Orion sky quest xt87/31/2023 Also, particleboard is incredibly heavy - the base of the Orion SkyQuest XT8 weighs a little over 20 lbs. If you chip the paint/veneer you will expose what is basically pressed-together sawdust, which will quickly warp and rot. Our main gripe with the SkyQuest XT8’s mount, besides the small bearings, is the fact that it is made of particleboard. This is actually quite helpful, but the springs look a little silly and are difficult to attach and remove. The regular XT8 uses springs for tensioning the altitude bearings, which allow the scope to pivot up and down, as the telescope is prone to tipping over if it is slightly top- or bottom-heavy, due to the small bearings providing a smaller fulcrum and any imbalance making the whole tube act like a lever. Even at high magnifications, this is surprisingly easy to do, and the silky-smooth motions of the telescope make tracking and aiming the scope a breeze. You just push and pull the scope around the sky. There are no locks, clutches, gears, or knobs to turn. The SkyQuest XT8 is a Dobsonian telescope, which pivots up-down and left-right on Teflon pads. A finder like this is fine for a small telescope, but with a bigger scope like the SkyQuest XT8, you might want a reflex sight like the Telrad, or a right-angle, correct-image magnifying finderscope – essentially a mini telescope itself – such as a 9×50 design. The XT8’s finderscope is a simple red dot sight. A smartphone adapter for taking simple shots of the Moon and planets is also included, and it clamps onto most 1.25” eyepieces. It’s not a bad eyepiece, but you’ll of course want additional eyepieces for higher and lower magnifications, particularly for good views of the Moon and planets. The XT8 comes with a single eyepiece – a 25mm Plossl providing 48x magnification. The tube of the XT8 is about 48” (1.2 m) long, and as such, fits across the back seat of most vehicles. The 1.25” adapter also has T threads to attach a DSLR or mirrorless camera, though this isn’t very useful given that the XT8 isn’t designed for long-exposure astrophotography and a smartphone is better for taking pictures of the Moon and planets. The newest versions of the XT8 have added a brass compression ring to the focuser and its 1.25” adapter, an improvement over the older thumb screw design, which tended to leave marks on eyepieces and accessories. There is not a single plastic component to it. The focuser on the XT8 is a high-quality, single-speed 2” Crayford focuser. This is a relatively easy procedure and not something to be afraid of. Like most Newtonian reflectors, the XT8’s mirrors need to be aligned (called “collimating”) fairly often, but not every time the telescope is used. ![]() ![]() ![]() The primary mirror is made of plate glass. The XT8 is an 8” (actually 205mm or 8.1”) f/5.9 Newtonian reflector with a focal length of 1220mm, a fairly simple design.
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