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Hello from Newbie in Nott's

kirkster501

By kirkster501
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kirkster501

kirkster501

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Hello guys,

Just joined this group. I'm Steve from Nottingham, Networks engineer for Cisco by day, star gazer/runner/weight-trainer by night !

Been interested in this fascinating subject all my life but only ever had cheapo scopes and binoculars. About to splash out on some serious kit.

Hope to meet up with some of you guys soon in the great East Midlands !! :icon_salut:

Cheers, Steve

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kirkster501

kirkster501

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Hi Baz and everyone,

I was thinking of a CPC 925 or an 1100 - it ticks a lot of boxes for me. However, I am still researching this and have an open mind. However, those two systems get rave reviews. I have about £2500 or thereabouts for the scope. I can acquire additional bits and bobs as i go along. I am interested primarily in Planetary and Double stars viewing with a view to some basic AP in the future. I am a geek who loves computerized everything so it must be goto.... !!! :icon_salut:

Cheers, Steve

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BAZ Senior

BAZ Senior

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Well two and a half K should get the ball rolling.

If it has to be GOTO you could do a lot worse, I think if you want to image with it you would probably need a wedge as well.

Have a word with Brantuk, he has one, and hasn't said a bad thing about it yet.

That might change when he uses it though! :icon_salut:

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kirkster501

kirkster501

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Welcome!

I'm a newbie too, having just ordered my first scope. :icon_salut:

Hi Craig, what did you buy mate and why? I see you are interested in AP. I am thinking that i might be too at some point. If I go CPC am I on the wrong road completely I wonder?

What i don't get is that the CPC is still a driven scope so surely exposures of some length would be OK? I suppose the question comes down to the definition of "some length" !!

Steve

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philj

philj

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Hi Steve and welcome

The CPCs are super scopes and for imaging will do OK for quick images if aligned OK and you have the right camera gear.

It depends on what you want to image as well. For lunar and planetary they are great and you will just need a camear of some type and maybe a decennt barlow/powermate. For DSO ou will neeed to add a few things (more expense) to get serious images out of them though, e.g. guide scope/off axis guide, guide cam etc.

Philj

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brantuk

brantuk

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The CPC range are are driven and have goto and gps too - but they are delivered as an alt/az mount. You can image solar system with them but because they can't be polar aligned you get "star trailing" imaging dso's, as you would with any alt/az mounted scope doing long exposures.

The good news is that you can get a wedge for them that enables you to polar align - which if done accurately will give 5-10 mins exposures and longer for dso imaging. Another solution is to get the 925 OTA and put it on an EQ6 (minimum). Identical optics to the CPC just on an eq mount.

I have the new model wedge which is wicked - dead stable and highly adjustable:

First Light Optics - Celestron HD Heavy Duty PRO Wedge

Beautiful bit of kit and 100% better than it's predecessor and very realistically priced. Of course the Orbit wedge is the d's b's of wedges but with a daft money price tag :icon_salut:

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CJBooth

CJBooth

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Hi Craig, what did you buy mate and why? I see you are interested in AP. I am thinking that i might be too at some point. If I go CPC am I on the wrong road completely I wonder?

What i don't get is that the CPC is still a driven scope so surely exposures of some length would be OK? I suppose the question comes down to the definition of "some length" !!

Steve

I went for the SkyWatcher 300P Auto Dobsonian in the end.

Don't ask me about imaging though, at this stage I haven't the faintest! :icon_salut:

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Dude

Dude

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I have the new model wedge which is wicked - dead stable and highly adjustable:

First Light Optics - Celestron HD Heavy Duty PRO Wedge

Beautiful bit of kit and 100% better than it's predecessor and very realistically priced. Of course the Orbit wedge is the d's b's of wedges but with a daft money price tag :)

Oooh that looks nice. I wonder if I could use that with my 8" Meade LX10 as I'm not impressed with the wedge that came with it.

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Dark Horizon

Dark Horizon

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Deffo go with the OTA and EQ6 setup, It'll save you money in the long run, especially if you want to do AP in the future. The HEQ6 with the syntrak handset will give you the tracking required for initial visual work (saves you some money over the goto handset) then grab an EQDIR dongle that adds the goto facility via PC Interface; You'll need a planetarium program and some other free ware programs to get everything fully running, but I'm sure with the help of EMA members and your background in IT that wouldn't be too painful.

Oh yeah, welcome! :)

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