Ota for Star Adventurer

[Coastliner]

Hi all,

I have a Skywatcher Star Adventurer portable EQ mount, with a max load capacity of 5kg. I am looking for a suitable OTA for this, one that I can connect a DSLR or a webcam to. I'm thinking along the lines of a compact refractor, unless anyone has other ideas. This would be mainly used for astrophotography, the budget would be around the £300 mark. Has anyone got a similar setup? Any recommendations for an ota?

[Chinapig]

Hi Coastliner

A small refractor would make sense, or a long focal length prime lens - but decent long primes seem to be pretty pricey!

Possible contenders could include the William Optics Zenithstar ZS71, or the Starwave 70ED:

http://www.ioastronomy.com/product/starwave70ed

In fact, I've just bought the little Starwave for a very similar purpose - portable AP on a small mount - and although the weather's been too rubbish to try it out in earnest yet, the scope is nicely made, has a very smooth focuser, and the few brief night-sky views I've grabbed with it so far have looked very promising. Good contrast and small, sharp stars. Its listed weight is around 2kg, so I would have thought there's a good chance of keeping scope, plus camera and any adapters under your 5kg target. Have also found the Starwave very handy for some grab & go solar.

Good luck with your search.

Cheers

Simon

[ronin]

Seems there are not many around, the WO AS-71 seems the nearest but over budget.

Simon's suggestion of the Altair 70 is however a prime candidate.

Nothing on TS - their selection of scopes seems to be decreasing.

[gary1968]

I have a star adventurer and pondering the same thing myself...... I am thinking a WO ZS66 might be nice, but they are rarer than blue otters now.

Sent from my Vodafone Smart 4 turbo

[Zakalwe]

Equinox 66? £315 from 365 Astronomy.

Or a cheap, M42 lens off eBay? I keep eyeing up 135mm ones....

[Coastliner]

I have a 70-300 canon lens, will that do the same thing? Do I really need to buy an OTA for Astro if I have this?

No laughing!

[hobsey]

I looked high and low for an ota for my star adventurer, one that won't take it to its maximum weight limit along with the camera etc.

In the end I have decided to just use camera lenses so your 70-300mm will be fine as a starter.

Also have a look at vintage prime lenses which can be picked up very cheaply.

[Coastliner]

Thanks for all your replies, I have looked at all the options suggested - I'll let you know what option I go for.

I bought a Skywatcher 200p Dobsonian recently, and have just spent a week in the west of Ireland (Donegal) with my Nexstarr, Adventurer,and all the rest of the kit.

Didn't get to use them once, and the Dob has only been out three times since I bought it.

So I'd just like to apologise to everyone for the bad weather I have brought down on us.  I will bring the clear skies back to you all by selling the kit!

[rowan46]

I use a c5 spotting scope. http://www.firstlightoptics.com/optical-tube-assemblies/celestron-c5-spotter-spotting-scope.html

not great for dso imaging but ok for  planetary webcam and  dslr of the moon and a fairly decent portable visual instrument

[hobsey]

So I'd just like to apologise to everyone for the bad weather.

I think the bad weather is due to so many people having a Star Adventurer on backorder and having them delivered all at the same means there is a lot of rain and cloud.

Haven't been able to use mine yet since having it delivered.