The Fall Upgrade: My New Astro Setup (and a Fond Farewell to My C11!)

My New Dream Setup: A TEC FLT110!

Lately, I’ve been spending a lot of time trawling through astro classifieds, on the hunt for my new “ideal” setup… and I finally found it! I was really looking for a large-aperture refractor, but more importantly, one with exceptional optical quality to replace my beloved C11. Don’t get me wrong, the C11 is a fabulous instrument, but at F/10, it’s not exactly a deep-sky workhorse. My short-term goal is purely deep-sky imaging (with perhaps a bit of lunar thrown in), so a fast, short refractor seemed like the smartest choice. I eventually got my hands on a TEC optic, assembled by William Optics, a 110mm beauty: the FLT110 TEC oil-spaced at F/6.5. The quality of TEC optics is truly remarkable, and this model is essentially a smaller sibling to the legendary TEC 140. As an added bonus, this FLT110 comes equipped with a Feathertouch 3025 Starlight Instrument focuser – now that’s a gorgeous piece of engineering!

The TEC FLT110 does need a field flattener to deliver a flat field across an APS-C or even full-frame CCD sensor. So, naturally, I picked up a William Optics AFR-IV flattener/reducer. This reducer brings the scope down to a zippy F/5.2 focal ratio! With this optical accessory in place, and after fine-tuning the collimation (a process made much easier thanks to my recent acquisition of CCD Inspector), this scope is truly an astrophotographer’s dream!

And as an added bonus, for just a few extra euros, the kind seller also included an M42Optic 80/480 APO triplet along with a TSFLAT 2” field flattener! I’ve already put it through its paces, and this little combo is seriously good, both optically and mechanically. For now, I’m using it for parallel guiding, but there’s a very strong chance it’ll be pulling double duty for actual imaging pretty soon!

Finally, just a few days later, while still browsing those classifieds (it’s addictive, I tell you!), I totally caved and snagged a third refractor at an absolutely unbeatable price: a William Optics ZenithStar 66mm Petzval. This little guy will be my dedicated travel scope!

To hold all these beauties together without a hint of flex, I’m using plates and spacers from Skyméca. Didier always delivers fantastic work – solid engineering as usual!

Now, all that’s left is to get down to business and start capturing some photons!