66ED-R refractor
A small scope in a basic package, but one with huge potential
WORDS: PAUL MONEY
Small refractors such as Altair’s Lightwave 66ED-R may give the impression that you won’t get to see much due to their diminutive size, but don’t let that fool you. Instruments like this one perform far better than the classic 60mm achromats that beginners traditionally start off with. As we discovered, the Lightwave 66ED-R packs some punch.
This refractor is supplied as a basic package comprising only the telescope tube, which is fitted with a 2-inch dual-speed rack and pinion focuser (this is what the R stands for in ED-R), a retractable dew shield, hard aluminium carry case and a 2- to 1.25-inch adaptor with brass compression rings. For visual use you will need to add a star diagonal and a selection of eyepieces; for DSLR astrophotography, you will also need a T-ring and nosepiece.
We used our own dielectric star diagonal, 26mm and 10mm eyepieces, plus 2x Barlow and 5x Powermate lenses for our tests. Viewing the bright star Regulus in Leo with the 26mm eyepiece gave a magnification of 15x and a wide field of view covering just over 3°. This meant that when we turned to the constellation of Lyra, the Harp, we could fit both Beta and Gamma Lyrae in the view with room to spare. The viewing quality was good, with Regulus pin sharp across 90 per cent of the field and only a slight degradation towards the field edge. Colour aberration was also well controlled, with only the slightest fringing on bright stars when the magnification was pushed beyond 100x.
Pushing the magnification
Altair Astro suggests that the theoretical maximum magnification is 133x using a 3mm eyepiece, however using a 10mm eyepiece and 5x Powermate to give the equivalent of a 2mm eyepiece (200x magnification) we could split Epsilon Lyrae, the ‘Double Double’, into its four constituent stars and the view was just acceptable. Indeed double stars were a treat in this scope and there is a huge range of them within its reach, including Albireo (Beta Cygni), 17 Cygni and Nu Draconis. With low magnification many will look like a single star, The Lightwave 66ED-R is a good all-rounder and ideal for grab and go observing. However, beyond the night sky, this scope could be used with a DayStar Quark eyepiece filter to view the Sun in hydrogen-alpha light. Being a small instrument, the 66ED-R does not require an energy rejection filter – they are only needed for instruments with a lens diameter larger than 3 inches. We were able to borrow a Quark Chromosphere eyepiece filter and used it with the 66ED-R for both observing and imaging: it gave impressive views of our star. With our 26mm eyepiece inserted we could view the whole of the solar disc, including prominences and surface detail. It is yet another string to the bow of this versatile instrument. but push the magnification up and you will be rewarded with great views.
Deep-sky observing is a mixed bag due to the wide field of view at low magnification, but using a 26mm eyepiece we could spot most of the brighter deep-sky objects in the Messier and Caldwell catalogues. The galaxy pair of M81 and M82 in Ursa Major were lovely smudges, with the thin, side-on view of M82 apparent. Adding our 2x Barlow improved the view.