Telescope choice for planetary imaging?

[Kropster]

Hi All

I am just trying to work out a good choice of scope for planetary imaging and am thinking Skymax 127 or maybe SW150PL?

Is there anything else around that price range that would fit the bill?

I am just after the OTA.

Thanks in advance.

[ronin]

For whatever reason the Mak or SCT seems to be best suited to planetary imaging. However it is not suited to DSO imaging.

I say this as the planets are wandering out of general viewing at present and Jupiter is not back until early next year and will not be well placed until March/April, Saturn similar and Mars will in effect disappear for 2 years. So you may not have that many planets to image, and if you decide on DSO's (M42 over the winter) the scope is not greatly suited, neither would a webcam be either.

This came to attention when talking about targets for public events, come Sept there will be no planets around to use as a easy target.

Also even wih a 127 Mak/SCT people will add a 3x or even 5x barlow.

[tingting44]

id go for a C9.25 for planetary myself

http://astronomia.co.uk/celestron-c9-25-xlt-cge-ota.html?gclid=CjkKEQjw5-OdBRDW3ceD9fL0r4QBEiQAW7htXUx6J5ojtfvwrkXgSj7X8AAhUzLVLzpVsryDVCONz8_w_wcB

edit, sorry just re-read your post again, for around the price mark of a 150p, i would go with the 150pds if possible, a lot better scope

edit, also looking at the PL, that would seem a better choice then the pds, 1st time ive seen the PL, seems ideal for planetary

[Kropster]

Thanks for the replies.

This scope would be just for planetary, as I already have the 130 PDS for deep sky stuff..... it is just that the focal length is only 650mm, so a bit short for planets.

Hence the need for a long focal length as opposed to light gathering ability.

I thought the Skymax might also be less 'wobbly' than the 150 PL due to its compact size.

[JB80]

I have a PL and I can say I'm quite happy with it but I would like to upgrade to a larger scope.

I think you can make a reasonable argument for both scopes along varying lines, I have seen some great images from a 127 but I would think simply because of the aperture I would choose the 150PL.