Owmuchonomy

I 'upgraded' at the weekend. So far I can't see much difference. Everything I use regularly seems to work just fine. OA Capture fires up just fine too. I may do some lunar work this w/e as the forecast is good so I will give it a thorough testing then. I do have an ancient PC that runs Firecapture but the frame rates I can achieve with @JamesF OAcapture are spectacular so I prefer to use it if possible.

All good advice above. It has to be a fast APO refractor really or just stick with your DSLR and lenses and a Star Adventurer mount. That's a big chip that you will have to fill and achieve a flat field, not an easy option. That discounts Newtonians too without some serious fiddling with focus distances and coma correctors. @vlaivhas given some excellent examples for you to check out.

We do a lot of outreach with the public and families at LTO. Without doubt, the most versatile setup we have is using the SW AZ Gti with a small refractor. In the main we use my SW ED80 and you can get great value from virtually all common astronomical sights in the sky, year round. Any similar refractor will do the same. The AZ Gti will carry a Startravel 125 for example. The set up is portable, user friendly, can be matched with planetarium software (I run the mount with my phone and the children choose GoTo objects on the iPad), and can be run for two nights from one cordless drill battery. I have used a 127 MAK with the AZ Gti but MAKs need cool down time and are long focal length. When one is dancing with changes in the weather constantly you need a set up that can be quickly carried outside and that isn't the MAK.

If you are polar aligning to support an imaging session then when you come to set up your GoTo (which is independent to PA) do a 2 star alignment on the same side of the meridian as your object of interest. Do not use a 3 star alignment. Use 2 stars that are well separated. In addition, make sure your last adjustments in star centreing are UP and RIGHT.

Hi John, what is the OTA weight for the 127 please? Thanks, Chris.

A nice new active region (2781) creeping around the limb today. Some nice prom activity too, all around the disk. Here are a few images using the LUNT and my ZWO ASI 174MM.

The OP is asking about visual comparisons. If the debate is about imaging then it's a different scenario to that I describe above.

I have an ED80 and a C9.25. The C9.25 naturally takes less effort to achieve a reasonable image scale when viewing. The ED80 would need a very short f/l EP to get the same image scale and this brings its own issues, particularly eye relief. If you widen the debate to SCT vs refractor in general then it becomes more difficult to choose. I am fortunate to also own an ED150; put that against the C9.25 and it's a different matter, the views being very hard to distinguish. If the seeing is poor or there is slight cloud cover, the refractor wins at that aperture.

Mars can be a bit underwhelming visually. I'm sure you have a good idea of how to improve matters but here are a few tips: 1) Wait until its at its highest point in the sky thereby reducing the atmospheric interference 2) Make sure your scope is collimated 3) Use a red filter to improve surface detail views... 4) ...or use an ND filter to cut the brightness (high cloud cover helps attenuate views of bright planets too.) The scope you have should be fine.

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/sky-watcher-mount-accessories/skywatcher-eq6-extension-tube.html

I wasn’t really looking for any action last night as the shower is usually a weak one but around 9:30pm just as I arrived home after our bike ride we were treated to an excellent fireball passing between Alkaid and Seginus. The colour was a dominant red. I’m not sure if that is typical of this shower but it was certainly an excellent view. I set up to image Mars later but the skies were quiet although my back was turned toward the radiant. Any others spot anything?

A Flashing LED on this mount is indicative of a voltage drop somewhere in the supply. It would seem the problem is intermittent so I would thoroughly check the connections, cables and PSU. Do both axes rotate freely by hand when the clutch is disengaged?

Sounds to me as though you really want something that will help you find targets. Whilst a manual Dob is great for sucking in the photons as John intimates it requires learning your way around the sky and manually nudging to star hop and keep objects centred. That can be fun in itself so maybe think what your priorities are. I've been through lots of scopes and mounts and still own various options. I now do a lot of outreach and the setup I always fall back on with the public is an 80mm refractor, an AZ Gti mount and an EQ6 tripod, combined with a drill battery and an iPhone App. It is highly portable, works all night, is easy to align can find anything and gives the punters views of all types of objects. I have eyepieces ranging from 4.7mm to 24mm. You didn't make a mistake selling the Meade; it took me two weeks to get one working and tracking for someone in the Dales just because the software support ran out years ago.

Question 2: For imaging in Ha it is best to use a mono high frame rate planetary camera matched to the focal length of the LUNT 50 such as the ZWO ASI 174MM. A DSLR will give relatively poor resolution because you are only using the red pixels. The LUNT 50 is also a bit tricky to deal with when it comes to back focus so be prepared to experiment and I'm not sure a DSLR will be able to focus. Accurate focusing will be helped a bit by the choice of the FT focuser unit which is a massive improvement on the poor LUNT helical unit. As Peter says above it is a bit of a steep learning curve to image in Ha.

Excellent advice above. I have used both the 290 and 174 mono for Solar and Lunar (examples in the link in my signature). In fact I did a comparison on here some time ago. If that is one of your priorities then strongly consider these options. The IR sensitivity of the 290 produces excellent lunar images if a little bit softer than the 174. Or other options for OSC as @vlaiv says.

ASI290. Good ratio at native f/l. Extremely good near IR sensitivity too.

FLO's service is second to none. Regarding your shopping list I would suggest for planetary imaging to reconsider your scope choice predominantly to obtain one that can achieve a much better image scale. Critical to planetary imaging is focal length. For example planetary imaging is routinely conducted at long focal lengths; in my case around 4.6 metres. That may be difficult to achieve with the scope you have chosen so just check a few calculations first. Scopes often used include the SCT or Maksutov designs which can achieve longer focal lengths in a relatively small compact design. You should also aim to achieve a f/ of roughly 4 to 5 times your pixel size of the camera. For example if the pixel size is 3 microns then a f/ of around 12 to 15 would be ideal. This can be achieved with the use of barlow lenses or Powermates.

Fantastic!

You have to use manual focus in live view. Turn OFF image stabilisation. Turn up the ISO as high as it will go and focus on a star or stars using live view 5x. Leave the focus setting there or better still, tape the lens focus ring so it can't move. Go back to the ISO setting of choice for your capture.

Hi, your main issue with that scope is lack of focal length. If it is planetary imaging you wish to do then you will need a lot more focal length. It is also best to use a technique called ‘lucky imaging’. For this you will need a high frame rate planetary camera. For example, I image planets at approximately 4600mm focal length using an ASI174 planetary camera. I achieve this by adding a 2x powermate to my C9.25” SCT to get the desired focal length of 4.6 metres and focal ratio of f/20. You need to aim for a f/ of 4 to 5 times your cameras pixel size. I can also use my ASI290 chip camera at the native focal length of the SCT f/10 because the pixel size is smaller (2.9 micron). Thus f/10 is in the right ballpark for planetary imaging in this setup.

As Ken intimates above. I use both the 174 and 290 for solar and lunar imaging. I useD a Lunt 60 and a 2.5x powermate which is almost perfect for the 290. The 290 chip is widescreen format which works well on the Moon. For the Sun I tend to crop it down to get the capture rate up. I find the 174 slightly easier to manage when it comes to processing the frames although it is slightly under sampling. I now have a Lunt 80 which is even better with the 290. Some examples in the link below.

The top of Swaledale is Bortle 3. There are campsites at Muker and Keld.

I have purchased several new SW scopes in my time at all price brackets. What you have received is unacceptable for a new item and it should be returned to them without delay. I am surprised any retailer is quibbling with that. They should arrange return shipping for you.

Cool down is a main factor and the 9.25" will be faster to do so. Note, Nigella uses additional fans so you could do similar if you go for the C11.

Potentially, or from the surroundings. It may be fine as you quote treated posts, but I found it best to get everything above ground.