Tom33

Rosette Nebula imaged on the 26th March using a SW Esprit 100 and an ASI 294 MC PRO with an Optolong L’Enhance dual narrowband filter on an EQ6RPRO. 21 x 300 sec subs, All processed in Pixinsight

I am wanting to try imaging some of the smaller deep sky objects and galaxies and would like some advice on the type of scope I should be looking at. At the moment I use a SW Esprit 100 on a pier mounted EQ6RPRO in a roll off roof observatory. I am looking at either an 8 inch Newtonian or an 8inch RC or similar Celestron Edge HD. I have read many reviews which give pros and cons for all these but would be interested to hear other people’s experiences in making this choice.

This is the Soul Nebula, imaged on 27th February under Bortle 6 skies in South Yorkshire. I took 31 x 300 sec subs using an Esprit 100 on an EQ6-RPO, with a ZWO ASI 294 MC Pro with an Optolong L’Enhance dual narrowband filter. It was captured using an ASI AIR and processed in Pixinsight

Screen shot of sub from Pac-Man Nebula showing guiding at 0.27

Olly, thanks for your comments. My guiding with an ASI AIR is usually about 0.5 arsecs though I have seen 0.3 on some occasions. I live in South Yorkshire in bortle 6 but I think it’s a bit better than that. I can do really well with a dual narrowband filter and OSC using 300 sec subs and seem to manage broadband with 120 sec subs. I just fancy a longer focal length for the smaller deep sky targets such as galaxies and small nebula. thanks Tom

Thanks for the reply

I have been imaging for three years now with my EQ6RPO which is mounted permanently on a steel pier filled with sand and bolted to a large lump of concrete! I am using a SW Esprit 100 with attached camera and guide scopes and it works like a dream. I am hoping to buy something with a longer focal length to have a go at smaller deep sky objects and have considered a Ritchie Chretien or SCT. Does anyone have any experience of the amount of load this mount will take whilst still guiding accurately and does it being pier mounted make a difference. I think the specs say 20kg but I don’t want to overload it and can’t run to an EQ8 at the moment. Many thanks

Thanks for the advice, much appreciated.

I have been imaging for over three years now, always with refractors and at the moment I have a roll off roof observatory, an EQ6-RPRO, a SW Esprit 100, an ASI294MC PRo and control it all with an ASI Air pro. I will move to NINA eventually but at the moment it just works! I would love a scope with a long focal length to go after some galaxies and the smaller deep sky objects but would appreciate some advice. I’ve looked at Newtonians, Cassegrain,s in all their formats but appreciate that collimation and other matters will come into play. If anyone has gone down this route I’d be pleased to hear from you. Many thanks & clear skies

Thanks to everyone for the very helpful comments

I have been imaging for a year now with my trusty Skywatcher ED 80 pro and have been very pleased with the results. I have been focusing by hand using a Bhatinov Mask but would like to move to EAF. The focuser on the scope is not great, it sometimes slips but I have managed to get enough tension into it to keep my camera gear in place so my question is this ….. will the EAF work ok on the original focuser or would it be better to upgrade the focuser as well as fitting me EAF. Any comments / suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks for all the comments. Looks like best advice is to give it a go!

Having spent a year carting my EQ6-Rpro and SW ED80 outside for imaging, I am considering building a ROR observatory in the summer. I would like to control this with NINA from a mini PC but it will STAY outside. I have looked at various fanless windows PC's such as the Male 2 Quieter and the various Hunsn models but presume some are better than others regarding cold / hot temperatures , condensation etc. The site for my observatory is only 30 feet from the house so I could hardwire it rather than wifi. Its a long term project but any comments would be welcome.

Thanks for all the advice. I’ll give it a try

I have just started using Astro Pixel Processor and can not see my external hard drive on my Mac. At the moment I am loading all my subs, darks, flats and bias frames onto the Desktop to process it but this then swamps my iCloud ! Is there a way for APP to see the external hard drive? many thanks from a beginner