December 2021 I decided to purchase a new scope. My two other scopes are both excellent scopes, the Skywatcher ED80 a very good Astronomy Photography scope and the Skywatcher 200p a great starter outfit. Both of my previous scopes had been purchased second hand. The Skywatcher 200p came from Canvey Island, Essex following a successful Ebay bid, £250 including Eq5 Mount.
After looking at several options including William Optics GT81 I decided on the new very newly launched First Light Optic's Stella Mira ED90. Although a similar specification scope this has fully multicoated triplet optics, with an ED lens equal to FPL-53, delivers high contrast views with very low chromatic aberration. Faster than the ED80 (f7.5), the Mira is f6 standard and f4.7 when using the flattener of Reducer, this scope is made exclusively for First Light Optics and was highly recommended by Ian King at First Light Optics who I had previous purchased my Atik 460ex Camera from so I trusted his opinion. The Stella Mira also has a slightly wider field of view a 90mm and not 80mm scope. The Focal length is also shorter at 540mm, compared to 600mm of the SW ED80.
This ED90 scope is supplied in a very nice Case to store or transport it in.
I also purchased the Field Flattener and .80 Reducer that are matching to the scope.
At the same time I invested in a small but very good Astro Essential 30mm guide Scope and was looking forward to getting this all set up and running in the observatory.
Attached to the mount using AMD Mounting Plate, Pegasus USB Hub and Pegasus Auto Focuser in place things starting to take place.
The quality of the Stella Mira ED90 is fantastic, I am very pleased I for this scope.
The small Astro Essential Guide Scope can be seen attached, (left) top of the main scope in front of the Blue USB Hub, and in the image below can be seen the small ZWO ASI290 fitted to this for guiding the mount.
Below: All wired up and sitting very comfortable on my EQ6 Mount, ready for clear skies.
Next time : First Time out. The First Image with the ED90.
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