CraigT82

The mak that mikedknight linked to, or the skywatcher 6" mak (skymax pro) would be my choice in this scenario. Sharp pinpoint views and much easier to manage than the long f11 frac.

Mirrors are for science exploration and discovery. Lenses are for pretty pictures!

A little ED 66 or 72mm frac would go nicely on the heritage's mount and give great widefield views under dark skies. Would need to raise the mount up onto a tall table or something though!

Very wise words from John. For me a telescope is a tool, and as in any discipline you need different tools for different tasks.

Yes when you see quoted imaging weight capacity for mounts, that's generally deep sky imaging. For planetary your exposures are so short it doesn't really matter if your mount is at its weight limit and a little wobbly. Granted it is always easier if you are well under the weight limit but its really no problem if you're pushing it for planetary.

A skymax 180 will work well on a heq5. That's quite a lump to be carrying up and down stairs though.

Yeah that is true. Using a barlow should kick the focal point out far enough though.

Oh I see... well plenty of people do get great planetary images with a dob, though I'd suggest budgeting for an equatorial platform if you go down that route. A 200pds would be fine, 8" aperture is enough to get some real detail, couple it with a decent 3x or 4x focal extender and you should be able to get some nice images. Whatever you do, I'd think about getting an ADC too, money well spent in my opinion!

If you already have a heq5 why would you want to get a dob? Just plonk an 8" tube on there and you'll be fine. A C8 would be good but also consider a mak or an 8" newt.

The null position of the levers should be parallel with the horizon as seen through the scope. On my ZWO ADC I have the levers on the right hand side, however earlier versions needed to be on the left hand side I believe. See this CN thread... there is a very useful test to determine wheter you have a left or right handed ADC. https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/525563-for-users-of-the-new-zwo-adc-important/

Shouldnt affect the views, but you can just use a normel rocket blower to blow most of that off

Very nice work! Well done 👏

I think you might get some satisfying lunar images without the Barlow, as the moon looks good at any scale. But for planetary you will want the Barlow I think.

Hi Neil, I'm assuming in the 2 inch setup you are using a 2" nose piece which threads into the T2 thread on the camera? If you screw in the filter adaptor that you linked to onto the camera how will you attach the 2" nosepiece? Or is there excess thread on the camera to enable you to screw both on? You should be able to screw a Barlow lens cell directly to the threads of the filter, the magnification increase won't be that much though with the Barlow so close to the sensor.

Very nice shot, I'd be well pleased with that!

Nice work some clear details visible. Well done on your first results!! How have you sharpened the stacked images? The rgb align feature in registax will help to get rid of the red/blue fringing.

This is my old plastic tubed beauty. Haven't used it for a few weeks, waiting for Jupiter and Saturn to be up at a more civilised time.

Yeah fair point! I think the 130pds has got great potential but needs a lot of user input.

Whenever I find myself thinking "I can get better images if I just buy this new piece of kit", I look at astrobin and search for images done using the kit I already have. Inevitably I find amazing work which convinces me to try to make the most of the stuff I've already got. Have a look at this 130pds image... https://www.astrobin.com/full/ppu1wv/0/?real=&mod= Maybe treat the 130pds to a dedicated astro cam to really get the best out of it??

Yeah probably not the best but you can only do so much moving around with the planet so low in the sky

You can't do anything about atmospheric conditions, apart from moving to Barbados, but you can have some control over your local seeing conditions, and by that I mean the air both inside the scope and immediately around it. If your scope is warm compared to the ambient temp the the air inside it will be a hodge podge of different temps and densities. Cooling the scope by leaving it outside for a couple of hours before getting started is essential. Setting up on grass instead of asphalt or concrete can help, and positioning yourself whilst imaging so that no warm air from your body will pass in front of the tube will help too. If possible, set up in a position so that your are looking at your target over fields or open land, instead of buildings car parks or roads. Definitely avoid shooting low directly over houses if you can.

Yeah even with Barlow! At the time I had quite a tall focuser but now have a moonlite which has a much lower profile and I returned the mirror to its original position after fitting that.

I can't comment on zwo vs Altair as never had my hands on the altar version (I think its the same as the omegon branded one?) but just to note that you can get more correction on any adc by increasing distance between prisms and eyepiece. A T2 extension between adc body and ep holder would be ideal but even just pulling ep out of holder a bit would give you a bit more correction if needed. On my fullerscope I had to move the mirror up the tube a bit to be able to focus with the adc in place.

I don't go any longer than 12 mins total exposure for Jupiter with my 220mm scope but I can can go longer on Saturn, up to about 30 mins. The larger the scope the less amount of time you can expose for before rotation becomes an issue. Winjupos is good but it can't work miracles! The thing to do is experiment. Collect lots and lots of data and try different ways of processing to see what works for your setup, location and image aesthetic preferences.

I think it's Humbolt