Help with autoguiding equipment

[andy77]

Hi Guys

So weve had our 150p-ds awhile now and feel its time to get a guidescope setup to assist with our imaging efforts, but which do we go for?? were all new to this astronomy lark, but im very clued up on photography, dont know if this makes a difference but hey ho, so what do i do ive read on here about using the original 9x50 finderscope and attatching a guide camera to it, ive also looked at these by orion telescopes, we have a budget of £400

http://www.scsastro....der-package.htm

http://www.scsastro....tor-package.htm

Any advice on these systems ive linked to or advice about using the 9x50 finderscope would be greatly apprieciated.

Many Thanks

Andy & Abigail

[Andymac79]

I would go for a 9x50 finder, QHY5 camera and an adapter from Modern Astronomy. Set you back around £250 for the lot. Then use PHD to guide.

[Pete Presland]

i would use the 9x50 finder that comes your scope as well, an adapter from Modern Astronomy is around £30. there has been a few 2nd hand QHY5 camera's on AB&S recently for around £100 - £125 PHD is free and you ready to go!

[swag72]

I didn't want to do anything myself and so I bought the 10x60 finder guider package from Altair astro. It comes in Guide rings, which was crucial to me as I wanted to be able to use it as a finder and guider and just be able to screw the adaptors in and out and for it to remain aligned. I already had a QHY5, so for me it worked out fine. As an easily interchangeable system it meant that I didn't need two saddles (one for finder and one for guider) that I'd had before.