You are both right and wrong. In selling you an astronomical scope, your manufacturer designed a complete set of parts suited for the "average observer" without advanced knowledge of optical design, scope engineering, electronics and applied sciences (spectroscopy, etc).

If your scope can be advantageously used in many circumstances, in numerous fields however it will be limited by the design of its accessories, their quality and performances, some spreading the incoming light, others creating optical aberrations or simply generating unattended artifacts.

High-end models are on the contrary full equipped with quality accessories but at a price reaching also unreachable heights.

So of are a serious amateur you should balance the price versus the quality and select the best accessories in a fixed prices range without necessary checking the absolute value of the accessory versus the one of your scope.

As said Jack Marling from Lumicon, "Your eyepiece is the half of your scope, so choice the best". I share is mind.

Therefore you will often see amateurs observatories equipped of accessories as expensive as their scope. But in the narrow field of amateur astronomy, quality has a price.

All quotations listed in these pages are in US dollar (value 2000 or 2004). If the product price is subject to a variety of quotations the range is indicated. The shop listed is one of the cheapest but often a half dozen of concurrents sell the same product also. Without specific mention the default barrel size is 1.25".

Battery and AC adapter

It should be very sad to be out of power in the field by a very clear and dark night. For small scopes as the NexStar which consumes 750 mA per hour,Orion Telescope & Binoculars sell a small "Dynamo" rechargeable battery of 12V DC at 7A ($57) and well as 17A model ($109). Your local motorcycle dealer, "Wallmart" or "Do-it-Yourself" shopping center should sell cheaper models providing similar power.

The Meade 12" LX200 is a current hungry and needs a 12V at 17A battery ($119-290) although its concurrent, the Celestron 12" Ultima 2000 asks only for 12A. Both models of batteries are available from Kendrick Astro Equipments (KAI) or his dealers like Interoptic in Belgium (12V for 290$, 18V for $385, add $24 for a 240 volts charger). 

KAE also sells a 12V at 33A battery ($285) able to power all together a 12" LX200, four dew heaters, a laptop, an Astrovid CCD, a video monitor, a SBIG camera and a CD player...

If you observe in your garden at a few meters from your home you will find the AC Adapter 12V/120V or 12V/220V also very useful. Scopetronix sells a small adapter ($25) at half the price of the manufacturer one. It also sells a portable power station (12V at 7A at $69.95 and a 12V at 4.5A version at $50), but also power cords to connect to standard cigarette lighter socket ($12.95) and much more. Note that the DC/AC inverter from Radio Shack is another possibility but this accessory is quite expensive.

At last, name the hand held Honda EU2000i generator. It provides 12V DC, 2000W and 16.7A (noise is 59 dB, size 51x29x42 cm, its weight is 23 kg, $1080). This model are available in Europe at Honda Belgium for example.

Dew Remover and Dewcap

No worst thing may happen that assisting powerless to the deposit of moisture on your lenses and accessories during the winter. If you are confronted to this unpleasant situation which often cancels your observation session, avoid from now to offer it cold surfaces ! Do not hesitate to invest a few money in a dewcap (8" at $50) or a Scopetronix Foamex Dewshield (8" at $35) to fix on top of your scope.

The best solution in to invest in an electrical dew remover, a small flexible heater (resistance) working on battery that warms your lenses during your session. Kendrick Astro Equipments sells many models suited for small and larger scopes and accessories from eyepieces to laptops ($158 with controller, lens and eyepiece heaters). Scopetronix sells also Dew clips for NexStar's  ($69.95 for N5) and Dew coils for eyepieces ($30).

Kendrick's Dew removers protecting optics of a refractor Kendrick's Dew removers are suited for various accessories Scopetronix's Dewclips for ETX 90, 125 and NexStar 5, Dewshield for 5 and 8" SCT's and Dew coils.

Note that using such electrical accessories you have to bring with you a 12V battery. But be care. Such accessories can be detected by your CCD and create severe problems too...

Remark than these dew removers are not suited for the primary mirror. From optical studies on larger size mirrors, we can say that mirror seeing is not as sensitive to the cold mirror as the warm mirror. The first has a drainage flow and the second has convection currents. The flow over a cold mirror (often tipped) is thin and slow but shows layer. To avoid all these aberrations my best advice should be to say keep your scope as close to the outside air temperature as possible and let it warm up slowly for at least one hour before your night session. If your optical system is isothermal any ordinary mechanical turbulence (low speed) will not degrade the seeing.

Piggyback astrophotography

There are many ways of doing astrophotography, from snapshots to long expositions at low or high resolution. The easiest way is without any doubt the "Piggyback", clamping a padded camera mount around your scope OTA and tracking the stars at the eyepiece. Among other dealers, Scopetronix and JMI provide such an accessory for scopes up to 8" ($29-65).

Various piggyback systems for 5" and larger SCTs sold by Scopetronix (left, right) and Meade (center).

Sturdy tripod

Using a small scope like the NexStar5, it is important your system resists well to gusts, be insensible to movements around and small rap on the tripod. The aluminum tripod delivered with the NexStar5 ($199) is attached with three mounting bolts to a thick plate fixed on the scope mounting base. A robust plastic spreader brackets is also fixed inside the tripod on which can be placed an optional triangular tray for accessories. Once fixed the tripod and the telescope are a monolithic assembly able to suppress in less than one second a vigorous rap on the tripod.

Heavy Duty Tripod (8") Deluxe Field Tripod (5") Scopetronix 5/8" Photo tripod adapter

The NexStar5 can also be set-up on all Meade tripods and specially on the Meade Deluxe Field Tripod which is an expensive but very sturdy tripod like the large Celestron Heavy Duty tripod ($299) designed for the 8" SCT. A bit lost on top of this platform, it provides however excellent damping for this small scope. At last Scopetronix  provides a 5/8 photo tripod adapter ($40) for all of you using a sturdy professional tripod equipped with 3/8" mounting bolt. This steel plateform suppports both ETX and the NexStar 5" and 8" scopes.

Barlow and Powermate

As described in another report the Barlow lens ($45-110) presents several advantages, the first being to double (or more) your focal length - and your eyepieces collection ! - while keeping the eye relief. If selected in a well-known brand, it is apochromatic without adding the slightest color. However, take care to the length of the focusing drawer. With some eyepieces or Barlow you can no more get the focusing. So try it before any purchase in your real working conditions.

Tele Vue Barlow and Powermate's.

In parallel, Tele Vue's optical engineers designed a  new concept called "Powermate" (2.5x at $168). Its power vary from 2.5 to 5x according the model. Able to recollimate the diverging light beam this accessory is telecentric and does not create vignetting. It gives better images than a Meade Barlow for example (colorless, sharper) and can successfully be used with short focals eyepieces (one has to be silly somewhere ! ). The Powermate also corrects the field angles and presents a huge advantage on a Barlow when observing the sun in H-alpha light as the latest yield only a part of the field of view. All these advantages mean the Powermate can easily replace any Barlow at first run.

Next chapter

Star diagonals and other optics