Features:
- Includes AutoStar controller and deluxe field tripod
- 500x maximum magnification
- Equatorial fork mount, Flip-mirror system
- Maksutov meniscus corrector lens of Grade-A BK7 optical glass
- Includes a Meade Series 4000 Super Plvssl 26 millimeter eyepiece for 48 times magnification
Description:
The ETX125EC brings the excellent optics of the original ETX-90 to a larger size, more suitable for serious observing. Maksutov-Cassegrain telescopes like this have a reputation for handling high power well, and I find this to be true of the ETX125EC. With a magnification of 200X, the excellent ETX optics easily show moon shadows crossing the face of Jupiter. When the night air is still and calm, I've even watched the moons themselves glide in front of Jupiter. (Ganymede, the largest moon, is the easiest.) Compared to the smaller scopes in the ETX line, the five inch aperture of the ETX125EC brings out significantly more detail in the moon, the planets, and deep space objects. How much detail? The Ring Nebula, M57, looks like a pale smoke ring. The dark dust lane that shapes the Sombrero galaxy, M104, shows itself by dramatically flattening the south side of M104's glowing spindle shape. (You'll still need a little imagination to see a "sombrero.") Jupiter's "Great Red Spot" is visible (it's actually pale tan this year), and Saturn's rings take on detail and shading that you just don't see in a smaller telescope. Ironically, the high powered optics of the ETX125EC are also its biggest drawback. While observing planets at 200X magnification or more, any vibration while focusing or tracking is also magnified two hundred times. The Series 4000 26mm eyepiece gives a one degree true field of view with an ETX-90. The same standard eyepiece reveals only 0.7 degrees and only half the viewing area with the ETX125EC. In practical terms, this means that the Autostar controller may not hit the target every time the way it does with the smaller ETX models. Meade's clever solution is the "spiral search," which helps to locate targets that wind up just outside the field of view--all you have to do is press "GO TO" a second time and Autostar will begin a search pattern to help you find your target. This scope has proven popular among telescope enthusiasts for its flexibility. One friend who bought an ETX125EC as his first telescope doesn't bother with the Autostar--he likes to look at the planets, and he can find them himself, thank you. Another friend is an experienced observer with several big telescopes in the garage and bought one for it's portability--he's planning to travel east on a star gazing trek this summer and will use the ETX125EC as his traveling scope. Some owners of this telescope will want to add Meade's #1247 electric focuser and anti-vibration pads to reduce vibration problems. Just be aware that eight inch Schmidt-Cassegrains from Meade or Celestron are more solidly mounted, yet don't cost much more than an ETX125EC souped up with accessories. --Jeff Phillips Pros: - Excellent optics
- Autostar computer
- Portable size
Cons:
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