Marmo720

Thank you - that is very helpful!

Does Aliexpress pay some of the vat etc so you only had to pay a small 5% fee? Otherwise there wouldn’t be any difference between Aliexpress order and direct from ZWO I thought? Thanks for the help by the way!

Is that total of all the fees? 5% to order the 2400/6200 from zwo direct would be a great price compared to cost here.

Thanks - very tempted!

Yeah I did the same months ago but I don’t think the population of 2400mc owners is large enough and those that have it tend to hold on to them it seems. Also anyone selling it at 70% of new would probably be looking for £2400 ish I think. I am tempted with the £2900 ish price from Aliexpress that you mentioned earlier if that definitely covers taxes etc. Do you have a link for that as never ordered from Aliexpress before. Otherwise might order from ZWO directly and see what happens when it gets here

Did you end up going for one and if so, which?

Hopefully this is the right section but please move if not! I am considering purchasing my first non-refractor scope in the form of the Celestron Edge HD 9.25. I do exclusively astrophotography and live in bortle 8 London. My aim for getting this scope would be for planets/galaxies/smaller nebula at F7 mostly and occasionally F10 when required. I will also try the hyperstar in the future but that isn't my focus for now as I have smaller refractors I use to image those FL. My questions is if the edge HD 9.25 will be fine with image on a Cem 40 mount on a tri-pier? I like this mount for how light it is (although the tri-pier is heavy!) so I can setup every night. My imaging camera is the ASI 2600mm pro. The largest scope I have used with it is the Esprit 100 and that worked very well. I don't think the weight of the edge HD 9.25 will be a problem but more the long focal length - even if I used exclusively at F7. Anyone with this setup and can help with suggestions please? I have looked online and a few posts in CN say it won't work while others say it will so I am split! Thanks in advance.

Hi @oymd - just wanted to say thank you for this write up. I was able to align subs taken from different telescopes and cameras and process them after. Couldn't find out how to do this with any other software and PI was confusing to follow. So your guide was really helpful!

I thought I would ask here instead of new topic - what is the ideal setup for dual rig with 1 set of LRGB HaSiiOii? I can't afford to double up on some of the narrowband filters so checking how to maximise with 1 set. Current thinking is: Telescope 1 - RGB Sii Oiii Telescope 2 - LHa Thanks, Mo

Really appreciate the discussion and I am learning so much - thanks all! At the moment, my planned setup (and I welcome comments/feedback!) is shown below. The resolution range is between 1.4-1.6 per pixel and so hoping the scale is close enough to not notice the difference once combined and processed. I have read that Pixinsight can register and stack subs from different telescopes like this but not had the chance to test this. Is that true or would I need Registrar?

Thank you! That is good to know that it works. No one on the Altair Facebook group responded so assumed it wouldn't work.

I did the same but forgot to add in the weight for 2 cmos cameras, 2 EFW and the Skywatcher finderscope saddle is not light! But everything is solid and symmetrical so hopefully easier to balance. I am still waiting on my 1600mm order to get the dual rig working. No clear nights has helped with the wait

That is great to hear. I am sure balancing will be interesting but I intend to keep things in place once setup so hopefully works out long term.

Yes, the one linked to below but from a couple of years ago. I have the 1x Planostar flattener with it. https://www.altairastro.com/altair-wave-series-80mm-f6-super-ed-triplet-apo-2019-457-p.asp

@carastro Just wanted to check if you had any issues with weight with your setup? I have most parts I need but realise now my total weight once all setup would be 11kg. I haven't gone past half way for my HEQ5 Pro before so wondering if I need to reduce the weight or it would be OK? I normally do 60sec subs and not sure if I need to reduce that or OK to go longer subs if needed in the future? Thanks

Yes it probably is the same. I have seen some people ask whether the 0.79 reducer would work on the Wave 80 despite the Altair website only mentioning the larger wave telescopes. The website suggests it might work though but with less spacing tolerance: https://www.altairastro.com/altair-planostar-3-inch-079x-3-element-reducer-for-102-115-130mm-altair-triplet-refractor-285-p.asp

You certainly did. Evidence of me asking if £1k was enough is somewhere in this forum hahaha. Oh those days

Thank you for all the feedback - very informative and helpful. @vlaiv Thanks for the breakdown. I had seen snippets of this in different places but good to have it together to think through. Unfortunately, I don't think the Altair Wave 80 has a reducer as I would have got it anyway for wider fov imaging. Unless other reducers work with it? Altair suggest otherwise from their support chat. At the moment I have the 1600mm and the 183mm. Planned to sell the 1600mm but as the money had already left my account and I was so close to a dual rig, I am now contemplating spending more money to get a dual rig setup 🤣 This hobby!!! @carastro Thanks Carole - I was inspired by your setup on your website as well as Sara. I am going to use the SW guidescope mount to align both telescopes. @ollypenrice Thanks for the guidance. Good to know with regards to the split for RGBOIII on one camera and LHa on the other. I believe Sara also does something similar. The reduced resolution with RGBOIII being not a huge significance is key in my thought process. My plan was: 1) For any target that could fit in the smaller FoV, I would use both telescopes where the higher resolution captures LHa and the lower resolution would compliment with RGBOIIISII. The field around the target would general be stars and so don't need to crop. 2) For any target that was larger than the smaller FoV, I would just use the wider FoV telescope combo and move the filter wheels around as required to capture complete data set. Thanks, Mo

I have been reading up on dual rigs and considering the move myself but one thing I haven't seen an answer for is the difference between having equal/almost equal telescope + camera compared to combining different telescope + camera combinations. For example, I am considering this setup: 1) 1600mm + Altair Wave 80 2) 183mm + Redcat 51 The combined FoV would look like: In a dual rig, would it simply be the case I would crop the larger FoV of the Redcat combo and should then have double data for the Altair Wave 80 FoV? Any issues with doing this that I am missing? The advantage with this setup is then for a single rig, I have 4 different setups I could use from small to large targets while still being able to dual rig most targets. Is there a big advantage to having matched telescope + camera that I am not aware of? I notice @ollypenrice and @swag72 use matched/almost matched setup. Thanks

@Gonzo or anyone else, where are those pillar legs from and would they work with the HEQ5 extension such as this: https://www.firstlightoptics.com/sky-watcher-mount-accessories/skywatcher-eq5heq5-extension-tube.html Thanks

That's one way to combine your chores with your hobby

I hear that! I learnt the same with my canon and doing flats. Worked well for a bit, then flats stopped until I figured out why after weeks of trial and error. Frustrating but when it all works, very addictive!

Thanks Olly. I assumed people would prefer the raw masters to check but will do JPEGs going forward. Good to know regarding dark flats instead of bias as I come from Canon which worked fine with bias. I have tried the stack with dark flats and no luck. I am planning to do a clean capture session starting over just to make sure I haven't missed anything. Does anyone here have the Altair 1600m and can help with what settings they use? Would be very helpful and appreciated. Thanks

Below link for the master files if that is useful. Is the master dark ok? https://we.tl/t-XG1Jmo2rMZ?src=dnl

Yes, thought that might be issue so I will retake a new set of bias, darks and dark flats today before the rains come in and see if that makes a difference. The M51 data I attached are from clear night without clouds.