Discovery Telescopes 12.5" f/5 PDHQ

5.0 My 12.5" PDHQ

Sturdy construction, A+ Optics, and smooth mechanics. Its a joy to use!

Wait time upon ordering

After I collimated the mirrors and aligned the finderscope and Telrad, I sat back and waited for darkness to fall. Then I took the PDHQ out for first first light, during which I observed a whole variety of targets in order to get a feel for how they all appear. One thing that struck me early on is that Discovery's optics are absolutely A+ top-notch! I got a very crisp, sharp, bright image with almost no aberrations other than the diffraction spikes that result from the spider.

I rarely used my highest magnification 6.4mm Plössl eyepiece with my other scopes, but I found plenty of good opportunities to use it on the 12.5" PDHQ, particularly when viewing globular clusters which have always been my favorite objects to observe. The mechanics are very smooth. Of the deep-sky objects I have seen so far, globular clusters have impressed me the most with the 12.5" aperture. Brighter ones, in particular such as M13, M5 and M22, deliver really stunning views in magnifications around 150X as hundreds of stars become easily resolvable within and surrounding their cores. Planetary nebulae also look very nice in the 12.5" optics. Classic examples like the Ring (M57) and Dumbbell (M27) are very bright, and they show their distinctive shapes very nicely.

Emission nebulae are another winner, especially when used in conjunction with a narrowband filter. I was able to see more detail in the Lagoon (M8) and Swan (M17) nebulae than before. Open clusters like M6, M7, and IC 4756 also benefit in the PDHQ, where in addition to the aperture making the stars brighter and more colorful they also take advantage of the precise control of the Crayford focuser. Once I hit the right spot when adjusting the focuser, the stars appear tack-sharp! Galaxies appear brighter too, as they reveal more of the outer sections surrounding the cores while also better emphasizing their oval shapes. I was able to put the PDHQ's improved resolution to the test by observing a few tight double-stars. This scope is more than I ever expected.