Altair Starwave 70 ED Triplet APO Refractor

Further details

Imaging:
An ideal portable wide-field imaging scope, the sharp optics an excellent colour correction are especially desirable for astro imagers. The dedicated 0.8x reducer flattener produces a flat field for small pixel CMOS cameras up to APS-C and slightly larger size. 35mm FX full frame imaging (approx. 41mm image circle) is possible with some slight star elongation and vignetting at the far edges, which is easily dealt with in processing, if not already eliminated during stacking. Lunar imaging with high speed CMOS is particularly rewarding with excellent colour control and sharpness. Solar imaging with Daystar Quark or the Altair Imaging/Visual Solar Wedge with it's brightness adjustable settings will produce extremely sharp images of sunspots, and the solar surface.

Visual observing:
Detail is easily visible on the larger planets such as Jupiter, with both the four principle moons and main cloud belts easily visible at high power. Saturn's rings and thousands of lunar craters, as well as volcanic plains and mountain ranges are all easily visible. Add a high quality Altair Solar Wedge or Daystar Quark Hydrogen Alpha solar eyepiece, and you have the perfect 70mm solar observing system. Detail and structure within sunspots is easily visible with white light solar filters, or for higher contrast, the Altair Solar Wedge. Viewing bright extended deepsky objects or star-clouds with a low power eyepiece is very rewarding too, with the inherent contrast of a high quality refractor giving objects that visual "pop" against a dark background. We recommend the Altair ULTRAFLAT range of eyepieces with this telescope.

Focuser:
The light weight dual speed 2" Rack and Pinion Geared focuser gives a good balance between lifting power and stability for heavy accessories. The focuser has a 2" rear accessory port with a zero-flex 3-thumbscrew compression ring. The dedicated 0.8x reducer / flattener fits directly to the focuser, achieved by unscrewing the compression fit assembly. The camera rotator is retained. A 2"-1.25" adaptor with compression ring and dust plug are included.

Grab 'n go portability:
The Altair 70 EDT-F Triplet APO is a great "grab 'n go" portable telescope-kit for visual observing or astro-photography. The telescope is about the same size as a telephoto camera lens (39cm / 2.85kg) with dew-shield retracted, so it will easily fit in your camera bag.

Mounting the Altair 70 EDT-F Triplet APO:
Designed to fit most mounts which support "Vixen/Synta-format " dovetails such as the Skywatcher EQ5, and so-on will fit directly. A standard tripod thread also makes this instrument compatible with most photo tripods on the market.

Using the Altair 70 EDT-F Triplet APO on a camera tripod as a spotter:
Attaching the telescope to a photo or video tripod mount takes seconds by means of the 1/4" photo thread on the dovetail-base. A photo-tripod is perfect for grab and go visual astronomy, digi-scoping and use as a terrestrial spotting scope with superior astro-eyepieces. Astro telescopes have higher quality optics than spotting scopes, permitting higher powers before image breakdown, however they display a reversed, upside down image. Therefore, to use your Altair 70 EDT-F Triplet APO as a spotting scope, simply plug in the Altair 1.25" 45 degree erect image prism diagonal and add an eyepiece, for an upright, correctly orientated image. There are few if any spotting scopes which compare to a triplet refractors with FPL-53 ED glass element when it comes to colour correction and sharpness at high powers.

Delivery charge £5.95

Reviews

  Excellent wide field Astro photography scope  Currently using this in conjunction with the 0.8 matched flattener from Altair, initial impressions are good, with a smooth focusing 10-1 wheel. Focus can be locked with a small Allen screw. Chromatic aberration is negligible, I am using a 1 inch sensor camera. Early days but looking good so far.  (03/10/2021) Pete Croft - Lincolnshire