You’ll find only premium Ohara glass and state-of-the-art optical multicoatings in the apochromatic ED triplet optics of the Astro-Tech AT80EDTA. This results in images that are essentially totally free of the annoying halo of unfocused violet light (chromatic aberration) that mars the bright-object images of lesser scopes, despite the fast focal ratio, and even at very high magnifications.
A Sky & Telescope review of the optically-identical carbon fiber body version of the AT80EDTA said the optics provided “essentially textbook-perfect diffraction images . . . in-focus images were clean, crisp, and color free . . . Daytime photographs are contrasty and free of color fringes, even with challenging subjects like tree branches against a bright, blue sky.”
The optical tube of the AT80EDTA is made of two aluminum tube sections threaded together. You can unthread and remove one of the tube sections to reduce the body length of the AT80EDTA by 4.3”. This lets you use a binoviewer at low powers in the AT80EDTA, without having to use a Barlow lens or image amplifier to reach focus as you have to do with other scopes. With the AT80EDTA in its binoviewer mode, you can see clear wide-angle binoviewer vistas that are unobtainable with other scopes that need a Barlow for the binoviewer to focus.
The AT80EDTA has a dual-speed rotating 2” Crayford focuser; a self-storing retractable dew shield; non-marring 1.25” and 2” compression ring eyepiece holders; a felt-lined hinged split mounting ring with 1/4”-20 thread holes to allow you to install the scope on any of a number of German equatorial mounts directly or to an optional Losmandy or Vixen dovetail plate; and a locking aluminum frame case.
The feature-laden 80mm Astro-Tech AT80EDTA binoviewer-ready triplet apochromatic refractor is priced hundreds of dollars less than competitive 80mm triplet scopes – and even less than many competitive doublet systems! At the sensationally low price for an apochromatic triplet, and for the exceptional performance and features you get, the AT80EDTA is surely one of the best buys in the astronomy!
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