much wider field views than my other scopes. It is really nice to look at the Eastern Veil nebula with an oiii filter and see the whole loop instead of just portions of it. It is also great for open clusters.
Someday I would love to have an APO refractor, but in the mean time the ST120 fulfills a valuable role in my visual observing. The next step is to get field flattener for it & try some deep sky astrophography with my Canon T2i.
Greg
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StarStuff1
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 04/01/07
Loc: South of the Mason-Dixon Line
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Re: Orion 120ST EQ review
[Re: gmartin02]
#4821959 - 09/22/11 01:19 PM
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A few years ago I purchased a used ST 120. I was pleasantly surprised at the low amount of CA (false color) present when viewing the Moon and other bright objects. It was so low I became suspicious and measured the exit pupil with a low power eyepiece. Hmmm, the objective was noticeably stopped down by something. I pulled the focuser off thinking a baffle was mis-placed. However it turned out the focuser tube was too long and interferred with the light path. I cut about 1 1/2 or so inches off the front end of the focuser tube. The result was more CA but a brighter image and increased resolution, especially on DSOs.
A vendor at a star party told me that the factory used the same focuser on both the 120 f/5s and the 120 f/8s. If you have a ST120 you might want to check yours for vignetting of the objective.
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CollinofAlabama
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 11/24/03
Loc: Lubbock, Texas, USA
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Re: Orion 120ST EQ review
[Re: StarStuff1]
#4831288 - 09/27/11 10:15 PM
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Well, the author writing he doesn't see any CA, even on bright objects is clearly very insensitive to this aberration. I owned the Orion 100mm F/6, and even though detail on the crescent moon was very good, the blatant purple stamping around gray-white Luna was strikingly unwelcome. But it was a razor sharp scope.
This past Saturday night I joined a group at the Muleshoe Wildlife Refuge, basically in the middle of nothing, 60+ miles out of town. I had my Orion 100mm ED F/9 on the AZ-4, without any wind, the tripod legs completely extended. Someone found Delta Cephei, amongst the Messiers and NGCs. The separation and color in mine were nice, but a friend's 120ST showed distinctly better color variation -- aperture rules, folks. I wouldn't have tried my 7mm T6 on Jupiter in the 120ST like my 100mm ED, but the 120ST's a GREAT scope, provided one use it for what it's designed, brighter galaxies, nice doubles, star clusters, and other faint fuzzies. It may make you blue (deep indigo, in fact) on the moon and brighter planets, it may turn tight binaries to mush, but for Delta Cephei, M31-32-110, M33, M35-38 and the like -- look out!
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