guillespiers

Hi everyone! I wonder if you could please help decide which would be my next OTA! I recently upgraded my Celestron Nexstar 6SE mount to a Celestron CGEM mount. I´ve been doing some planetary work with the old Nexstar 6SE, but now my main goal now is DSO. You can see some of my work in my blog: www.astrofotoperu.com One of the main problems with the alt-az mount was that long exposures were impossible. My personal record was 30 seconds, but from 100 shots, only 15 where usable. I know the CGEM mount will help a lot on doing DSO, and that depending on the OTA I choose, I would probably need an autoguider. The focal length range I´m looking for should be around 600 mm and 800 mm. My main camera will be a Sony a7s (unmodded) which is a full frame cam, but I´ve read that most scopes won´t take full advantage over a full frame sensor, and will only reach an APSC frame size. So, Are there any 600 mm to 800 mm OTA´s out there, that can help me use the full frame sensor? I must say that I would love a refractor, but I´m open to other choices... Thanks!

Thanks a lot for your help Stu! I`ll be very carefull and try the weights!

Thanks a lot Stu! And it´s cheaper! How can I add the weights to the mount legs? Are there any special accesories? Thanks!

Hi everyone! I´m upgrading my gear to a Celestron CGEM equatorial mount. I´m sure many people here would say it´s a great mount! I have a problem related to Lima-Peru´s city latitude, which is below the mount´s latitude range (which is 15° - 70°). Lima city is at 12° latitude, any ideas on how to reach them with this mount? I read about this two alternatives: 1. Extending one of the tripod´s legs to tilt the mount a little bit, adding some weights on the other 2 tripod legs to avoid the telescope to fall... 2. Buying a wedge, which have 0° - 90° latitude range, and place the equatorial mount over it. What do you think? Thanks!

Hi! Sorry for my late response! I left my post opened for a while, and when I pressed "post" I found like 10 more comments! I was refering to what Stub Mandrel said; trying to figure out if by using "50 mm" in the formula would help me get a magnification number, but this seems a little complex

Thank you all for the info As being said, what about we use "50" in our calculations? Since we are not using any eyepiece in my question, will this be ok? 4500 FL / 50 = 90x

Thanks a lot acey! That makes more sense And what about using only a telescope, a barlow lens, and a camera? (no eyepiece). Asuming I use a 3x barlow, I have 4500 mm of FL. How do I get the magnification number?

Hi lauropb! You are right! Buy my question is related to distance, If 1500 FL / 25 mm = 60x magnification; this means that: 630,000,000 km / 60x = 10,500,000 km In other words, am I 10,500,000 km closer to Jupiter?

Hi everyone! What is the "apparent travel in KM" that a person does by looking through a telescope? For example, If I were watching Jupiter with a 1500 mm focal length telescope, and a 25 mm eyepiece; how close am I getting to it in a KM scale? Consider Jupiter to be at an average distance of 630,000,000 km from Earth. Also, what will be the answer if I added a 3x barlow lens, but only use a camera (no eyepiece involved). How "close" am i getting to Jupiter to take that shot? Those are a silly questions, but I´m very curious! Thanks for your time, Guillermo

Thanks everyone for your recomendations, i'll fully charge it every month then. Clear skies!

Hi everybody, I just replaced my celestron powertank's battery with an exact model (12v 7ah). The original battery was completely dead, because I didnt recharge it frecuently. Now that I learned my lesson , do you have any recharge recomendations? I mean, if I don't have a chance to use the powertank, when should I recharge it again? 1 time every month in summer, and 1 time every 3 months in winter? Even if I didn't use it? Thanks!

Thank you all for your opinions! I forgot to mention that the deal is not only fot the OTA, it also includes the fork mount (alt-az), and tripod legs. Also, buying that scope in my country (Lima-Perú), where we don´t have any scope suppliers, would cost me a fortune. I would say at least 3000$ with shipping, and taxes. Adding a focal reducer or focuser may cost a bit more. This is why I am so interested! I have 2 questions: - Is there any significant difference between an 11" EDGE HD, and this one? Specially, if the scope will be used 75/100 for astrophotography. - What are the cons of using hyperstar with this scope? I read hyperstar would improve the scope´s F10 to F2, and would greatly increase it´s field of view for astrophotography. - By using hyperstar, some cables will block a little light from the primary mirror. Is this loss significant? If so, are there any solutions for this? Thanks!

Hi everyone, I just received great news from a friend who is selling his CPC 1100 + celestron focal reducer 0.63 + Feather touch focuser for a total price of US$ 1500.00. He also told me that the telescope is Hyperstar ready. I now have a Nexstar 6SE + ZWO ASI 174 MC camera, which I mainly for planetary view and AP, and if the sky is good enough, for DSO + a focal 0.63x reducer. I´m sure this is a great deal, and a great oportunity to do an upgrade. He is a good friend of mine, and he is always very carefull with his telescope, which was bought in 2011. What do you think about this deal? Are there any important details that I should look out on a scope like this? Thanks in advance, Guillermo