Upgrade woes - what next

[Robp]

Hi all,

I own a 114mm aperture Newtonian and have used it for a couple of years.

I’m looking to improve my setup but with limited funds I was hoping you could offer some advice on how best to proceed.

I like Planetary and lunar viewing and I have recently started imaging both with a webcam. I don’t mind going second hand.

There are a couple of main issues I have with my current gear

• Wibbley wobbly mount (worse than my gran after a bottle of Gin!) touch anything at higher mag and say bye bye to the view
  
• Low aperture scope starting to hold me back
  

I have done a few minor tweaks to my mount (see below) and this had improved stability a little but I will have to buy a mount before (or at the same time) as upgrading the OTA.

1. Moved the accessory tray lower
   
2. Tightened all screws,
   
3. Added weight to the bottom of the mount)
   

With a budget of up to £300 I have a few avenues I could go down (buying second hand will help!) I am considering the following:

Upgrade mount to an EQ5 and continue to use the 114 Newtonian until I can afford to upgrade the OTA to something worthwhile and finally grab a GOTO upgrade.

This would give me the best future proofing but would be overkill for my current scope. What would be the optimum aperture an EQ5 could support?

Buy a lower spec mount and scope combo

something like this - http://www.firstligh...50pl-eq3-2.html

Upgrade Mount to an AZ GOTO and continue to use the 114 Newtonian

I'm pretty sure my scope can attach to this mount, can this be used to track a planet for a few minutes?

Upgrade Mount to an AZ GOTO / MAK OTA combo and also use the mount for the 114 Newtonian.

Will the Mak provide a worthwhile improvement over the 114 Newtonian?

I could also go for a Dob but I do love my 114 Newtonian and I have grown quite attached to the little fella so would like to stick to a mount or mount/ota combo.

What would you do in my shoes?

[Capricorn]

For imaging of all sorts the mount is considered the most relevant item at first.

The EQ5 would probably be the best way to go, it will need dual motors for imaging so be aware of that.

With respect to a scope, put the 114 on it and try it, 114 is fair for planets and the Moon, they are usually magnified and I see no mention of a barlow in your post. You may find that you get better results if you used a 2x or 3x barlow - just a thought.

For future scope updates remember that a lot of imaging is done with 80mm scopes and a lot of people use the WO Megrez 72, so bigger aperture then 114 is not necessary. An alternative to the 72 is the newer 70 and 71 Zenith Stars. Keep an eye out on the used market as they occasionally appear, they also go quite fast as well. UKAB&S have an Ian King 70mm ED advertised at £180

Seen some good images with the EQ5, dual motors and a Megrez 72 with a DSLR attached. Nice combination, easy to transport not overly costly. If you did go for a similar set up then get an ED refractor not an achro.

Going for the EQ5 now, (+dual motors) allows you to keep and use the 114, adding something like a WO70/71/71 will enable DSO imaging later and still have the 114 for visual. When money is rolling and you have no idea what to spend it all on try a 150P on the EQ5 for a bit more visual. One mount goes a long way adn looks like the most flexible at this time.

For the used market you may have to wait for an EQ to appear, sure I saw one a week or two back here, but they do, also check UKAB&S regularily.

[Ajohn]

There is a Celestron CG5 go to mount on the uk astrosellbuy site at the moment for £400 - not mine or anybodies that I know. Might interest you. Tubular tripod and I understand this is a straight copy of the older Vixen GP-DX stand which was suitable for scopes up to 10kg but some fitted larger, Understand though that even if you went for an astrophysics mount things still tend to wobble about when touched. I have such a mount that is rather old now. Meade, to go with a 127mm F9 APO refractor. Meade sold the parts on to Astrophysics for further work - basically lapping the worm drives and different software, It's a very heavy piece of kit to move around. Meade did exactly the same with the even larger stand for the 150mm version of the refractor.

Maybe some one can clarify that the CG5 is a decent copy of the Vixen and includes the fine polar alignment adjustments. If you add goto to a mount later I suspect you will find it's a rather expensive option.

John

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[Robp]

Hi both, thanks for your input.

Would adding a dual axis motor kit to an EQ5 be sufficient for tracking a minute or so?

I don't mind so much about the GOTO, I find it fun tracking down objects manually (apart from when I knock my tripod and lose it hah).

I was considering an AZ because it would give me the ability to track and would be fine for my current scope/webcam setup. GOTO was a bonus.

I suppose it a question of current need / lower current cost versus potential expandability.

In the long run an EQ5 would allow me to upgrade as and when I wanted. If I got an AZ I'd need to buy another mount for an OTA upgrade (unless it was a MAK).

Thanks for taking the time to reply

[nightfisher]

With your budget, i would scour the website uk astro buy and sell, you may well find an EQ5 and suitable ota together at a good price

[Ajohn]

There are also some Vixen GP's on there which may interest you if you don't want goto. Personally I wouldn't rush. It's always worth waiting to see what crops up. From what I can see a new EQ5 and one driven axis is likely to come out at over £300 and probably much nearer £400 with both driven.

I do firmly believe in buying 2nd hand when I can but it pays to be very careful about used scopes. Mounts are another matter. I have been off astronomy for some time and am picking up where I left off - sorting out goto Vixen GP-DX in order to reduce the weight of my main mount. Actually it's already sorted the person who parted with it found it wouldn't drive a telescope he bought. I thought that was rather odd as the drive definitely did work so bought it and found that a screw on one of the drive worms was very loose. I have been around in astronomy for rather a long time so have a fair idea what the mount is capable of.

I'm downsizing a fork mounted Meade 10in SC to a C9 dovetail mount as well. Same reason - weight. Hope the C9 turns out to be a good used one. The Meade is.

John

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