| This Vixen ED81SWT is a compact medium focal length 81mm f/7.7 refractor. Its air-spaced doublet apochromatic optical system uses a lens of costly ED (Extra-low Dispersion) glass made from the latest environmentally-friendly lead-free materials to reduce chromatic aberration to vanishingly low levels in both visual and photographic applications. There is virtually none of the violet fringing (chromatic aberration) visible around the Moon, planets, and brighter stars that you find with conventional achromatic scopes. Colors are true and natural. Resolution and contrast are very high in this fully multicoated Vixen scope, revealing subtle lunar and planetary details that are often masked in lesser scopes. Measuring less than 24" long with its dew shield retracted, and weighing only 5.1 lbs., the Vixen ED81SWT is a very portable optical tube for terrestrial or astronomical use on your own altazimuth or equatorial mount. It is small enough and light enough to be mounted on virtually any sturdy 7 to 8 lb. payload capacity photo tripod for casual observing, as well. It is also available in several pre-packaged systems using Vixen mounts. One is the #VED81PM that puts the ED81SWT optical tube on a smooth Vixen altazimuth PORTA Mount for convenient terrestrial nature study and casual astronomy. There are three equatorial mount packages for more serious astronomical observing and astrophotography. One puts the ED81SWT optical tube on the basic Vixen Great Polaris 2 German equatorial mount (#V81GP). A second uses the advanced Vixen Great Polaris Deluxe 2 German equatorial mount (#V81GPD). This upgraded Vixen mount has exceptional drive accuracy that is particularly well-suited for long exposure astrophotography. The third puts the ED81SWT optical tube on the convenient Vixen Sphinx go-to equatorial mount (#V81SWX). It lets you observe hundreds of astronomical sights on your very first night out with your scope, even if you’ve never used a telescope before. The ED81SWT optical tube measures 90mm in diameter and is supplied with tube mounting rings and a dovetail mounting plate that fits Vixen mounts, the Celestron CG-5 and Advanced Series go-to mounts, and the Meade LXD75 go-to mount. A metal handle is attached to the rear tube ring for easier carrying and assembly in the field. The carry handle also includes a 1/4"-20 thread bolt for piggyback camera mounting. The dual large ribbed focusing knobs let you focus the scope precisely with either hand, even when wearing gloves in cold weather. The retractable dew shield/lens shade extends smoothly and easily. While no eyepiece is supplied with the system, to allow you to customize your observing experience to your precise requirements, the ED81SWT has a precision-machined 2" rack and pinion focuser for use with 2" star diagonals, image erectors, or wide-field eyepieces. A dual T-thread 1.25" flip mirror star diagonal that fits into the focuser’s 2" accessory holder is also standard equipment. The flip mirror is threaded for 2" filters. This Vixen flip mirror system lets you switch instantly between two different 1.25" eyepieces to change magnifications at the turn of a knob (or switch between a camera using a standard T-ring and an eyepiece). Optional eyepieces are shown mounted in two eyepiece holders of the flip mirror diagonal in the image to the left, but the eyepieces do not come with the optical tube. The scope also comes with a non-magnifying red dot finder to help you center the scope on objects of interest. Optically the scope is truly excellent. Due to its fully multicoated apochromatic ED optics, it has sharp, high-contrast images that are free from the spurious color halos of chromatic aberration. Mechanically, the scope is very well made and finely finished, as is typical of all Vixen products. If you need a top-quality refractor apo refractor that is not too big, and is priced just right, this Vixen ED81SWT is a good one to consider.
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Terestrial Photography