My C6 or something else?

[Chris]

Hi, since moving house a couple of months ago I've been trying to figure out which scope type will work best in the confinements of our new garden? 

The garden is quite small roughly 20' with tall trees at the back to the West, the nighbours garage to the South, our 3 story house to the East, but the north isn't that bad, just gardens and some trees there.

I sold a lot of stuff to move but I still have a Tal tripod with a CG4 tripod head, plus I'm expecting an AZ4 mount head in the post any day now

The only scope I have left is a C6 xlt which is a really nice compact OTA with pretty good optics so I do quite like it. Having said this I'm wondering if it will be the best thing to have on the AZ4 viewing close to zenith? 

A few concerns are that the focuser will be annoyingly behind the diagonal, it's quite a long focal length to have on a mount without slo mo's, and my views are mainly close to zenith so I'm wondering if zentih viewing will immediatley dew up the corrector plate even with my dew shield (I'm not keen on supplying power just for a dew strap as I mainly grab and go)

Whilst I'm twiddling my thumbs waiting for the mount head to arrive and clear sky so I can try this combo out, I'm just wondering if anyone has any thoughts on other suitable scopes for this situation. The budget would be basically what I get for the C6 kit second hand, I'm guessing around £300.

All thoughts welcome

p.s. Please see pics of the garden I'm working with.   

[Chris]

p.s.s. I did manage to see Mars through that small gap next to the garage using the C6 on a photo tripod, so it could be worse!  

[John]

Looks a bit like the challenges that I have in my garden Chris !

I find scopes (fracs) on tall tripods make getting to Mars and Saturn "in the gaps" at least possible wheras they are out of bounds this year to my 12" dob which just can't get a clear shot at them.

 

[mikeDnight]

A second hand SW 4" ED might be picked up close to your budget. It wouldn't be as prone to thermal issues as your C6 and will give you both high power lunar and planetary as well as wide, rich field views. Rapid cool down and wonderful sharp images make it a great grab and go scope thats hard to beat for the price.

Mike

[Chris]

1 hour ago, John said:

Looks a bit like the challenges that I have in my garden Chris !

I find scopes (fracs) on tall tripods make getting to Mars and Saturn "in the gaps" at least possible wheras they are out of bounds this year to my 12" dob which just can't get a clear shot at them.

 

Bit of a problem isn't it John. Yes, I don't think I would have seen Mars at all if my one scope was a Dob. Sounds like we're in a similar boat! A tall tripod does give a better angle at things in gardens like ours, so if I was to have just one mount that's the one I should have 

I've come across something called 'Dob Hole' when using Dobs at zenith. How do you find your Dob for viewing at Zenith John, is Dob hole a problem that you've noticed?    

[Chris]

1 hour ago, mikeDnight said:

A second hand SW 4" ED might be picked up close to your budget. It wouldn't be as prone to thermal issues as your C6 and will give you both high power lunar and planetary as well as wide, rich field views. Rapid cool down and wonderful sharp images make it a great grab and go scope thats hard to beat for the price.

Mike

Well I do like Fracs Mike and the ED100 is a very good one  If I saw one second hand for £300 I would find it hard to resist in all honesty. 

With mainly only having access close to zenith, I'd probably need to buy a pillar extension or two for a long frac, otherwise I might be laying on the ground to observe  

[John]

27 minutes ago, Chris Lock said:

.....I've come across something called 'Dob Hole' when using Dobs at zenith. How do you find your Dob for viewing at Zenith John, is Dob hole a problem that you've noticed?    

There is a small part of the sky directly overhead where finding and tracking objects becomes more awkward with the dob. I tend to wait until objects have moved out of this zone but it's not impossible to observe something there, if thats the only option.

My dob can point straight upwards OK but movement becomes a bit restricted because of the shape of the mount.

[Chris]

10 minutes ago, John said:

There is a small part of the sky directly overhead where finding and tracking objects becomes more awkward with the dob. I tend to wait until objects have moved out of this zone but it's not impossible to observe something there, if thats the only option.

My dob can point straight upwards OK but movement becomes a bit restricted because of the shape of the mount.

ok thanks John  it doesn't sound like as big a deal as I first thought. 

[Chris]

15 hours ago, Chris Lock said:

I'd probably need to buy a pillar extension or two for a long frac, otherwise I might be laying on the ground to observe  

Pretty much as soon as I said this a pillar extension comes up for sale on ABS. must be fate so I bought it!

I'll go the frac route and get my self a little stool to sit on I reckon .

Now what will sit comfortably on an AZ4, pillar extenstion and Tal wooden tripod? realistically it might need to be an achro so I can affored reasonable aperture unless a bargain appears second hand. Patience is a virtue and all that. 

[John]

I did use my ED120 on an AZ-4 a few times but the mount is pretty much on, or a little over, it's limit with that tube so that might be a guide to the specs of the scope that you look for. Of course one of the great things about SCT's and Mak's is that their short tubes put mounts under less strain.

 

[Chris]

19 minutes ago, John said:

I did use my ED120 on an AZ-4 a few times but the mount is pretty much on, or a little over, it's limit with that tube so that might be a guide to the specs of the scope that you look for. Of course one of the great things about SCT's and Mak's is that their short tubes put mounts under less strain.

 

Hmmm that's a shame, I quite fancied something like the Evostar 120 f/8.3 I once had. I'll use that as a max limit and see if I can find something a touch shorter around the 4" mark.

I've had a 127mak on an AZ4 and it was rock solid. My C6 probably would be fine for vabrations, but the focuser would be in the worst place possible above and infront of the diagonal  I looked to see if you can attach a dovetail elsewhere, which I could, but with half the amount of screws so a bit dodgy. Also I think it would dew up pretty fast pointing high up. It might be worth a go though. I've just placed the for sale ad but I'm not in a rush, I can pick up an achro and just see what I prefer out the two