MartinB

Regarding the spots, they are just dust bunnies on your chip, Nothing to be too anxious about. They are images crying out for flats!

You need the spacing between the reducer and the camera chip. Because it isn't a flattener you can vary the spacing. The recommended for the specified reduction is 85mm. Obviously you normally arrange things so that your filter wheel, OAG and any other stuff fit in the space but even then you often have to use spacers. In my case with my 10" LX200 I usually use an AO unit with OAG and a QSI with built in filter wheel but still have to add to the distance.

The ccdt67 doesn't flatten the field and is very well made. The main problem I have found is a little image tilt due to the weight of the extended optical train.

Ah! Just seen it on youtube, brilliant!

This is wonderful Gav. Last night I did a talk on discovering the night sky to my U3A astro group. I wish I had seen this before, it would have been great. I would have thought youtube would be the best place for it on social media

Yes I recently bought a new one from FLO. I have been doing some imaging with a widefield set up using a 200mm Canon lens with an ASI 1600 pro. My CGEM is a bit overkill for this set up and also I like to use that mount for observing with my 10" LX200 SCT, so EQ35-pro is both for widefield imaging and for carrying my ED120 for visual. I haven't used it yet for imaging but it has been fine for visual, it is much easier to take out into the garden than the CGEM, it seems to support the ED120 nicely, the polar scope gives a reasonably close alignment and the goto is accurate. I have tweaked the backlash a bit which is very easy to do. I have a small problem which I still have to sort - there is a sticking point close to the E to W meridian when manually slewing RA with the clutch released (nothing to do with the worm gear tweaks). It has full SyncScan capability including use of EqMod It's a great set up for grab and go visual and short focal length imaging. It sits nicely between an HEQ5 and a Star Adventurer. A mount of this size is always worth having!

Cc for me as far as the galaxy goes.

It's the light gathering capability of the Newt which is it's advantage. In a country where it might take 2 or 3 months to gather 10 hours of data that is helpful! Having said that I think they are an absolute pain for imaging!

There are other factors at play here Olly, a true dark sky, lots of clear nights, dedication and experience. I reckon you could also produce some seriously good images with a Newt!

Collimation isn't the issue with a newt, it is coma removal and the larger your camera chip the harder it gets. Spacing with the coma corrector is critical and doesn't always resolve the issue. If you have a decent mount a SW maknewt would be a brilliant alternative and would save you a lot of money - no coma, no diffraction spikes, a flat field f5.3 all faff free. I bought mine years ago and rate it as the best astro purchase I've ever made (and I've made an awful lot!).

Thanks Carole, I have used a 2" P2 for a long time with may SCT and MakNewt which are push fit and allow for the filter to be placed in front of the imaging train. It is a great filter giving good colour balance and blitzing sodium glow but it doesn't block any LED light. Still worth using I think because my sky still glows orange!

Unfortunately it seems that the D2 isn't available in 1.25" size so might go with P2 for now or just stick with NB.

Thanks Peter

Here in Chesterfield we still have plenty of sodium street lighting but an increasing amount of LEDs. I am planning on purchasing a 1.25" filter sit between camera and filter wheel and some people have told me that some of the IDAS filters can help with LED. Has anyone got any experience or advice as to the best one to buy?

That's a shame, it's a very annoying issue. The polemaster responded better for me when using sharpcap but still not perfect. You can test it during the day as well and also worth trying with Sharpcap.