Fastar DSLR or CCD

[Daveken]

Hi everyone.

Thinking about getting a Celestron VX 8 edge HD. I've been reading about Fastar/Hyperstar, I'm mainly interested in planetary photography and I have a DSLR (Nikon D3100) would this be any good for planetary photography or would a CCD camera be better.

If so do you have any recommendations, CCD cameras baffle me I'm affraid.

One more thing would the above telescope/DSLR or CCD be suitable for DSO and photography.

Thanks in advance for any help or suggestions you may be able to offer.

Dave

[steppenwolf]

The Celestron VX 8 edge HD would be good for planetary imaging but NOT with the Hyperstar as this device significantly reduces the focal length.

A fast frame-rate CCD camera would be the camera of choice for planetary imaging rather than a DSLR camera.

The Hyperstar conversion would be good for DSO imaging but you'd then need a DSLR camera or astro-CCD camera rather than the fast frame rate camera. Planetary and DSO imaging are mutually exclusive.

[ollypenrice]

Steve is, of course, bang on the money with this succinct reply.

The Hyperstar is a deep sky, widefield system and one for those who are up for the challenges it presents, since no ultra fast systems are plug and play.

Olly

[narrowbandpaul]

For planetary, stick with the VX8 at its native focal length, get the fast frame rate camera, gets loads of them then stack only the best.

A decision would need to be made for either a mono or OSC planetary cam.

Paul

[steppenwolf]

since no ultra fast systems are plug and play.

This is a very good observation! Earlier Hyperstars were a nightmare to collimate but latest versions are better. However, as Olly says, not for the faint hearted!

[narrowbandpaul]

If cameras baffle you then I refer to this little ditty I made a while ago.

http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/52031-choosing-a-ccd-camera/

This should go someway in explain some of the properties of a ccd. They aren't particular baffling but they can seem that way!

Paul

[riklaunim]

For planetary imaging you also don't need the EdgeHD correction.

[SnakeyJ]

Also a dslr would be a big and irregular obstruction for a hyperstar setup.

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[Daveken]

Thanks for all your replies, they've been very helpful and now I'm wondering do you think it would be worth paying an extra £200 and get the VX 9.5 instead of the VX 8 edge HD.

[SnakeyJ]

Thanks for all your replies, they've been very helpful and now I'm wondering do you think it would be worth paying an extra £200 and get the VX 9.5 instead of the VX 8 edge HD.

This is the standard C925, as opposed to the edge HD version which retails for £ 2849 for the OTA only!      The price on the the Edge 8 and VX mount package looks really good @ £ 1,479, which effectively throws the mount in at half price.

For planetary only the C925 (planet killer) is probably the better than the Edge 8 - though for deep sky I think the Edge 8 is the better solution optically.  That said the Edge 8 is not going to be shabby - nice example of Jupiter with the edge 8:

From the following CN thread/review

[Daveken]

SnakeyJ the images you posted of Jupiter are quite simply stunning. If your calling the VX 9.25 the planet killer, I wonder if that negates my next part of this which was going to be about the standard VX 11, I've got kind of an obsession with Saturn at the moment, after seeing her last year through my 15 year old 8 inch Dob. Just to be able to get a snap shot would do for me, and with Saturn swinging by in May, I figure no time like the present. So do you think the VX 11 would be better than the VX 9.25. Again thanks for taking the time to reply and posting them amazing images, if I could get images half as good I'll consider myself lucky.

[SnakeyJ]

SnakeyJ the images you posted of Jupiter are quite simply stunning. If your calling the VX 9.25 the planet killer, I wonder if that negates my next part of this which was going to be about the standard VX 11, I've got kind of an obsession with Saturn at the moment, after seeing her last year through my 15 year old 8 inch Dob. Just to be able to get a snap shot would do for me, and with Saturn swinging by in May, I figure no time like the present. So do you think the VX 11 would be better than the VX 9.25. Again thanks for taking the time to reply and posting them amazing images, if I could get images half as good I'll consider myself lucky.

Dave,

If I could get half as good as that I'd be happy!

I think the C11 XLT and indeed the bigger C14 even, can produce stunning results - just look at Damian Peach's images of Jupiter and Saturn!    I must stress,  I've no personal experience of using SCTs - though from reading around it appears that these are bigger, heavier, more difficult beasts to tame.     Although Celestron do sell the C11 with the VX mount, it does look a little under mounted.    The C925 seems to have a reputation as something of a sweet spot, particularly for planetary imaging and there are some excellent reviews and images available to back this.

There are so many factors to weigh up when choosing a scope like this, beyond cost and aperture.    Mounting requirements, weight, cool down time, how and where you intend to use it are also prime concerns.    Potentially a bigger scope can produce better images, though you need excellent conditions to get the best from any scope and the bigger apertures are more affected by bad seeing.

Saturn is currently a receding target at the moment, though sure some good images will be taken from the UK despite the low elevations this year - I think we have to wait for 10 years before the oppositions get better!   http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/183395-future-oppositions-of-saturn/   It's quite a tough target to image and responds nicely to aperture - there were some stunning images from C11's on this last year, though mid and southern latitudes faired rather better than UK.

[lensman57]

Also a dslr would be a big and irregular obstruction for a hyperstar setup.

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I was wondering when someone was going mention this, the ccds designed to work in a HyperStar setup are at the most 60mm in diameter so in effect theare hidden by the central obstruction. A DSLR in a HyperStar set up ?  Well with most of them being just short of 5.5" in width, there won't be much of an aperture left to draw any light in.

A.G

[Psychobilly]

IIRC they didn't recomend using a DSLR with the hyperstar on anything less than a 14" SCT but I think people have used them on smaller ones... with whacky DSLR shaped artefacts...

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[riklaunim]

SnakeyJ the images you posted of Jupiter are quite simply stunning. If your calling the VX 9.25 the planet killer, I wonder if that negates my next part of this which was going to be about the standard VX 11, I've got kind of an obsession with Saturn at the moment, after seeing her last year through my 15 year old 8 inch Dob. Just to be able to get a snap shot would do for me, and with Saturn swinging by in May, I figure no time like the present. So do you think the VX 11 would be better than the VX 9.25. Again thanks for taking the time to reply and posting them amazing images, if I could get images half as good I'll consider myself lucky.

The bigger aperture the better for planetary imaging. 11" will need at least HEQ5 and it looks like VX11 is CG5 based so less stable for such big telescope. Note that for efficient Saturn imaging that will be very low on the sky you will need a good planetary camera and some extra accessories. Bigger telescope will be even more dependent on that. Color cameras will be limited by atmospheric dispersion, mono can refocus every channel, but a dispersion corrector (not cheap) would be required to have the possibility to shoot sharp and good Saturn from northern hemisphere. And there is even more like motocryford/motofocus and other goodies to be considered.