I agree, Mat. Erik settled on a good all-around configuration. I have a few 6" refractor builds in the line-up as time and budget allow. My CGEM tripod may not extend high enough so I'll probably be making a new mount and tall wooden tripod, or seeing what the used market holds, when the time comes. Too, the CGEM might be able to handle the f/10, but isn't adequate for the f/15 Jaegers project. I may build a pillow-block mount for that one, using some of the old components Siegfried gave me (thanks again Ziggy!), if I don't go with a Gerrish permanently attached to the house, or a camera-obscura/Coude' setup going through the no-longer-used swamp cooler ducting up to the roof. Of course, most or all of this may have to wait until retirement, a few more years away. I heard through the grapevine that Steve Fisher sold his 8" D&G but kept his 6" (where are you, Steve, we miss you!). With refractors, seems that going from a 6" to an 8" is physically a much larger step than the same aperture increase with Newtonians. On Tue, Oct 29, 2013 at 4:28 PM, Hutchings, Mat <mat.hutchings@siemens.com>wrote:
A 6" refractor is a very nice scope.