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Astro-Tech AT152EDT f/8 Triplet APO Refractor OTA

Regular Price: $4,395.00

Special Price $3,495.00

Availability: Out of stock

A true APO using FK61 and Lanthanum in a temperature compensated cell. This is a fantastic instrument.
Our Product #: AT152EDT
Astro-Tech Product #: AT152EDT
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Product Description

AT152EDT Triplet Apo Refrator Technical Highlights

Aperture: 152 mm

Focal length: 1216 mm

Focal ratio: f/8

Weight: 28 pounds

The AT152EDT is an extension of the incredibly well received EDT series from Astro-Tech.  We wanted to bring the best value and performance that we possibly could in a large refractor.  We feel this is truly a lifetime instrument.

The AT152EDT comes with a 3.7" Dual Speed Racking and Pinion focuser that rotates and has 98mm of travel.  Also, 4" of extension can be removed between the focuser and the body to change the backfocus from 140mm to 210mm.  This comes in handy for astro-photography rigs and well as binoviewers.  The interior of the focuser is lined with micro baffles to help with stray light.  The focuser has many different ways to thread equipment on.  The various thread sizes are  M100x1 female thread, M92x1 female thread, M68x1 female thread.  The optional .72x Reducer Field flattener threads directly on to the rear of the focuser.  The visual end of the focuser uses a 2" to 1.25" Secure-Lock compression ring to make sure your eyepieces are locked in.  The tube length with the dewshield retracted is 44.5" long.

The objective uses FK61 as a center element with Lanthanum as the rear element.  This combination provides excellent color correction and is fully multi-coated.  The elements are housed in a temperature compensated cell that is collimatable.  

The dew shield is retractable and has a locking screw.

The scope comes with CNC tube rings with a Losmandy style dovetail on one side and a Vixen Style dovetail/handle on the other.  A vixen style finder scope shoe is pre-installed on the focuser body.

Tech Details

Aperture 6"
Focal Length 1216mm
Focal Ratio f/8
Heaviest Single Component 28 pounds
Weight 28 pounds
Optical Coatings Fully Mutli-Coated
Supplied Eyepiece None
Telescope Type Refractor
View Finder None
Visual Limiting Magnitude 12.7
Warranty 1 year
Back Focus 140mm to 210mm

Reviews

Review by:
I am running this AT152EDT on a big mount (Ioptron CEM120) and use it for EAA and simple astro-photography. I ditched my Celestron C9.25 SCT after a thorough side by side comparison over a year's time. Better images with the AT152 than the SCT and with the lack of collimation, mirror flop, focus issues, etc. I'll never go back to an SCT. These big refractors are expensive at the initial purchase, but by the time you buy all the other gear with a reflector telescope, you really aren't that far away. Easy decision for me after my evaluation between the two - great telescope value in the AT152EDT. (Posted on 9/24/2023)
Review by:
I am running this AT152EDT on a big mount (Ioptron CEM120) and use it for EAA and simple astro-photography. I ditched my Celestron C9.25 SCT after a thorough side by side comparison over a year's time. Better images with the AT152 than the SCT and with the lack of collimation, mirror flop, focus issues, etc. I'll never go back to an SCT. These big refractors are expensive at the initial purchase, but by the time you buy all the other gear with a reflector telescope, you really aren't that far away. Easy decision for me after my evaluation between the two - great telescope value in the AT152EDT. (Posted on 9/24/2023)
Review by:
This is a fantastic telescope. There is no hint of false color and the visual images of the Moon and planets are outstanding. In a rare night of mid Atlantic good seeing, the scope rewarded me with some of the best views of Jupiter have ever experienced. The focuser is excellent. Photographic images of the moon are beautiful and sharp. This telescope is an excellent instrument and I highly recommend it. My only caveat is that it is heavy and bulky (which is to be expected). (Posted on 11/3/2022)
Review by:
The reason I am writing this review is because of the lack of reviews on this scope.Let's get right to it,this is not a Takahashi TOA 150B but what you get is an unbelievable telescope for the money. My optics are very much in focus, color correction is very good ( 99.9% good,you have to look very very hard to find any color errors ). The focuser is real good and the manufacturing and build are very good.The lens coatings on mine are excellent.The only thing I wish was different is that the dew shield should have 2 locking knobs instead of one. Forget the owner's manual it does not exist. So do I like it enough to keep it???? If you got a TOA 150B you would like to sell me for $4,000 I would sell the AT 152EDT, since that never will happen I will gladly keep this wonderful telescope.The Bang for the Buck is incredible.It's a solid buy. (Posted on 7/27/2020)
Review by:
This well-packaged item showed up very quickly on my doorstep. I unpacked it and noticed: 1. No instructions of any kind. 2. the surface of the lens element facing the inside was dirty. I figured out how to get to the lens to clean it: You unscrew the lens hood from the movable ring and then move the ring down until the lens cell retaining screws are exposed. The cell has push-pull adjustment screws but on my scope none were being used. The cell sat flat on the receiver. So I unscrewed the two retaining screws at each adjustment point (3) and pulled the lens clean off the tube. I vacuumed out the tube and then cleaned up the lens. It turned out to be easy-peasy.
Performance: WOW. What superlative could do this scope justice? I hit a bunch of double-stars with ~1 second separation. They all split beautifully. Stars show textbook airy disks. I swung the scope over to Mars as it was now pulling away from Earth and was less than 10 arc seconds in size. I expected to just see a red blob. Noooo. I could see details on the surface. It looked better than it did at opposition.
Bottom line: Any problems I had with the scope were easily fixable. I noticed that the focuser was of very high quality (so I don't think I'll replace it), the alignment of the lens was right-on (and if it wasn't, it could be adjusted), there was no false color ever seen on any target including the usual suspects: the moon and Vega. Any optical aberrations were always the fault of the eyepiece being used. Contrast was mind-blowing. This is the scope I've been wanting since I was a tadpole. (Posted on 6/29/2019)
Review by:
I purchased the AT152EDT as a retirement gift for myself, principally to be used as a visual instrument. As you might expect, selecting a lower cost instrument from a number of competing, similar products arouses apprehension about how well it will actually perform. I am pleased to say that I was not disappointed. It is unusual that the first night with a new instrument should have such exquisite good seeing but I was very fortunate to have excellent conditions all night. My first telescope in 1966 was a 3" f/16 doublet refractor, the same focal length as the AT152EDT, so I knew what sort of image scale to expect. Examination of M42, the Orion Nebula, at a variety of magnifications was delightful! The six-inch aperture collects a lot of light and provided views of the nebulosity at considerable distances from the Trapezium. I then looked at Sirius to visually assess chromatic aberration. Forget it, there is none. It was like I was looking through all-mirror optics. Jupiter and Saturn were revealed in sharp detail. The double star Gamma Virginis, now separated by about three arcseconds, showed two precisely-defined, textbook Airy disks with dark sky in between them. I am extremely satified with the optical performance.

The telescope doesn't have some of the fancy features of other products of the same aperture. No carbon fiber tube, no finder scope included, no eyepieces or diagonal. Aw, gee! You mean I have to provide those myself? If that's a show-stopper, select another telescope. However, the features it does have are deluxe. The dual-speed focuser was very smooth and essentially without backlash. The entire focuser may be easily rotated to frame an object in a camera exactly as you wish. The 2" and 1.25" eyepiece holders use a rotary compression mechanism to very positively hold an eyepiece or camera without leaving any sort of marks on the eyepiece barrel.

It's heavy, 28 pounds without finder, diagonal, or eyepiece. Sorry, it's a fact of life. Bigger telescopes weigh more. You'll need a sturdy mounting to support it. A lot of that weight is in the exquisitely-crafted triplet of high-quality glass in the front. If that's what it takes to get that kind of performance, I'll certainly not complain.

I love this telescope and I'm very happy I purchased it.
(Posted on 3/10/2019)
Review by:
The Astro Tech AT 152EDT is a wonderful instrument. On 11/10/18 I first lighted this awesome scope and all targets exceeded my expectations. Mars I could not believe how good it looked and details were evident on the surface. Other targets included M42 Orion Nebula and Andromeda Galaxy and Satellites. This scope is a lifetime instrument for me and I will gladly recommend it to anyone who sees it looks through it or wants one.... (Posted on 11/11/2018)
Review by:
Astrotech 152EDT : This scope shockingly exceeded my wishes. Getting this scope has caused a huge problem for me. It has basically made 4 or 5 of my other telescopes essentially useless now. This 152 is the one I go to first now, especially for imaging. The other scopes gather more dust than light now. Its easier to maneuver that I expected (light weight). It arrived from Astronomics SUPER fast and very well packaged. Straight out of the box and it puts up a star test that is as good as my 102mm LOMO triplet APO that has a strehl of 0.95 +. It excels for planetary, lunar and deep sky imaging as well as visual. Perfectly apo (color free) and any color I did see was due to the eyepiece. Switch to a Plossl and it is false-color-free on the moon and Sirius. Visually, it “feels” like a 12” reflector, but with more contrast. This is an A+. scope, easily comparable to the best (TEC, TAK, AP, etc). (Posted on 9/12/2018)
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