Sky-Watcher Skymax 127 f/11.8 Maksutov-Cassegrain Optical Tube

The Sky-Watcher 127mm Maksutov-Cassegrain folded optical system is a compact optical powerhouse capable of producing sharp, high contrast images inside the solar system and out.

This 127mm (5") aperture Sky-Watcher Maksutov-Cassegrain provides exceptional high contrast/high resolution solar system images at a very sensible price. You can see the phases of Mercury and Venus; lunar rilles and craters less than three miles across; Martian polar caps and major dark surface features; cloud belts on Jupiter, with some detail in the belts, plus the shadows of Jupiter's moons on the planet during transits; Cassini's division in Saturn's rings on a regular basis, plus four or five of its moons; and Uranus and Neptune visible as very small discs.

Outside the solar system, the high resolution 127mm Sky-Watcher will show you dozens of globular clusters, emission nebulas, planetary nebulas, and galaxies; all of the Messier objects and many of the brighter NGC objects from a dark sky site (with some internal detail visible in many nebulas, although most galaxies will remain relatively featureless hazy patches). It can also be used as a very high performance terrestrial spotting scope.

Features of this 127mm Sky-Watcher Maksutov-Cassegrain . . .

Maksutov-Cassegrain optics: 5" (127mm) aperture, 1500mm focal length, f/11.8 optical system. The system's Maksutov corrector lens is fully multi-coated on both sides with multiple layers of anti-reflection materials for high light transmission and good contrast.

Internal focuser: Focuses by moving the primary mirror fore and aft in the optical tube by means of a large focusing knob on the rear cell.

Star diagonal: 2" 90° mirror type.

2" eyepiece: The 2" 54x eyepiece is a fully multi-coated three-element Sky-Watcher 28mm LET design with a long 20mm eye relief and a twist-up eyecup. The eyepiece field of view is little over 1° across, more than twice the diameter of the full Moon, for expansive views of the Moon, nebulas, and globular star clusters.

Finder: 6 x 30mm straight-through dark crosshair achromatic refractor.

Dovetail: Vixen-style dovetail for installing the scope on any altazimuth or equatorial mount that uses a Vixen-style saddle.

Warranty: two years.