Equipment advise please

[Lee85]

I'm having a little trouble deciding what to do at the moment I have a skywatcher 150pl on a eq3-2 with motors and it's great I've seen planets and 2 deep sky objects. Oh Yeahhh 2 haha. And that's my problem where I live I find it hard to make out some of the constellations. I do have bad eyesight also so that can't help. But recently I was thinking about getting a new scope say a skymax 127 goto for imaging other than planetary. I would get a eq5 pro or eq6 but i don't have enough. So I'm just asking if people were in my position what would you do?

Thanks :-)

[Lee85]

Actually I have just been looking around and I could proberly get a eq5 goto for around £500 and if I sell my current mount could I safely say I'd get about £180 for it? Then just save the other £300 ish towards a better mount?

[JamesF]

DSO imaging using a Skymax 127 is going to be a bit of a fight, to be honest. It's a very capable planetary/moon/solar imaging scope though given a suitable camera.

If you have a look in the classifieds section at the moment you'll find a whole load of imaging kit for sale in Barnsley, which is not far from you?

James

[nightfisher]

Have to say Lee, the skymax scopes are a bad choice for NON planetary imaging, due to the long focal length they have.

How about a startravel 80 on your mount and see how you get on, just an idea

[Lee85]

Thanks for the info so it seems the 127 isn't the best option. I can't see the classifieds section, how many posts do I need to have?

[umadog]

Unless you have a defect such as astigmatism, your eye site won't get in the way of what you see through the telescope. For long and short sightedness the focus knob will fix things

So you want to switch to imaging because of light pollution? That's understandable. But why not just re-mount your current scope on a heavier mount. The 127 will probably be less suitable than what you currently have if you want DSO imaging.

[ollypenrice]

For deep sky imaging you need a good mount like the HEQ5 and a scope with a fast focal ratio, certainly not slower than F7.5 and faster would be better. If the focal length is also short then it makes guiding easier.

The Mak fails on all counts as others have said. It is a good planetary imaging platform though.

Olly

[JamesF]

I can't see the classifieds section, how many posts do I need to have?

Fifty to see it, so you should be able to.

James