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88 BBC Sky at Night August2008

allphotos:paulwhitfield

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double and multiple stars.However, it also means that aintdeep-sky objects such as galaxiesand some nebulae dont are quias well. To aid our review, we use

an Olivon photographic tripod,which allowed us to evaluate howuseul the telescope was or aquick hit o the night sky. We alsfxed the scope to an equatorialmount so that we could track thesky and get longer views o ourtest objects.

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Our frst impression o the fnderwas confrmed when we lookedthrough it: its small size wasadequate or relatively bright

objects such as the Moon, theplanets and the brightest nakedeye stars, but very ew o thedeep-sky objects we picked or outest were visible in it. The fnderwas also a bit too close to theupper eyepiece holder, meaningit got in the way slightly whenlooking through the eyepiece.

The 26mm and 10mmeyepieces supplied or the testgave magnifcations o 52.5x

Compact and primed or looking at the planets, how ar could thisscope venture into deep space? Pa Mo fnds out

vital stats> OPtics Mkuv-Cn

> Price 229

> MOunting sndd pd bu

> APerture 4.1 nc (105mm)> FOcAl length 1,365mm

> FOcAl rAtiO /13

> Finder 7x21

> eyePieces N uppd

> suPPlier opc hd ld

> tel 01226 203 275

> www.pcd.c.uk

MC-105

OlivOn

eyepieces. A good 26mm eyepiecewould be perect or getting themost out o this telescope, inorder to look at the planets andthe Moon.

Maksutovs like this one arenoted or being compact andportable instruments, becausetheir long ocal length is oldedinto a short tube. The long ocallength gives good views o detailon the planets and the Moon, aswell as deep-sky objects like

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livon is a popular brandspecialising in opticalinstruments that you may

have come across i you've doneany bird-watching. However, its

increasingly fnding that some oits products are also being pointedat the night sky, and so its latestoering is the MC-105 Maksutov-Cassegrain telescope tube. Itcomes with a 45 erecting prism(1.25-inch ft) and a 7x21straight-through fnder, but no

an in-depth look at this months hottest new producF g

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August 2008 BBC Sky at Night

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and 136.5x. We usedthe 26mm to gauge thequality o the feld o view,pointing the scope at

the stars Regulus andArcturus. The telescopeperormed well and wasvery good across almostthe entire feld o view,with just the last ew percent near the edges showingsome minor distortion.

To test the scopes fneresolution we viewed the closedouble and multiple stars Algieba,Castor and Epsilon Lyra, alsoknown as the Double-Double.Even with the 26mm eyepiece

we could see that Algieba was adouble star, and using the 10mmeyepiece the golden-coloured starswere clearly separated. Castor is acloser pair and was split using the10mm eyepiece, while theDouble-Double was split into itsour components using the 10mmeyepiece a fne sight indeed.

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Saturn, though small, wasexcellent using the 26mmeyepiece, with a crisp disc and

sharp edges to the main ringsystem. We glimpsed the southernbelt on the planet and we couldclearly see two o its moons, Titanand Rhea. At least two othermoons, Tethys and Dione, werejust on the edge o visibility.Switching to the 10mm eyepiece,Saturn remained a great sight andthe gap in the rings known as theCassini Division was moreevident. Viewing the mountainson the Moon, it was great to seethe vivid shadows they cast. We

also enjoyed looking at detail insome o the larger nearby craters.

The telescope isclearly capable

when dealing with suchbright objects and reallybrings them to lie.

On the other hand, thelong ocal length o thetelescope is a slightdrawback when weturned it to deepspace. It was quiteeasy to see thebrighter Messierand NGC objects,but ainter galaxiesand nebulae

struggled. M27, theDumbbell Nebula, andM57, the Ring Nebula,were both good at low andhigh magnifcations. But ainterobjects such as NGC 6207, atwelth-magnitude galaxynear M13, suered a bit.Overall the MC-105is ideal i you lovelooking at theplanets, but it stillhas enough powerto reveal some o

the wonders odeep space.

an in-depth look at this months hottest new producF g

90 BBC Sky at Night August2008

verdictBuild quAlity 89%

eAse OF use 87%

FeAtures 85%OPtics 95%vAlue FOr MOney 88%OverAll 89%