C9.25 or C11 on an NEQ6 Pro Synscan?? Help/Advice Please

[KE400]

Hi

I'm currently thinking of taking the plunge and buying more kit! I would like to image planetary and view anything else I can really, so I'm thinking of either a C9.25 or the xtra apo of the C11. Both would be on an NEQ6 Pro Synscan mount.

Any advice/input/views would be very welcome as I know that there are a few of you peeps owning such said kit.

Thanks for viewing

[tonyjh2]

Hi Kev,

Good luck with whichever one you decide on. For what it's worth (and I'm no expert), I hear the C9.25 might be the better value of the two in terms of viewing (not necessarily AP) if only because the conditions necessary to make use of the extra aperture on the C11 occur few & far between in this country.

I believe both are superb for planetary & lunar viewing, but for AP, I'll leave others to comment. I suppose it depends on what you intend to image as much as anything else. I think most people imaging DSO's would opt for a fast Newtonian Reflector or Refractor.

There's a book called "Making Every Photon Count", which sets out in very easy to follow language the kind of questions to consider before you launch into expensive purchases/mistakes for AP. Well worth a read.

Good luck and let us know how you get on.

[Mr Spock]

On all but the odd night the C9.25 will be better for imaging, see Damian Peach's stuff Courses in Astrophotography

For planetary visual use 9-10" seems to be the optimum for our seeing conditions.

[Merlin66]

I've been using a C9.25 with a wide Losmandy dovetail on the NEQ6pro for the last year or so for spectroscopy.

It's a great combination for me - solid as a rock and plays well...

Infact I'm so impressed, I'm currently trying to swap my 12" Lx200 for a 11" OTA to mount also on the NEQ6pro.

[m.tweedy]

I own a C11 on an NEQ6 pro and as some on this forum can vouch the views can be stunning of both deep sky and planetary. Faint object become visible with direct vision. Open clusters do not show themselves at their best. That is why I have a WO 90 piggybacked. I love the visual difference between the two scopes one for putting the views in context and the other for the fine detail from close up views. I would only ever sell this scope if it became too heavy to handle because it is not light-this is where the C9.25 may win out.

[riklaunim]

For top planetary imaging C11, for more generic scope - C9,25 or C8 could do depending on your needs.

[KE400]

Thanks for the input guys, at the moment I'm thinking the 9.25 but I'm sure that will to and fro before the decision!

[riklaunim]

You can also check TAL 250K as somewhere in between those two scopes, and with some advantages over SCT with a moving mirror and closed OTA design.

[cervesca]

C11 has extra weight as well dont forget about that!

[ollypenrice]

If you wanted to branch into DS imaging I think the C11 would have too much focal length for the EQ6. At least, that would be my worry.

Olly

[KE400]

Thanks again guys,

I think I'm going to go with the 9.25 & NEQ6 Pro, it's planetary imaging that I currently would like to improve on and also being able to view a few more things visually too.

[Merlin66]

Remember to get the wider Losmandy dovetail and add a location stop to it - makes mounting the OTA so much easier. (and safer!)

[KE400]

"Remember to get the wider Losmandy dovetail and add a location stop to it"

Excuse my ignorance but what do you mean exactly? I take it that this must be the mount option? I'm not sure what a location stop is?? It must be to stop the OTA on the mount but how??? I've also read up on this site that with that mount I should also consider some other little tweeks, any info/advice/reccomendations for improvement or enhancement would be very welcome.

[Merlin66]

I don't know which dovetail comes standard with the C9.25 OTA.

There are two: a narrow Vixen version and a wider Losmandy version. I feel the Losmandy is more stable.

The NEQ6pro has a mounting "puck" for the dovetail. I believe current models come with a dual puck suitable for either the Vixen or the Losmandy.

To assist in positioning the dovetail into the puck and holding the OTA at the same time etc I found adding an angle bracket across the face of the dovetail (at the balance point) allows the OTA to be swung up onto the puck and the bracket "holds" it in place while everything is tightened up - I posted some images in another thread -somewhere.

The NEQ6pro should work straight out the box - save the "tweaks" for later.