Orion 8 f/8 Ritchey-Chretien Astrograph Telescope

Description

The Orion 8 Ritchey-Chretien Astrographs outstanding optical design lets you capture spectacular, detailed images of deep-sky objects like never before. Unlike conventional Newtonian reflector and Schmidt-Cassegrain designs that are susceptible to coma away from the center of the field, the Ritchey-Chretien utilizes hyperbolic primary and secondary mirrors, made of BK-7 optical glass, to achieve wonderfully flat-field images that are virtually coma-free. Images are also free from chromatic aberration, since there are no lenses. The Orion 8 Ritchey-Chretien Astrograph is ideal for use with small CCD-chip cameras such as our StarShoot line, as well as medium-format CCD and DSLR cameras. The telescopes wide, fully illuminated flat field produces pinpoint star clarity all the way to the edge of the cameras sensor. The Orion 8 Ritchey-Chretien Astrograph features a machined, dual-speed (10:1) Crayford-style focuser with an engraved millimeter scale on the drawtube. The secondary mirror is precisely center-marked to facilitate collimation. The enameled steel optical tube weighs only 18.5lbs. and features a wide Losmandy-style dovetail mounting bar underneath for trouble-free setup on medium or large-sized equatorial mounts. A unique, Orion-exclusive slotted narrow dovetail bar along the top of the telescope allows easy attachment of optional guide scopes and other imaging accessories.The inside of the optical tube is fortified with eight computer-positioned light baffles, and the primary mirror baffle tube and secondary mirror light shield are also highly baffled to ensure maximum image contrast.