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My review of the Explore Scientific AR 152 mm Refractor.
I had purchased the Explore Scientific 152 mm refractor mainly for Cub Scout outreach so they can earn their Astronomy Badges.
I decided to test the scope out for optics and performance before the Cub Scouts got to view with it.
The first night out I gave it a good workout bouncing all over the skies.
After I got everything aligned on the mount I wanted to check to see how the CA was on the scope.
I decided Archtutus was a good subject and eas high enough in the sky for the test.
There was some color fringing but not as bad as I would have expected fron an Acro.
I did some thinking and remembered I had a Baader minus violet filter in the OBS so I had installed it on the
Explore Scientific 20 mm EP that came with the scope.
90 % of the false colors went away Archturus.
After this test I went into Leo and started to look at all of the different Galaxy's.
The views of M95 and M96 were very nice.
I then went into Ursa Major and had a very nice view of M 81 and M82.
From there I went to M57 and also the scope produced a very nice image.
I went over to M27 from there.
After a short break I wanted to give this scope what I call the do or die test.
I went into Cygnus to look for the very faint Veil Nebula area.
NGC 6995 was a very nice view as well as NGC 6992 ans NGC 6960.
NGC 6960 was the dimmest of the bunch but was very visable from the point to the fan tail.
I stayed in Cygnus a while and got a faint glimps of the Cresant nebula NGC 6888.
Slewed over to the North American nebula then the Pelican Nebula.
Both revieled a very nice view for me. The Pelican was more visable then the North American Nebula.
After viewing some of the very dim Nebula I want to do a bit more viewing of stars.
I went over to Alberio and it yeilded a nice split with very nice colors.
The Next night out I wanted so see what more the scope would do.
I bounced around from M13 to M5 and a few other Globular clusters.
All gave nice views and resolved the core very nicely.
I wanted to test the scope more for CA so I waited a few days for the moon to rise.
The 152 mm gave a nice view of the moon but as expected with a slight greenish to purple cast on the terminator.
I also viewed Venus and as expected the CA was evident as well but in no means spoiled the views.
Well after all the testing I realized the Scope performs very well as is right out of the box with the supplies eyepiece.
Adding the Minus filter is a definate plus for removing the CA from the very bright stars as well as the Moon and Venus.
As for the deep sky objects I was very pleased with the scope and NO minus filter.
It yeilds very nice high contrast views of Globular Clusters,Nebula as well as Galaxy's.
As I stated this was initually purchased for Outreach but im finding myself using it more and more for personal viewing whil I am imaging.
So In conclusion this is a Very nice scope and will yeild some very pleasing views without breaking the bank.
The 2 speed 10:1 focuser is a big plus as is the convient carrying handle built into the scope rings.
I would recommend this telescope to anyone who wants a nice big Refractor that is well built and does not want to break the bank.
Mark Sibole
MTSO Observatory
Fife Lake Michigan