celestron omni xlt 150mm reflector telescope?

[Sol12]

There is a celestron omni xlt 150mm reflector on sale on kijiji and is selling for 225, brand new the scope is like 600 bucks after taxes, I already own a 4 inch refractor on a altazimuth mount and my next step is AP. Can I do DSO AP with this mount? does a DSLR attach to this scope and is there enough back focus? any comments? It would also be good expereince for me using a GEM mount which I have not used yet.

Michael

[baggywrinkle]

If it is not a motor driven mount the AP will be a problem. If you can attach a drive to it (it does not have to be goto) then the possibilities are better.

Even with a motor drive the CG4 might be under specified once you start to add any camera gear to the weight of the OTA.

[jonathan]

If you are able to get good polar alignment the CG-4 should be able to capture relatively short exposures (less than 60 seconds?  Imagers help me out here), however the 150 may not be the best scope for the job - your refractor might be a better choice on the CG-4 so in that respect it's worth looking at just for the mount, the 150 is no slouch at visual though and if the Skywatcher 150P is anything to compare with can be pushed to a 5mm eyepiece under good skies.

Consider mounting just the camera and a zoom lens first, a single motor drive should be all you need for sky tracking however dual motor drives are not that much more expensive so if funds allow I would recommend it.

[orley]

I had a C6N (virtually the same scope) on a CG-4 (with dual axis motors) for a while. It is possible to do basic imaging with this mount and scope. Getting a good polar alignment is critical, but once achieved I managed 45-60 second subs along with my Canon 400D DSLR. I'll be the first to admit that the results were way, way below the standard achieved by many on this forum (my hat off to you guys), but it was enough to get me interested and entertained for a while. If there's no motor drive with the one you're looking at, then that needs to be factored in to the cost. Ultimately if you take to AP then you'd find you'd want to upgrade before long.

Another thing to bear in mind...whilst the CG-4 handles that size scope okay, it's far from ideal - plenty of vibration when focussing.  The same size scope on a CG-5 or EQ5 is a much better proposition and a better longer term option, especially if you want to do AP. Then you can add the extra weight of guidescope etc. without overloading the mount.

For visual use, the combination of mount and scope isn't bad. I had some lovely views with mine under semi-rural skies. However, compared with your 4" refractor, visually there's a little - but not much - improvement in brightness of image, but less contrast and sharpness. I found my 4" ED refractor superior or - at worst - equivalent to the larger reflector. I'm not sure you'd find much of an improvement.

Horses for courses and each to their own. Have you checked out second hand prices on superior kit? That said, at that price you might find you could offload it later at the same price or even at a profit...

[NGC 1502]

Hi Michael, review here on the Celestron Omni xlt 150 http://www.cloudynights.com/item.php?item_id=1678

Regards, Ed.