looking to put a portable guided imaging outfit together

[rowan46]

I realise this will not win me an apod but I want to have a go  at imaging and it needs to be portable as In carry it not drive it. do you think this has any chance of giving me some usable data

http://www.altairastro.com/product.php?productid=16498&cat=306&page=1

http://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/product_info.php/info/p4649_TS-Quadruplet-APO-telephoto-lens-420mm-6-5---manual-operation.html

sony nex5 body

http://www.altairastro.com/product.php?productid=16468&page=1

Is there a guide camera that would work with this package untethered i don't want to buy and carry a laptop as well as well

[baggywrinkle]

I have the iOptron Smart EQ and it is lightweight but well constructed.

I have not had a lot of use as it had a problem with the RA motor and by the time it came back from the shop in Brisbane I was on the move to China.

If you do buy check the mount yourself at the shop if you can. I found the play/backlash on the head on RA was a bit more than I thought it should be.

You can power it for several hours off 8 AA batteries and it can take a DC input as well.

The goto set up is easy but do take a good look at their list of chosen stars and check which are in view. Annoyingly they give the Arabic names rather than the Constellation/Greek letter name.

It is not like the Celestron goto set up which is one of the easiest.

You have 5Kg of payload so weigh your camera and OTA. Higher payloads will increase gear wear and shorten the gear life.

[Naemeth]

I realise that it is expensive, but how about the Astrotrac? Weighs very little and looks the part .

[rowan46]

I realise that it is expensive, but how about the Astrotrac? Weighs very little and looks the part .

It only guides in ra and doesn't have goto but its a thought it actually isn't much more expensive 

[Naemeth]

It only guides in ra and doesn't have goto but its a thought it actually isn't much more expensive 

But you don't need it to guide in dec do you? As long as PA is accurate the object will keep in the FOV even if only the RA is tracking.

[rowan46]

I always assumed perfect pa was pretty impossible and that dec adjustment would be needed for longer subs with a longer focal length I have never really done imaging and I don't really know much about the maths. So if you are right that would be great I don't really know that much about the astrotrac other than what I have read and to be honest I thought goto would be useful on those objects I can't really see. I will after all be using it in a city environment with small telescopes I  must do more research on the astrotrac thankyou

[ollypenrice]

But you don't need it to guide in dec do you? As long as PA is accurate the object will keep in the FOV even if only the RA is tracking.

This is a nice idea but isn't entirely correct. Even if you had perfect PA and no backlash or balance issues (a big 'if),  an object's light path is differentially altered as it comes in through the atmosphere at rising or falling altitudes. It is true, though, that at shorter FL you can get away without guiding in Dec.

People lucky enough to be running unguided on very, very expensive mounts need to have planetarium sky models of very high precision in order to allow for the refractive effects of the sky at varying altitudes.

It might be too big, but have you considered the simple and proven option of an HEQ5?

A standalone guider will dispense with the PC, though they get mixed reviews. I've never tried one.

Olly

[rowan46]

This is a nice idea but isn't entirely correct. Even if you had perfect PA and no backlash or balance issues (a big 'if),  an object's light path is differentially altered as it comes in through the atmosphere at rising or falling altitudes. It is true, though, that at shorter FL you can get away without guiding in Dec.

People lucky enough to be running unguided on very, very expensive mounts need to have planetarium sky models of very high precision in order to allow for the refractive effects of the sky at varying altitudes.

It might be too big, but have you considered the simple and proven option of an HEQ5?

A standalone guider will dispense with the PC, though they get mixed reviews. I've never tried one.

Olly

Thanks olly I thought that may be the case unfortunately the heq5 is out its too heavy. I looked at the ioptron zeq25 but I think even that is pushing it for weight