Sky-Watcher Skymax 150 mm Maksutov-Cassegrain Telescope OTA

About the Sky-Watcher Skymax 150 mm Maksutov-Cassegrain Telescope

Skywatcher Skymax 150mm Maksutov-Cassegrain telescopes are all about sharp, contrasty images, and the flexibility to use them as a telescope for astronomy, a spotting scope for terrestrial use, a lens for photography…or all three! This Skywatcher 150mm Maksutov-Cassegrain telescope for sale uses a large 5.9” lens system to do the job of gathering light so you can see faint objects millions of light years away. The classic long focal length of f/12 will give you inky dark background skies so that celestial targets stand out beautifully.

The Skywatcher 150 mm Skymax comes with a nice selection of accessories, including a 2” 90-degree star diagonal, a 28 mm 2” LET eyepiece, an 8 x 50 straight-through finder for the location and centering of objects, and a Vixen-style dovetail plate, which allows you to mount your telescope on an alt-azimuth or equatorial mount that can handle at least 12 pounds.

Why a Maksutov-Cassegrain Telescope?

Maksutov-Cassegrain telescopes are super popular, and for good reason! First of all, they are very portable for the size of their optics. With a relatively short, lightweight optical tube, the 5.9” Maksutov-Cassegrain is way more portable than a similar-sized refractor or Newtonian. But let’s face it, portability isn’t everything! You still need enough light-gathering to see the objects you wish to look at, whether that object is Saturn, the Orion Nebula, a boat on the horizon at dusk, or a deer resting in the shade of an oak tree. 150 mm (almost 6”) of aperture is large enough to enjoy the Moon and planets as well as a wide array of deep-sky objects, and this Maksutov-Cassegrain telescope for sale will blow you away for terrestrial applications.

Another consideration when choosing a telescope or spotting scope is how sharp the optics are. This is where the Skywatcher 150 mm Maksutov-Cassegrain really shines! A Mak-Cass uses both mirrors and lenses to gather and focus light, and this design is famous for sharp, high-contrast “refractor-like” images. Then why not just buy a refractor and be done with it? Because a 6” f/12 refractor would be way longer, much heavier, and therefore would require a bigger, more expensive mount to hold it. There goes your portability! No, if you want a portable telescope or spotting scope that has bright, sharp images with a beautiful black background sky (an effect of the long f/12 focal length), then you should seriously consider the Sky-Watcher 150 mm Maksutov-Cassegrain! And since Sky-Watcher makes a full line of Maksutov-Cassegrains, from the ultra-compact 90 mm to the full-sized 180 mm (7”), you can choose the aperture that’s right for you if you feel you need something smaller or a tad bigger.

Skywatcher USA 150 mm Skymax Specs

• Optical Design: Maksutov-Cassegrain

• Aperture: 150 mm (5.9 in)

• Focal Length: 1800 mm

• Focal Ratio: f/12

• Included Eyepieces: 2” 28 mm LET

• Finderscope: 8 x 50 Straight-Through

• Diagonal: 2” 90 degree star diagonal

• Highest Useful Magnification: 300x

• Optical Coatings: Fully multi-coated

• Tube Weight w/Accessories: 14 lb.

• Tube Length: 15” (17.5" with diagonal)

• Tube Width: 7.5”