As amateur astronomers advance in their astro-imaging skills, they dream of owning a Ritchey-Chretien telescope. RC telescopes are being used in some of the world’s biggest and best observatories due to their color-free, coma-free, spherical aberration-free optics. The problem is, Ritchey-Chretien telescopes are out of the reach of most people due to their high price tag…until now!
Guan Sheng Optical of Taiwan has been creating affordable imaging telescopes for several years. After the huge success of their imaging Newtonians, they turned their attention to creating a high quality Ritchey-Chretien at a more reasonable price. Now serious astro-imagers can choose from closed tube or open tube RC telescopes in a wide range of apertures!
This GSO Ritchey-Chretien has 6” of aperture and a focal ratio of f/9. The primary & secondary mirrors are made of BK7 glass which is coated with aluminum that has a 96% reflective surface. The aluminum is then over coated with quartz. This high reflectivity coating offers higher contrast images and protection against scratching.
Inside the 6” RC metal OTA is a Knife-Edge Baffle System whose only job is to keep stray light out of the telescope’s interior. Stray light eats contrast for breakfast (or a late night snack), and is therefore our enemy. The addition of a dew shield (sold separately) will help further defeat stray light, we recommend picking one up. The OTA mounts easily to a variety of mounts that accept Vixen-style dovetails. Simply remove the dovetail if you choose to mount the telescope via cradle rings.
A high quality 2” dual speed Crayford linear bearing focuser comes standard with the GSO 6” f/9 Ritchey, and you'll also get a 2" to 1.25" adapter. One thing that really sets this telescope apart from Schmidt-Cassegrains, even though it looks like one, is the lack of image shift. In SCT’s, the focuser moves the mirror forward and back on a rail, and it is this movement that can cause image shift. The mirror of the GSO 6” RC is fixed into place, similar to that of a Newtonian…it is not connected to the focuser in any way. Removing this connection removes image shift…voila! To collimate the RC, adjustments are made to the secondary mirror.
The GSO 6" f/9 Ritchey-Chrétien is a good telescope for astrophotography
The GSO 6" f/9 Ritchey-Chrétien (RC6) is ready for astrophotography with many good features for beautiful astrophotos.
2" Dual-speed Crayford focuser with precise movement also suitable for heavy cameras
Hyperbolic mirror that produce flat, sharp images with virtually no false color or coma
Computer-optimized light baffles in main tube, primary and secondary mirror light shield, providing high contrast images
No moving mirror parts resulting in a stable image while tracking an object across the sky
Actual astrophotos taken from the GSO 6" f/9 Ritchey-Chrétien (RC6)
Credit: Astrobin
SPECIFICATIONS
Best for viewing
Brighter deep sky
Best for imaging
Deep Sky
User level
Advanced
Optical design
Ritchey-Chretien
Optical diameter
152mm
Focal length
1370mm
Focal ratio
f/9.0
Optics type
Hyperbolic
Eyepieces
None
Resolving power
0.76arc*sec
Lowest useful magnification
22x
Highest useful magnification
180x
Highest theoretical magnification
304x
Limiting stellar magnitude
13.6
Optical quality
Diffraction limited
Finder scope
None
Focuser
2" Dual-Speed Crayford
Secondary mirror obstruction
67mm
Secondary mirror obstruction by diameter
50%
Secondary mirror obstruction by area
25%
Mirror coatings/over-coatings
Aluminum & Silicon Dioxide (Quartz)
Mount type
OTA without mount
Tube material
Steel
Length of optical tube
19.1 in. (485mm)
Weight, optical tube
12.1 lbs. (6kg)
Additional included accessories
2" to 1.25" adapter, extension tube rings for achieving focus with different accessory configurations
GSO is a leader in optical telescopes and accessories and their products have been sold for years by the "Big Three" (Meade, Celestron and Orion) under their own brand names. GSO telescopes and accessories are also sold under different names world-wide; Zhumell (USA), Apertura (USA), TPO (USA), Teleskop Service (Germany), Sky Optic (France), Antares (Canada), Astronz (New Zealand), and more than a dozen more brands too many to name. GSO is known for their high consistency in quality control, low defect rate, and their Taiwanese-based manufacturing scores closer to Japan in quality than other telescope manufacturers which mostly manfacture thier scopes in Mainland China. Give these telescopes a try - you will not be disappointed!
William Optics Micro 4/3 48mm T mount for Olympus - Red
This high precision T-Mount has 48mm threads with outer hard gray/red color anodizing and its made from High quality aluminum material by CNC with perfect fitting !
Part of the Optolong SHO-3nm filter kit, which includes SII 3nm, H-Alpha 3nm, and OIII 3nm narrowband filters, generally working with astronomical monochrome cooling CCD and modified DSLR imaging in each single-channel. Corresponding with RGB channel (HA, OIII, SII), photographers can process Hubble images by astronomical post processing software.