How many of you own more than one telescope?

Tareq AbdullaIan DixonMark McComiskey
134 replies5.1k views
How many telescopes do you own?
Multiple choice poll 525 votes
9% (48 votes)
21% (111 votes)
25% (130 votes)
16% (83 votes)
26% (134 votes)
4% (19 votes)
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John Hayes avatar
I'm curious how many telescopes imagers typically own.  I personally run two in Chile but I also have 3 other small scopes kicking around my shop for visual use.  If you've got more that one, what are they?

John
Engaging
Scott Lockwood avatar
I use 1 of 3 for FOV needed.

FSQ106N at 530mm
TEC160FL at 1152mm
DSI RC10C at 1825mm

mounts-AP1200 at home
               AP 900 for travel
Matt Bateman avatar
5 OTAs, 1 mount.
Kevin Morefield avatar
Active:

CDK17 3000mm
DeltaRgo 1050mm
FSQ106 530mm

Not yet active:

Borg 55 200mm

In storage:

10” RC 2000mm
WO71 350mm
Miguel T. Acosta avatar
Celestron EdgeHD 8 with 0.7x reducer.
Askar FRA600 with 0.7x reducer.
Askar FRA400.with 0.7x reducer.
Askar ACL200.
Samyang 135MM.
Rokinon 135MM.
Brian Diaz avatar
Celestron 9.25 EdgeHD 
William Optics  FLT 120  Fluorostar
Takahashi FSQ-85EDX Baby Q
William Optics RedCat51
David Fercho avatar
The answer seems to depend a bit on how we define ‘telescope’.  OTA vs. OTA with a dedicated mount, and also could expand the count by including camera lenses used exclusively as a wide field OTA (ie Rokinon 135).

My arsenal:

5 OTA, 2 mounts

Celestron 8 - 2002, removed from 1st Gen Nexstar monofork
Skywatcher Quantum 120 - same optics as Esprit 120, carbon tube
Redcat 51 II
Rokinon 135
Skywatcher 72ED - using it mainly as a guide scope now, but it is actually very nice for visual star clusters

EQ6R mount for the larger scopes
AVX for smaller scopes
Arnie avatar
Original Celestron Classic C8, now dedicated solely to high resolution white light solar imaging.
Celestron C9.25 Edge HD
Celestron C14 Edge HD
Coronado SolarMax III 70mm
Bausch and Lomb 100mm f/10, dedicated solely to high resolution hydrogen-alpha solar imaging
SharpStar 150HNT2.8
Askar-V (six different focal lengths, ranging from 270mm to 600mm [so does this count as one telescope or six????])
Home-made 14" Dobsonian reflector
180mm, 135mm, 55mm, 24mm and 16mm Nikon lenses
Alex Nicholas avatar
Askar FMA180Pro
Askar 65PHQ + 0.75x reducer (312mm to 416mm)
Askar 120APO + 1.0x flattener (840mm)
GSO 8" RC (1625mm)

Pretty much covers what I need… I would like to have another camera, so I could have the IMX294 for the 120APO and RC8, and an IMX571 for the 65PHQ and FMA180, alas, I have to determine my projects one at a time, set the rig up and complete that image project before swapping things out…
Bruce Donzanti avatar
C11" EdgeHD
Takahashi FSQ-85EDX
Askar FRA300 Pro

The C11" EdgeHD is in my permanent observatory with the Baby Q piggybacked on top of it.  The Askar is for travel.
Ashraf AbuSara avatar
The scopes that I currently own in the order they were aquired:

- Askar FRA400 (Backyard) 

- Celestron C11 XLT (Backyard)

- AG Optical Convergent FA12 12.5". (Backyard)

- Takahashi Epsilon E160ED (Starfront Observatories) 

- Takahashi TOA-130 NS ( In the process of preparing it for remote imaging)
Rob Kiefer avatar
Started with William Optics AP 61/360 ZenithStar ZS61 II OTA. 
A Celestron C8 SC XLT for galaxy season.
Skywatcher Esprit 100 ED - my favourite telescope.
John Hayes avatar
Thanks everyone!  This is good stuff…keep it coming!  It would be fantastic if we can get around 100 responses to make this a bit more statistically significant.

John
Well Written Respectful Supportive
Tom Boyd avatar
3 OTAs, 1 mount

Redcat 51 (250 mm)
WO GT81 at .8  (384 mm)
​​​FLT132 at 1 and at .8  (728 and 910 mm)
Davy Viaene avatar
The only telescope I have is a Takahashi FSQ106ED.
I bought it in 2010 and now in my remote observatory in e-EyE Spain.
A telescope for life …
Mark McComiskey avatar
4:

ASA600RC 4200mm - remote
ASA400RC 3200mm - waiting to go remote 
Takahashi TOA150 1090mm - backyard
Takahashi TOA130 650mm - storage
Piers Palmer avatar
Three scopes for me. I have two refractors for deep sky photography:

VIxen SD81SII for widefield views
Vixen SD115SII for smaller stuff

Mostly I really like Vixen gear, but importantly, those two scopes share the same reducer and flattener and have the same spacing for the rings, meaning I can swap my imaging equipment between them with the minimum of fuss. 

I also have a Meade LX90 8" for planetary and lunar. I quite like the alt-az mount in terms of set-up but I do also wonder if it would be better on my EQ mount.
Helpful
Ron avatar
Five scopes, one mount and one tracker:

CPC800 for visual
StellarVue SVR90T with 0.8x reducer/flattener
8" RC
SkyWatcher Esprit 120ED
AstroTech AT70ED for tracker
Stjepan Prugovečki avatar
3 full setups
Esprit 120, Cem70, QHY268M
APM/LZOS 100/800, GEM28EC, Touptek571C
Celestron EDGE HD 8 , GEM45, Omegon veTEC571C
Shannon Foye avatar
- Takahashi TOA-130 for imaging
- Takahashi FOA-60Q for visual
Michael von Berner-Purgstall avatar
Good Morning!

As I have to work, I "just" own 2 telescopes:

1) Celestron C14 Edge HD
2) SW ESPRIT 150 ED Apo triplet

That's enough for visual observation, Deep Sky, Planets and Moon and with the additonal equipment on the APO, for Sun imaging in continuum and Ha.
andrea tasselli avatar
Lens don't count as telescopes.
Dave Erickson avatar
I have been doing this for a long time and I like building instruments. Here is my list of "operational telescopes", half of which I designed and made, including the optics and mechanics.

17" CDK, Remote Controlled
11" Celestron
8" stevic paul unobscured DYI
8" F/2.6 Catadioptric DYI
8" Gregory Mac DYI
8" Celestron
6" refractor Doublet DYI
6" Dob
6" Melior APO, Remote Controlled
5" Schmidt Cas DYI
5" Wright Schmidt DYI
NP101 Televue
4.5" F/4 APO DYI, Remote Controlled
3" F/4 APO DYI, Remote Controlled
Coronado Solar Max 70
Coronado PST
JanHeremans avatar
3 telescopes

ZWO FF107 at 750mm 
William Optics Gran Turismo 81 at 382mm (with reducer)
Lunt LS60MT for solar imaging
Jeff Reitzel avatar
Is there such a thing as too many? I seem to always find a need to trade around a bit. 

I personally have 4: 

-Celestron EdgeHD 11
-Stellarvue SVX102T
-Stellarvue SVX127D
-Askar FRA500

CS,
Jeff
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