Product Description
This Astro-Tech AT80ED refractor has:
• 80mm f/7 fully multicoated doublet optics using FK-61 ED glass
• dual-speed 2" Rack and Pinion focuser with Vixen style finder mounting shoe
• 2" and 1.25" brass compression ring eyepiece holders
• split tube rings with detachable Vixen-style dovetail for installation on virtually any mount
Length: 18" dewshield retracted, 21.25" dewshield extended
Weight: 6 lbs 3.2 oz with the rings and dovetail, 5 lbs 4 oz without rings and dovetail
The AT80ED is bringing ED optics to you at a fantastic price. When this scope was available in 2008 the retail price was $549. The reintroduction not only has a much lower price, but it has better mechanics as well as advancements in the optical assembly and polish. You get a 2" Rack and Pinion focuser with a microfine 11:1 fine-focusing ratio finished in our Aston Martin Grey body. You get dual split mounting rings with a detachable Vixen-style dovetail plate that lets you mount your AT80ED on virtually any altazimuth or German equatorial mount. The finely-machined Astro-Tech AT80ED comes with both 2" and 1.25" eyepiece holders using non-marring brass compression rings that won’t scratch your star diagonal or eyepiece barrels. The AT80ED also comes with a retractable dew shield to make it as compact as possible.
As with all Astro-Tech scopes, the AT80ED gives you fully-multicoated ED optics that are essentially free of the annoying halo of unfocused violet light (chromatic aberration) that mars the bright-object images of lesser scopes, despite the fast focal ratio, and even at very high magnifications.
Features of this Telescope . . .
• ED doublet refractor optics: 80mm (3.1") aperture, 560mm focal length, f/7 focal ratio doublet optical system using an FK-61 ED (Extra-low Dispersion glass) element to reduce spurious color halos and fringing to vanishingly low levels.
• Fully multicoated optics: The AT80ED objective lens has the latest state-of-the-art antireflection multicoatings on all air-to-glass surfaces for high light transmission and excellent contrast. This can easily be seen by looking into the objective lens of the scope. Virtually no reflection of your face will be seen. It’s a sure sign that the high transmission coatings are doing their job, by letting virtually all the light enter the scope, rather than reflecting some light back to your eye.
• Internal light baffles: Contrast-enhancing knife-edge internal light baffles and a specially darkened tube interior provide truly dark sky backgrounds and high terrestrial contrast. The edges of the lenses are blackened to reduce internal reflections and further improve image contrast.
• Dew shield: A retractable dew shield slows the formation of dew on the lens in cold weather to extend your undisturbed observing time. It also improves the contrast, similar the lens shade on a camera lens, when observing during the day or when there is excessive ambient light at night, such as a neighbor’s backyard security light. A slip-on metal dust cap for the dew shield is standard.
• 2" Rack and Pinion dual-speed focuser: The precision-made no-backlash dual speed 2" rack and pinion focuser is based off our EDT line of telescopes. Very smooth, and very robust. There are two coarse focusing knobs. The right knob also has a smaller concentric knob with an 11:1 reduction gear microfine focusing ratio. This provides exceptionally precise image control during high magnification visual observing and critical 35mm or CCD imaging. The focus knobs have ribbed gripping surfaces so they are easy to operate, even while wearing gloves or mittens in cold weather.
• Long focuser travel: The long 85mm (3.35") travel of the focuser drawtube helps keep the overall scope length reasonable for convenient travel and storage. The long drawtube length also permits switching between visual or photographic use with no add-on extension tubes needed. The drawtube has a scale marked in 1mm increments so you can note individual focuser positions for easy return to the correct focus when switching between visual use and photography. A drawtube lock knob underneath the focuser lets you lock in your photographic focus.
• Compression ring eyepiece holders: The focuser’s drawtube terminates in a 2" eyepiece holder that uses a non-marring soft brass compression ring to hold a 2" star diagonal and/or accessories in place. The compression ring won’t scratch the barrel of your star diagonal and accessories as an ordinary thumbscrew can.
A supplied 1.25" accessory adapter slips into the 2" eyepiece holder to let you use a 1.25" star diagonal, image erecting diagonal, or photographic accessories. Like the 2" eyepiece holder, the 1.25" adapter also uses a non-marring soft brass compression ring to hold 1.25" star diagonals and accessories in place. If you are partial to 1.25" eyepieces and need an outstanding diagonal for this scope, consider the 99% reflectivity Astro-Tech 1.25" dielectric diagonal #AT1D. It's a Sky & Telescope Hot Product for 2007. An optional Astro-Tech 2" dielectric star diagonal #AT2D will give you the same 99% reflectivity performance with 2" eyepieces.
• Tube finish: The optical tube and lens shade are finished in a durable white powder coat while the focuser and trim are Aston Martin Grey anodized.
• Tube rings and dovetail mounting plate: The AT80ED comes with a pair of hinged split mounting rings and a detachable dovetail mounting plate. The dovetail plate fits directly into the head of many equatorial and altazimuth mounts. It will fit, without modification, Celestron AVX and Meade LXD-75 go-to mounts; the Vixen Porta altazimuth mount; and Vixen Great Polaris and Sphinx mounts, among others. This lets you quickly accommodate changing balance conditions as you exchange an eyepiece for a camera, a 1.25" diagonal for a 2" diagonal, etc.
In addition, the dovetail plate can be unbolted from the split rings to allow you to mount the rings directly on other equatorial mounts – for example on the D-plate used on Losmandy mounts – something that is difficult to do with the short mounting foot on competitive clamshell rings. The dovetail plate also has a 1/4"-20 thread mounting hole that allows it to be installed on any suitable heavy-duty camera tripod that has a standard 1/4"-20 thread mounting bolt.
Tech Details
| Aperture | 80mm |
|---|---|
| Focal Length | 560mm |
| Focal Ratio | f/7 |
| Heaviest Single Component | 6 lbs 3.2 oz. |
| Weight | 5 lbs 4 oz without rings and dovetail |
| Optical Coatings | Multi-coated |
| Supplied Eyepiece | None |
| Telescope Type | Refractor |
| View Finder | None |
| Warranty | 1 year |
Reviews
Later used it with a .8x focal reducer/field flatner. Got some very nice ZTF shots in just 60-120 seconds. Pretty darn ideal for larger objects like that. Some shots are on my hiking blog, at myown100hikes.blogspot.com
I recommend both as a grab and go refractor and for low magnification, widefield astrophotography. (Posted on 2/20/2023)
As for EAA the scope performs well with the ZWO ASI585MC un-cooled planetary camera. With 560mm focal length it gives around 1" per pixel and with 2x2 binning double that for a good sized field of view and resolution. Without tracking/guiding SharpCap LiveStacking with just a couple seconds of Darks produced a nice star field and circular symmetric stars free from collimation errors.
I'll probably be back for a good GoTo or tracking mount soon enough to take full advantage of this scopes capabilities! (Posted on 2/8/2023)
Integration on that photo was 2 hours and 25 min, using a modded Canon 90D DSLR on Sky-Watcher EQ6-R Pro mount in a Bortle 3.
One thing I like about this scope is it's ready to go. Has rings, and Vixen, just slipped right on my mount with no additional hardware. And it has an attached included slow for mounting for the tracking cam, so I didn't have to buy that either. Also worked well on my DSLR without any adjustment to the back focus.
It just works. Put it on the mount, focus it, and go.
Some people use it this scope optical use, I haven't tried that, but I did take a photo of some livestock about 1000 feet (about 300 meters) away that was very crisp. This scope could easily be used for bird or wildlife photography, if you keep the fixed f-stop in mind, and know that it's a prime lens you can't zoom (like all good astrographs). (Posted on 10/24/2022)
(Posted on 11/21/2021)
Visually it's very well corrected, showing no false color that I can see at multiple magnifications. I used it to look at M31 and M42 the first clear night I had with it, both of which were well resolved from my suburban skies. When imaging later in the night it paired very well with my APS-sized mirrorless camera, rendering a beautiful image of Orion and capturing some detail in the arms of Andromeda before the clouds rolled in.
That all being said I'm going to nitpick a bit, but don't let this detract from the fact that this is a fantastic scope.
When imaging, there is some slight false color that appears around brighter stars in longer exposures. It's pretty mild, but some bright stars do have a slight purple fringe around them. Much less than a similar speed achromat but more than a fully reflecting system (I have no experience yet with triplet APOs). The focuser, while being the best rack and pinion focuser I've ever used, still has a slight bit of shift when locking which made me take a couple tries to get it spot on. Not a big deal, just something to be aware of. My last nitpick is the lack of a finder shoe. Some users on Cloudy Nights reported a finder shoe being included with theirs, but mine did not nor did I expect one as it was not listed as included or shown in the pictures. I can't fault AstroTech for this as it arrived as advertised, I just wish they would include one so I didn't have to purchase one separately (about $14).
Slight detractors aside though, this is a fantastic scope and is destined to become my wide field refractor to compliment my longer focal length RC, and I'll enjoy not having to deal with the RC's convoluted collimation process. I'd definitely recommend this if you're getting started in astrophotography as I can't think of a better deal that will provide this level of performance. (Posted on 2/20/2021)
I used both 86 and 21x for my observations. This scope is an incredible star splitter! I split Meissa cleanly, and saw the E star in the Trapezium. Sigma Orionis looked beautiful too! I was amazed with the details of the moon as well. The pinpoint stars against the velvet background is breathtaking. The focuser is so easy and precise, and the scope is sleek and attractive looking.
The price is unbeatable for such great views of the heavens. This scope is a personal favorite! (Posted on 2/7/2021)
I settled on the AT80ED after researching and hearing great experiences from other folks on CN. I also loved the scope's look.
This scope was MORE than I expected! Shortly after I focused at 21x on Sirius and dropped down to M 41. What blew me away were the pinpoint stars. The view was crisp and wonderful. I cleanly split Miessa (in Cr 69) at 86x. I looked at the stars in the Trapezeum in M42. I managed to see the E star (with little averted viewing). These were just a few examples of this scope pushing the envelope of excellence. Overall a big bang for the buck.
Thank you Astronomics for your hallmark customer service, and the quick shipping. This scope is a keeper! (Posted on 1/31/2021)
Last night I spent more time with it under semi-poor seeing conditions and viewed the Orion nebula for about 30 min with various eyepieces.
Best view of this nebula I've ever had with a small scope. Sharp crisp stars in the trapezium and very nice nebula structure that I didn't expect to see in a small scope.
Using a low power wide angle eyepiece with OIII filter the Veil nebula was easily viewed.
My emphasis is on the excellent and satisfying performance of this scope. Very impressive on the moon, planets and double stars.as well.
I have not noticed any false color.
Excels with quality eyepieces.
The build quality is very good. Nice and compact with the dew shield retracted.
On nights where I don't have a lot of viewing time I can take this scope from my house, place it on a small mount, view for 20 mins and be done and very happy with memorable views.
Highly recommended. (Posted on 12/13/2020)
I have owned some really excellent 3 inch class instruments in the past, including a TeleVue Oracle 3, Tak FS78, Vixen ED81SII and four different Orion ED80's. They all have performed quite well. I was surprised at the images this AT80ED revealed. They are amazingly sharp and color free.
I've looked at Jupiter, Saturn, Mars and the double double the last two nights. All the images very sharp and very clean. The planets showed great detail. The double double was very cleanly split at 100x to 180x. No complaints here.
The build quality is really excellent. The focuser is tight but the fine focus works very smoothly. It is visually a very beautiful telescope to look at. The build quality is above the ED80 by a long shot. I think it performs optically at least as good. That's my honest opinion.
For $399 you get a real bargain. Great scope with quality rings, a rack and pinion 2-speed focuser, and mine even included the Vixen dovetail mount. The fit and finish is wonderful. To those of you who are considering this offering, I can say go for it. (Posted on 10/10/2020)
As far as optical testing, everything appeared to be as they described. I did not look at many bright objects, Vega appeared nice when focused, not very much CA. Focus was smooth albeit robust, like it could handle almost any weight attached. I was startled to notice that it was not a true crayford focuser, as it had a rack and pinion focuser attached, which I happened to like. The dew shield moves with a very tight sliding movement. It is not sloppy in anyway. The glass coating is phenomenal and the added baffle rings helps with off axis light. I did not notice any issues with the FK-61 glass that was paired with the other glass in the AT80ED. This scope is light weight, very easy to carry and stow. I am very tempted to purchase the AT102ED scope to go with my AT60ED as well as this scope. (Posted on 5/23/2020)
