Astro-Tech AT60ED

GRAB AND GO

I picked up this small Astro-Tech refractor because I wanted something less cumbersome than my other setups. I wanted something I could get quickly outside between my busy schedule of work, kids, and other things happening in my life. The AT60ED fits the bill perfectly. With the dew shield collapsed, and the focuser racked in, it's around 3lbs and 9 inches long. Small enough to put in your backpack and take somewhere, or just to step out on the porch with a camera tripod or small Alt-Az GoTo mount and you're quickly up and running. 

The fit and finish on the scope is really something to see. It feels well made, and costs less than most high quality eye pieces. Since the scope is small, and the optics are very nice, you can use a wide variety of eye pieces to achieve different focal lengths. My widest view is with a TeleVue Panoptic 41mm eye piece. I have a mid range 24mm Panoptic that tightens up the view some, and is quite comfortable to use due to its size. The image below shows it on the scope. For some larger magnification on planets and the moon, I use a TeleVue Delos 10mm and a 4.5mm. For such a small scope, I wouldn't use anything much smaller than a 4.5, as you push into the optical limits of this little scope. But very bright objects work great with the Delos 4.5mm.

I ended up getting the field flattener and camera rotator for this scope, so that I can image some really wide field images like large nebula. But I've yet to get it outside with a camera attached to it.