Backyard Voyager
Orion 12" XT Intelliscope
After reading a few lengthy debates between die-hard apochromatic refractor fans and Newtonian reflector devotees, I was pretty much sold on the reflector idea. Evidently so were a lot of other people. Isaac Newton's design had been around for a while by the time I learned of it. Orion's line of reflectors had especially interested me for some time, particularly since their introduction of the "Intelliscope," which was their "Classic" dob to which they had added digital setting circles.
Another interesting aspect of their line of reflectors was the reported quality of the mass-produced Chinese mirrors they used. Fewer and fewer reviewers were spending much time on words and phrases like "consistent" or "sample-to-sample variation." Yet another point of interest was the ever increasing size of these reportedly decent Pyrex mirrors. By the time they reached 12 inches at a price of right around a thousand dollars I was sold. I didn't buy one yet, but I was sold. Other companies began selling similarly constructed and priced scopes, some using Synta, the same supplier as Orion, others importing their optics from a company called Guan Shen Optics. A Yahoo group called Chinese Reflectors started up.
One day I went online planning to buy a Schmidt-Cassegrain OTA to put atop my new CG5 mount. Not unlike Jack (of beanstalk fame) I stopped off at Astromart, where I happened to run into a one year old 12" Orion XTi. The previous owner had even flocked the tube for me. A week later it was sitting in my garage, waiting for me to come back from the hardware store with a pair of wheelbarrow handles. I advise these, by the way, for anyone who has a garage leading to their observing area. The only drawback to these scopes is their bulk. The OTA alone weighs 50 pounds.
The object locator is as accurate as everyone reports. Nudging a dob around wasn't as bad as I had expected. After using the Celestron 9.25 on the CG5 with go-to, I expected this to be noticably uncomfortable by comparison. It isn't the same as viewing from a seated location with dual axis drives, of course. But it wasn't bad at all, and the 12 inch mirror had been my reason to buy the scope.
With only a two and three quarter inch difference in aperture size I hadn't been expecting a remarkable
difference in DSO viewing. What surprised me was that the 12" Orion was significantly better for planetary viewing. I'm guessing that it's a combination of the greater aperture and the difference in optical types, but this scope just seems to resolve more detail and does it at higher levels of magnification than the C9.25 ever did. If anyone is wondering whether or not it's worthwhile to move from a C8 or 9.25 to a 12" reflector, my vote will have to be yes. It's not a staggering difference, but it is noticable.
