tooth_dr

Really nice ?

My 3 year old is like that too. Even if he sees nothing (he hasn’t quite got the eyepiece / face angle right yet!) if he’s in the thick of it, he’s happy.

They aren’t too bad! Tonight was really nice, I was able to get the kids out in proper darkness due to clocks going back, so they had a quick tour of the sky before bed. They are 4 and 5 so normally it’s bath/bed time before dark. I’m pretty sure they will be the only kids in school who know what a Bhatinov mask is used for ?

About to pack up here, took a quick snap, even picked up Orion

Exquisite.

EFW2 with filters 1.25”

120 x 2s?

Taken a few night ago, using my dual ED80s to image the Veil nebula. 30s exposure, 18mm kit lens, ISO1600, using a Canon 400d.

Even 200m will get you in the ball park area. Then use the moon or a bright star.

Actually discarded my o ring (it was perished anyway) and added more bolts instead.

Mine is held in the finder shoe as normal but I've removed the springy screw and added additional screws. The cable of the camera is attached to the findscope bracket also to eliminate at snags. I'm not by any means an expect imager, but I'm getting reasonable results 600s+. Some info here on a thread on mine:

It looks the same in the photos. There is a plethora of info on the use of a 9x50 finder as a guider! Search button is your friend! On the note of adapters - you wont need to spend £50 but around £28 should get you a nice adapter from Modern Astronomy. If you want to get good guiding I wouldnt scrimp on the connection of the camera to the finder. I guide my ED80 rig with a finderscope guider, and it seems fine at around 520mm FL. I plan to guide my 1500mm newt with one was well, but just havent had a chance to try it out yet. 1500mm seems to be quoted as the upper limit for the 185mm FL finderscope. You'll need to change or modify the mounting bracket too, to eliminate flexure.

Is the Celestron finderscope any different to the Skywatcher one?

Excellent! Keep us posted.

The all important adapter ?

I guess this makes me a ‘proper’ astro imager now ? EFW2 arrived today. Ordered an M54 to M42 adapter from FLO. I wonder what to put in position #5?

There are a few ways to do it even with a camera and lens. But this moves the goalposts on your original question.

That is a nice shot. I wouldn’t worry about wasting imaging sessions. If you haven’t done deep sky imaging before there will be a lot more to go wrong than just lens choice, be prepared for just about anything to go wrong ?

I haven’t forgotten Rich! This year I promise ?

The most logical thing to do is to get the HEQ5 mount and try the lens for imaging since you already own it. Then if it doesn’t meet your expectations get an ED80. Or am I missing something?