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Yes, a 125mm refractor is a good size and there are quite a few out there now 👍

Welcome Liking at sky watcher for example keeping in budget of the suggestion you gave there's the skymax 127 or 102 in a flavour of mount options. Depends what's key to you like portability, goto, ease or weight etc.

@Mr Spockgood to hear the LVW 3.5 is performing well ; i had mine out last night as well 🙂

What does the starfield exposure preview look like? You can try increasing the exposure length duration to see if it resolves more stars, an uncooled camera if not saturating the stars enough can mistake noise for stars or fail to plate solve completely, also ensure no LP glare is on the exposure (take a test image in preview mode to see what it looks like, you can also plate solve from that preview).

So, here's a question, which is now so far off my original post, I've forgotten what started it. 🤣 But, I'm here so may as well ask. Do you think a very a long focal length pseudo frac using this approach, and avoiding diffraction spikes, could facilitate seeing the pup, more easily?

Terrific lunar session last night. I was at it for hours. Stopped half way to take in a few doubles. Views through the 3.5mm LVW were magical - x211.

101.5-29=72.5mm. Definitely nearly 3" frac 😉

I was, but on looking deeper I have decided on the StellaMira 125. It seems that this is the best option for visual!

I agree, on a small object like this rotation does not matter, you can just crop. But I suspect it will make a difference on larger objects and longer time frames. I am not trying to promote the EQ route and I totally agree it isn't needed to get lots of fun from the Seestar. But I like to fiddle and I do think it is interesting. The additional time setting up is probably about 3-5 mins (sighting polaris, doing 1 random plate solve followed automatically by the horizon calibration. I have only used it twice. Whether I continue to use it . . . I suspect I will as it is so simple to do but time will tell. But yes the joy of the Seestar is its ease of use and speed to set up, so I would not continue to use EQ if either of these were affected.

Don't forget your mirror is probably 203mm

OK, so I think 200pds has a 58mm secondary, so that's 29. 100-29=71mm, F14 approx., assuming 1000mm focal length. So nearly a 3" frac with long focal length. I wonder how that would appear on say jupiter, compared to my 80ed. An experiment, I must conduct!

Thanks Wes, I'll probably get the mount new, as it really is critically important there are no issues with it, as I intend to also do DSO AP, which will need very accurate tracking, especially if I move up from frac to newt. But, if I see a used 200pds which has been modded, and I know many people do, and it's cheaper than new, it would be hard to resist. The only pain is travelling several hundred miles, only to find the mirror has, shall we say, seen better days. However, I think for the frac, you're totally right. In fact I bought my 80ed for £330 off Ebay and it's perfect! Same with the 127mm mak, £120 off Ebay. Nothing wrong with it. However, I would not buy more expensive stuff from there. I did see a £700 frac being sold near where my parents live in Wales, but not ready to buy yet. But, it shows they're out there at that price. With gear like the asiair, being electronic and again absolutely critical part of dso AP, I'd probably buy new. But, case by case I think. 👍

It's the fan cooled version, I don't really need the full tec cooler as I don't plan to use it for long exposure imaging. It seems to be a very well made item, fit and finish seems better than the ZWO asi120 I had a while back. Best of luck with your potential purchase!

I don't see much difference unless I stare for a while or maybe use a magnifying glass vs the hassles of using an EQ set up ! ZWO got it right and I think at a much better price, no wonder 98% of us have smiles on our faces, lol !

About that. What you would do is measure from the edge of the secondary to the edge of the mirror. Or just subtract half the secondary size from half the mirror size. It works much better if next to the mirror due to diffraction.

This is the advantage of the EQ mount. This is an uncropped stacked & processed image taken last night over 1.5hrs. (M51 was at 52 degrees at the start, 82 by the end).

So, you just place a cover over the end of the newt, with a circle cut out of it?

Mmm, that is interesting! So, let's see if I can generate enough brain power to work it out for a 200mm. Would it be (2/3)*125 = 80mm? F ratio, about 1000/80 = 12.5? That would give me something interesting for jupiter, like a long focal length achromat, but better?

have you tried sharpcap sharpsolve and the .25 database

Hi Dave, I'm not sure why, but your post has had a very emotional effect on me (in a nice way! ☺️). I'm going to be 60 later this year, and I have no idea where the last 20 went! So, I feel the passage of time very acutely now. It was a bit of a shock when I was told a year ago (or was it two?) that I had early signs of cataracts in both eyes, although I understand it's not a barrier to visual observation after you have lenses replaced. I hope not anyway. And regarding the job security, well, I have set a date of 15 September to start purchasing, if I've not been given any bad news by then. Bad = being told more redundancies are inevitable and soon. Otherwise, one can keep putting things off, waiting for 0% risk, which does not exist, until you realise you've run out of time. Worst case scenario, I could get probably 2/3 back on the cost of a new az-eq6, I'm sure. The newt will cost £430, so not much risk there. I'm planning to get various AP accessories. A used sw120ed around £700-900, and I probably get most of that back, if I had to resell. So, it's not like it's all irreversible one way cost. But I wouldn't sell anything unless my finances were near point of collapse, before which time I'd hope to get another job. 60 is not that old these days! 😉 It's the new 50.🤣 So, as long as I can get the zimmer frame through the door for the job interview, I'll be fine (🤣🤣). But seriously , thanks Dave for one of the nicest posts I've had on the forum! Mark

I've only ever used CMOS, and OSC at that. I can't see with their market dominance now that I would purposely chose a CCD whenever I come to upgrade my main camera. Jim

No It is good that there are so many alternative approaches to suit different needs Jim

Are these the same as an SCT where you only adjust the secondary?

Indeed - but as with levelling I find those to be an unnecessary level of complexity. Each to their own as I said.

@Flame Nebula I honestly think you wont be disappointed by getting the cheaper Newtonian first! Then definitely when funds allow get a Skywatcher 120ED, they're brilliant refractors, my best friend Colin owns one and they're such great 'scopes! I recall earlier seeing you ask another member was it worth buying used? My personal opinion is nearly always buy used! I'll explain. This hobby, as you know, can get very expensive indeed! So buying used is practically a must for most people! You can get save so much money plus the majority of expensive astronomy gear will have been well taken care of by their respective owners for the very reasons i'm telling you to buy used in the first place! lol. Why spend £1000 on something when you can spend £500-£700 and get an instrument that will do EXACTLY the same thing as a brand new one, save for a few scratches on it's paintwork, or some dust here and there?? Telescopes, atlleast the decent ones, are built to endure, tthey have to deal with the elements, with cold/heat etc so they're generally very hardy and with proper care and maintenance will last a lifetime! If i tell you nothing else, please consider buying quality used telescope/gear! Obviously be diligent when buying from a stranger but that's common sense for buying anything as you well know my friend!