Please help on my second scope

[marxy]

Hi all.

Just as a quick background. I used to own a 5"/f9.4 antares refractor on an undriven eq-5 mount.

I sold it because of difficulties of using it at zenith amongst other things.

I want to get a new scope and keep on flitting between a celestron c6-s and celestron ed80 - both on the cg-5 goto mount.

I have never used a sct before, but loved my previous refractor (contortion issues aside).

This time I want to get some more astro-imaging done. I realise that the ed80 is better for this, and that it is seriously overmounted for this purpose. I'd probably use a guidescope too.

I enjoy planetary views and globulars

Thanks all - I'm losing sleep over this

I must say, that I'm a very bad decider on stuff like this. I had the same issues when buying a dslr - went in one day with my mind on it, ended up with a small, slim canon P&S and was backing within 2 days for the dslr

[Kai]

Personally i would favor a Heq5 Pro over the Cg5 IF imaging is what you want to get into.

I would go for the Sct as it will have a longer focal lenght for planetery work and it shouldnt do too badly on Globs.

If you later on want to do a bit of Dso then you could always get a focal reducer.

[GordonCopestake]

I would go with the HEQ5 Pro with an ED80 for imaging and then think about a larger aperture instrument for visual work > 8"

The C6 is an excellent 'scope but if you are just starting out imaging the focal length could be a handful. Although for planetary it is likely to be better than the ED80 due to the larger aperture and increased resolution. If budget will allow I would go HEQ5 Pro / ED80 / C8 as this combo covers 99.9% of all targets

I would also look on the second hand market for these things rather than buy new as you are likely to halve the price of your kit. Astro kit tends to be well looked after and the resale rates are steady after the initial drastic depreciation.

[marxy]

Well, there seems to be a bit of a dearth of the kind of equipment that I'm looking for at the moment.

Maybe I should put a wanted ad?

[GordonCopestake]

I would first decide exactly what you want. Then you can put up a wanted advert

[marxy]

haha.

good point about deciding what I want.

Thing is, what I WANT, and what I can afford are 2 very different things

[GordonCopestake]

hehe touché, you and most people!