Skywatcher Telescope Starquest 102MC - Maksutov Cassegrain Telescope 102/1300 mm

SkyWatcher Maksutov-Cassegrain Starquest-102MC with manual equatorial Mount

The STARQUEST Series is a lightweight, "grab-and-go" range combining proven high quality Sky-Watcher telescope optics with a newly designed and well-engineered equatorial mount. The mount features a high quality clutch system, precision 122 gear-tooth/360° gearing on both axes and excellent stability with a maximum payload of 3 kg. The equatorial mount, when polar aligned, allows you to easily track objects as they move across the night sky with its smoothly operated slow motion control cables.

The compact but powerful STARQUEST-102MC telescope package is ideal for the observation of double-stars and the surface detail of the moon and bright planets. Its high-resolution, long focal length optical system is multi-coated to maximise contrast and image sharpness. An (optional) lens filter also allows sun observation.

Supplied complete with equatorial mount and adjustable aluminium tripod.

Useful information about the Maksutow-Cassegrain system

A Maksutov-Cassegrain combines compact design with an image quality that´s close to a classical refractor. Compared with fast refractors of the same aperture, the quality is even better because a Maksutov-Cassegrain has no disturbing chromatic aberration.

The Maksutov-Cassegrain is also an interesting alternative for astronomers and observers who pay attention to a sharp and contrasty image and slso need a short and compact telescope.

A Maksutov is a very good instrument for viewing moon and planets. It will offer good performance when observing star clusters, nebulae and galaxies with a long-focus eyepiece, but it is not a wide-field telescope. Very extended objects like the Pleiades will not be shown in their full dimension.

How a Maksutov-Cassegrain telescope works:
Light passes through the meniscus corrector, is reflected by the spherical primary mirror and is then directed by the spherical secondary mirror to the focal plane behind the primary mirror. The abberations of the spherical mirror system are corrected by the Maksutov lens. This causes a good quality either on the optical axis and also off-axis. A further advantage: The Maksutov corrector keeps the OTA closed and makes it less senstive against tube seeing caused by temperature differences.

The secondary mirror additionaly transforms the main mirror´s focal ratio to the full value of f/10 to f/15 (depending on the individual design) by increasing the effective focal length.

A special advantage, the internal focusing:
The image is focused by moving the primary mirror via a fine thread. This kind of focusing has significant advantages, as a focuser which can flex is not necessary anymore and the focusing range is much larger. Nearly any accessories can be attached to the Maksutov.

By the way, the Skywatcher Maksutovs with 90 and 102 mm aperture have hardly any mirror shifting, which means that the mirror doesn´t tilt during focusing and thus the image doesn´t shift.