Some interesting new equipment announcements at NEAIC/NEAF

Just needs SHO filters that work well at F2.8 …

John Hayes · Apr 12, 2026, 07:31 PM

Unfortunately, I had to miss the meeting this year but Luca, AKA, “The Space Koala” did a good job of making a video to review some of the new products at the meeting this year. You can see it here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGe2OuOS7OA

I’m slightly amused that Sky Watcher has a “new” patented zero shift focuser that is driven by four lead screws connected by some sort of belt. That basic concept has been around for a very long time and I even built one back during my grad-student days well over 40 years ago (mine had 3-screws). But, maybe they have solved some of the inherent problems with the fact that it is an inherently over constrained design, so we’ll have to see how well it works.

Planewave has tossed out their well established brand name to become “Observable Space” and they announced a couple of interesting tidbits. First, they have come out with a SCT! It’s a wide field F/2.8, 8” system with an introductory price of around $6,000, which comes with a focuser. That is the smallest aperture in the history of the company. They also announced that they are developing a new 1.8-m scope, which will become their largest product. Here’s a spec-sheet for the 8”: obsp_2026_dr8_spec_sheet_v2.pdf

Anyway, you can check out Luca’s video for yourself to see everything else. She did a great job of providing an overview of what was going on in the vendor booths this year.

John

Man the CO on the planewave looks huge. I know they say <60%, but I guess with only 8” corrector it makes it look like less photon gathering area.

Dunk · Apr 13, 2026, 02:53 AM

I didn’t see this in the YT video - do you have a link to more details (other than the PDF)?

It’s at 34:09.

John Hayes · Apr 13, 2026 at 03:48 AM

It’s at 34:09.

thx. She has it in with the Toupek chapter which I skipped ‘cause I already saw their announcements ;-)

Rick Krejci · Apr 13, 2026 at 02:25 AM

John Hayes · Apr 12, 2026, 07:31 PM

Unfortunately, I had to miss the meeting this year but Luca, AKA, “The Space Koala” did a good job of making a video to review some of the new products at the meeting this year. You can see it here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGe2OuOS7OA

I’m slightly amused that Sky Watcher has a “new” patented zero shift focuser that is driven by four lead screws connected by some sort of belt. That basic concept has been around for a very long time and I even built one back during my grad-student days well over 40 years ago (mine had 3-screws). But, maybe they have solved some of the inherent problems with the fact that it is an inherently over constrained design, so we’ll have to see how well it works.

Planewave has tossed out their well established brand name to become “Observable Space” and they announced a couple of interesting tidbits. First, they have come out with a SCT! It’s a wide field F/2.8, 8” system with an introductory price of around $6,000, which comes with a focuser. That is the smallest aperture in the history of the company. They also announced that they are developing a new 1.8-m scope, which will become their largest product. Here’s a spec-sheet for the 8”: obsp_2026_dr8_spec_sheet_v2.pdf

Anyway, you can check out Luca’s video for yourself to see everything else. She did a great job of providing an overview of what was going on in the vendor booths this year.

John

Man the CO on the planewave looks huge. I know they say <60%, but I guess with only 8” corrector it makes it look like less photon gathering area.

I think they will shift away from more typical astrophotography focused scopes like the CDKs, towards designs more suited to SSA work like this SCT: Short and very wide

Thanks for sharing this link - very interesting report!