PhilB61

Recently put together a new imaging rig consisting of APM 80/480 triplet with AA26c (IMX571) camera on CEM25P mount. Previously used an unmodified Nikon D7500 and Skywatcher 72ed. Not had much chance to test with the poor weather in the UK and a few issues, with cables and guide camera. But now on an extended trip to Spain in our campervan. This is my first successful imaging run, having had a few more usb and power supply issues. The image is just over 2 hrs total from last night and this is a very quick and dirty process in SIRIL. No background extraction or calibration frames used yet, although I did take flats, need to take darks and bias before a proper process. There are a few issues, I think backspacing needs optimising and possibly some tilt, and guiding still not great as my old asi120c keeps dropping frames, definitely need to sort my cable management. I intend to get more time on the target over the next few weeks. I hope you like it and comments welcome

For lunar imaging should be fine scale wise, and as you will be taking high frame rate videos to stack guiding won't really be an issue. Scale wise also ok for the smaller galaxies but not for the popular larger nebula or Andromeda for example. For DSO though the biggest issue could be tracking and guiding accuracy, depending on what mount you are using. At your pixel scale I would think you need to guide reliably well below 1 arcsec to not have elongated or trailed stars.

I think all the WO scopes would give you great performance, the main difference being aperture and focal length so depends on what you want to target. However, with your mount if you want half decent guiding performance then you probably need to stick to the 50% weight capacity "rule" for astrophotography. So with the scope, camera and imaging accessories that would rule out the two larger scopes on your list. Other than the Redcar you would also need to factor in a flattener/reducer

According to the blurb the mount is full go-to so should be able to slew left/right and up/down both manually, and automatically once star aligned. Unfortunately it sounds like it could be faulty

What are you intending to imagine? that is a planetary camera but the telescope is for widefield views, so quite a mismatch. In other words planets will be tiny but many of the popular deep sky objects won't fit in the field of view. If you haven't already looked it up go to Astronomy Tools website and look for the field of view calculator, select your equipment and choose a target to see how big or small it will be. I wouldn't at this stage buy any more equipment until you have a clear idea of what you want to see/image. Just a note that mounting the guide scope as shown will cause you all sorts of grief as it's just not rigid enough, at the very least swap the asiair and guide scope around.

No intention of scaring you or stopping you from following your chosen path, but you did ask for opinions..... Good luck, I think you will need it

Hi Tareq, from reading this and other previous posts you have made it seems you have a serious case of GAS (gear acquisition syndrome) 🙂 You already have some great gear and obviously know how to use it judging by the few images you have posted. It seems all you really need to do is to actually get out and use it more. I think going to 3 or 4 parallel setups especially as it appears you are setting up each time, ie no fixed pier/observatory is going to be such a hassle that it won't happen or at least not very often. And when you do you will spend more time trouble shooting than acquiring data, see how many posts about people having issues trying to run one rig reliably, hardware, software, updates, usb cables, power supplies etc etc, multiply those by 3 or 4. The net results could be a lot more frustration and even less data. If as it seems you want high quality reliable data acquisition on multiple rigs then I think you would need observatory grade equipment, ie stuff you turn on and it just works, every time. This starts with a good mount, the AZ-EQ6 should be ok but the AZ-GTi's will not be up to the job, just not consistent or accurate enough even when guided at under capacity weight, with your 90mm triplet you would be overcapacity also. All your other stuff would need to be totally reliable in setup and use also. The whole thing sounds like a logistical and planning nightmare. My tongue in cheek advice would be to set up a shop, it seems you have enough unused gear to sell! And with the proceeds, as suggested by others buy a single quality fast imaging rig and then just use it.

There's a similar discussion in the beginners forum which might give you some ideas

Yes it does seem some of the supplied power bricks are marginal at best. I found using the NINA Three Point Power Align plugin drastically improved my PA experience, no more kneeling on damp ground squinting into the polar scope.

You don't normally have to worry about voltage drop on a mains cable, as the higher voltage is not affected so much, one of the reasons overhead power cables run at many thousands of volts. 20m or more should not have any effect and is unlikely to be the reason your mount was slewing slowly.

Not sure a filter will make much difference with an unmodified camera but others may be able to give a better answer on that. With those DSLR cameras, which have large sensors, a flattener will be required otherwise edge and corner stars will be elongated

I take my full OSC imaging setup away on regular long trips to France and Spain but as we travel in a 6m campervan I don't really have to worry about size or weight, so can't really offer advice on that aspect. What I can say is whatever combination of gear you end up taking especially the imaging software/hardware make sure you have tested and used it for some imaging sessions before you go. It's a pain having to download and reinstall software, update firmware and generally trouble shoot when it's being done on your phone. Make a list of all your interconnect power and data cables so you don't leave anything behind, getting spares might be impossible if you are somewhere remote and just difficult anyway when not in your home country.

Realistically unless you have an interest and will use the telescope yourself then it could be wasted money. Initially I would download a night sky app to a phone or tablet and go out on a dark night and try to identify some of the brighter targets like Jupiter, Pleiades, Orion Belt etc all very visible in the UK at the moment. A visit to a planetarium is a great experience also. Also bear in mind the views through a telescope in your price range are likely to be underwhelming especially for children brought up in the age of high resolution digital content. However if you really fancy a telescope for yourself, go for it, it's a fun and rewarding hobby but does require time and patience to best enjoy

Be aware that many of the provided power bricks only put out barely enough voltage, my Altair Astro camera supply is 12.3v and the Ioptron 12.6v this is okay with short cables but the 5m one suggested above would cause too much voltage drop, it only works because a higher rated power supply is being used. I often take power from my campervan which provides a nominal 12.7v and also use a 5m length of cable but opted for 2mm sq cross section to reduce voltage drop. I previously used a much thinner and longer cable which caused low voltage warnings on my mount. The 12Volt Planet website has a simple to use voltage drop calculator.

Similar to Grumpiusmaximus I currently have a 127mm Mak, 80ED triplet and 72ED. Which have I used most in the last few months? none of those, it's been my 60mm spotting scope with zoom eyepiece, because it always available on the photo tripod and I can pick it up in one hand and be in the back garden in 30 seconds. Great for when the weather has been so poor and your trying to dodge rain and clouds

Might be worth taking a look at it this website, it's aimed at beginners looking to buy there first telescope https://supercooper.jimdofree.com/choosing-telescopes-complete-essentials/

Not easy and if you find a way physically it still may not focus at infinity, according to posts on a Leica forum.

Looks like you have a good setup to start taking some great images. For this image it looks like you have overblown the core and not yet got all the detail out of the nebula, also agree that focusing is probably off, some of this could be optimised or corrected in post processing. I use SIRIL with the Starnet add in, for my stacking and most of my processing, lot's of info and tutorials online. Lot's of other free and paid software (with free trials) so worth giving a few different ones a try.

I think pretty much any house built or rewired in the last 25 years will have RCD devices already in the the mains circuits (in the UK). I had assumed this would be sufficient protection?

When at home I always power via a mains extension reel, if dew is going to be a problem I have found just putting the end of the reel with sockets in a plastic bag is sufficient, obviously not as robust as a box but one less thing to carry out and store.

Hi looks like you have been having fun with spreadsheets. Unfortunately it's a little more complex than that, you would have to factor in things like, ease and speed of setup, ease of use, longevity (some of the scopes are at the toy end of the scale with mainly plastic parts and others are quality items that if looked after could last a lifetime), quality of the optics, focuser etc. I think you also need to add to your list some of the smaller refractors as suggested in various posts above such as the ST80 or 100. If you didn't know a refractor doesn't have a large central obstruction like a reflector telescope so size for size has better light gathering capability. Have fun....

I think the Flextube 150P includes a red dot finder, so agree a finder scope may not be required. You might be very lucky and find the scope arrives in collimation but knowing and having the means to do it is essential, possibly every time you want to use this telescope, firstly due to it's collapsible design and secondly because if you are travelling with it it's likely to experience some vibration or knocks whilst handling. In this respect the smaller refractors as mentioned in various posts above are much more robust and seldom require collimation unless dropped! Have you yet determined where you will actually be able to use any telescope and how exactly you will transport it? If not certain why not put off a decision until you have properly investigated that first and also know exactly where you will be living, so you can plan the journey and in the meantime visit the astronomy show. I know you have money burning a hole in your pocket right now but you don't want to make the wrong decision and end up with an unsuitable telescope sitting in the corner of your room gathering dust and unused.

Also try not to let your heart rule your head, even a 6" DOB is a big heavy item if you get the wrong one (lightest seems to be 8kg without accessories and easily over 20kg for a more typical tube and base). Also don't forget you will need eyepieces, finder scope and collimation tools as a minimum. Great advice above about attending the show and seeing these things in the flesh.

I think a 6" DOB would be a great choice for use at your home location but whilst not impossible is still not really practical for taking on UK public transport. If your only means of travel to a viewing site is public transport or on foot then a lightweight alternative could be something like a Skywatcher 72ED on a decent photo tripod with a ball head. The views are great for the size, and it would be really easy to transport (about 5kg total weight and compact) out of the city where it will give much better views than a DOB in the city. I owned a 6" reflector on a poor EQ1/2 mount and tripod when living in Bortle 7/8 location and besides the shakes when trying to focus all that could be seen where the moon and brightest planets plus a handful of stars, I think I saw a slight smudge of Andromeda once. The views through a 72ed size scope if you can get to say Bortle 4 would be massively enhanced, obviously if you had the means to get a DOB to Bortle 4 it would be significantly better again.

What camera are you going to use, with both of the scopes you would need to budget for a field flattener unless using a small sensor. As already mentioned why not try with your current setup, and a DSLR if you have one. You would be under mounted for AP but should be able to get acceptable or even good images if you stack lot's of short exposures, say 15 to 30 sec. It would be a good way of finding out if you enjoy the whole process of data acquisition, calibration and post processing.