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Home Telescopes Explore Scientific Telescopes Explore Scientific 127mm f/7.5 ED APO Deluxe FCD-100 Hex-Focus
The Explore Scientific ED APO 127mm f/7.5 Deluxe FCD-100 Hex-Foc is the latest development in the line of Explore Scientifics excellent Apochromatic range of refractors. This 5-inch instrument offers superb colour correction and pin-sharp views and images, due to its triplet design lens, which features one FCD-100 ED element, offering excellent spherical aberration control and colour correction with a guaranteed polystrehl value 0.97. These levels of optical excellence were until recently only seen in models produced by high end specialists at very high pricing, often with very long waiting lists. A truly top class instrument optically and mechanically.Delivery TimeDelivery is normally 5-7 business days with this product direct from the supplier via tracked courierNo one telescope does it all, but a 5-inch Apo certainly covers most of the bases required of a versatile telescope. It will show significant improvement over a 4-inch class refractor in terms of light gathering power and resolution, making it a better choice of instrument for visual observation of lunar, planetary and deep sky targets. Not only that, but this telescope is an excellent astrograph, with a medium-length focal ratio, which delivers excellent deep sky images (which can be reduced in field size and equivalent focal length yet further with the use of the Explore Scientific 0.7x Focal Reducer-Corrector) and can also be used to impressive extent for imaging of the planets and the Moon (wed recommend the use of one of the excellent Explore Scientific Focal Extender Barlow for solar system imaging).While not as lightweight as the 80mm and 102mm Triplets in the Explore Scientific range, at 7.7kgs weight, the Explore Scientific ED APO 127mm f/7.5 Deluxe FCD-100 Hex-Foc can be mounted to equatorial mounts in the EQ5 class and upward (though wed recommend the minimum of the Explore Scientific EXOS-2 PMC-Eight GOTO Mount or Skywatcher HEQ5 Pro Synscan for imaging purposes). This telescope comes with the excellent Hexafoc focuser system, which comprises of a hexagonal drawtube, which minimises lateral shift which is present in lesser quality systems. The focuser has a 10:1 dual speed focus knob, which allows for fine control of focus, whatever the sky conditions. The 2.5 drawtube offers an unvignetted aperture, which users of large format cameras are sure to appreciate.The Explore Scientific ED APO 127mm f/7.5 Deluxe FCD-100 Hex-Foc is supplied with heavy duty tube rings and a standard Vixen/Synta mounting plate. A handle is also supplied which has a channel running down its centre, in which a bolt can be seated, which allows a piggyback camera to be mounted for widefield astrophotography.Explore Scientifics 2" 99% reflectivity star diagonal, with 2" to 1.25" step down ring is also supplied, alongside 2 screw in extension tubes which will need to be fitted to the Hexafocs drawtube in order to get the telescope to a straight through photographic position.Specifications Aperture: 127mm Focal Length: 952mm Focal ratio: f/7.5 Design: Apochromat with three lenses, two air spaces and FCD-100 glass Weight: 7.7kg Backfocus: 150mm with 2" adaptorWhat's in the box Telescope with dovetail plate and HandleDust caps for front-lens and focuser2" Dielectric diagonal Universal finder slot
The Explore Scientific ED APO 127mm f/7.5 Deluxe FCD-100 Hex-Foc is the latest development in the line of Explore Scientifics excellent Apochromatic range of refractors. This 5-inch instrument offers superb colour correction and pin-sharp views and images, due to its triplet design lens, which features one FCD-100 ED element, offering excellent spherical aberration control and colour correction with a guaranteed polystrehl value 0.97. These levels of optical excellence were until recently only seen in models produced by high end specialists at very high pricing, often with very long waiting lists. A truly top class instrument optically and mechanically.No one telescope does it all, but a 5-inch Apo certainly covers most of the bases required of a versatile telescope. It will show significant improvement over a 4-inch class refractor in terms of light gathering power and resolution, making it a better choice of instrument for visual observation of lunar, planetary and deep sky targets. Not only that, but this telescope is an excellent astrograph, with a medium-length focal ratio, which delivers excellent deep sky images (which can be reduced in field size and equivalent focal length yet further with the use of the Explore Scientific 0.7x Focal Reducer-Corrector) and can also be used to impressive extent for imaging of the planets and the Moon (wed recommend the use of one of the excellent Explore Scientific Focal Extender Barlow for solar system imaging).While not as lightweight as the 80mm and 102mm Triplets in the Explore Scientific range, at 7.7kgs weight, the Explore Scientific ED APO 127mm f/7.5 Deluxe FCD-100 Hex-Foc can be mounted to equatorial mounts in the EQ5 class and upward (though wed recommend the minimum of the Explore Scientific EXOS-2 PMC-Eight GOTO Mount or Skywatcher HEQ5 Pro Synscan for imaging purposes). This telescope comes with the excellent Hexafoc focuser system, which comprises of a hexagonal drawtube, which minimises lateral shift which is present in lesser quality systems. The focuser has a 10:1 dual speed focus knob, which allows for fine control of focus, whatever the sky conditions. The 2.5 drawtube offers an unvignetted aperture, which users of large format cameras are sure to appreciate.The Explore Scientific ED APO 127mm f/7.5 Deluxe FCD-100 Hex-Foc is supplied with heavy duty tube rings and a standard Vixen/Synta mounting plate. A handle is also supplied which has a channel running down its centre, in which a bolt can be seated, which allows a piggyback camera to be mounted for widefield astrophotography.Explore Scientifics 2" 99% reflectivity star diagonal, with 2" to 1.25" step down ring is also supplied, alongside 2 screw in extension tubes which will need to be fitted to the Hexafocs drawtube in order to get the telescope to a straight through photographic position.Specifications Aperture: 127mm Focal Length: 952mm Focal ratio: f/7.5 Design: Apochromat with three lenses, two air spaces and FCD-100 glass Weight: 7.7kg Backfocus: 150mm with 2" adaptorWhat's in the box Telescope with dovetail plate and HandleDust caps for front-lens and focuser2" Dielectric diagonal Universal finder slot
High quality 5" APO at modest price Very prompt and efficient service and the telescope arrived safely and very well packaged. The objective lens was immaculate with no signs of dust or any other marks and the focuser operates nice and smoothly and just needed a slight tightening of the tensioning screws on the rotator. I use an ASI1600mc-cool for imaging and I’m confident the stock focuser will cope easily with the weight of this. Living near the centre of Bristol, light pollution limits deep sky viewing but on first light was surprised at the clarity of M82 and beauty of the Double cluster and the Pleiades. The Moon was also stunning with no obvious chromatic aberration even when pushed above maximum magnification with 3x Barlow and high power eyepiece. I had previously used a Bresser 6” AR152L for medium focal length viewing/imaging which has been an excellent telescope considering its very low price and had thought long and hard whether I could justify buying a 5” refractor costing 5 times as much just to remove the CR, however I realise now that the ES127 APO does a lot more than just correct CR and the image quality is well worth the price which for this size APO is still relatively modest. (11/11/2017) Richard - Bristol
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