Trying to get bitten by the astronomy bug...

[Ags]

I want the astronomy bug to bite me again, but I feel I have seen everything my 102mm mak can show me. I have a nice pair of 12x60 binoculars and I enjoy popping out regularly looking into my orange skies and spotting stars and constellations. I have a few issues with getting round (no car) so I do all my observing from the city.

The problem I have faced for the past 6 years is how to upgrade my scope without spending a fortune.

Where I would like to get to is a pier in my garden with a dual setup of a short 80mm ED scope and a C9.25 on it. But I see no incremental path between where I am now and my dream. Any ideas?

[happy-kat]

Is the mount used for the mak able to take the ED80. Could that be one step in the direction you are aiming for.

[Ags]

NexStar 4SE mount can't take fracs, at least not the ST80 which would be a similar shape.

[happy-kat]

The 8SE mount there is a member who put a refractor on their mount I'll see if can find the post later.

[nightfisher]

How about a 10" dobsonian 

[Ags]

I've often thought of getting a dob but the manual operation combined with relatively long focal length and very poor skies would be a problem for me. I've considered an alt-az 150mm reflector as an upgrade - much less aperture but the wider fields leaves me more likely to find anything?

Also I like messing about with the technical end of things and a dob is a dead end in that regard. 

I toy with the idea of saving for a Skywatcher AZ EQ5-GT, hopefully second-hand, but of course you can't look through a mount  That would give me a dual scope setup in AZ mode...

 

[happy-kat]

Found a bit of what I was after. My error is was not an ED80 but a WO ZS66SD on a Nexstar SE mount, this is an image of it in use. Anyway I'll finish now as I wanted to close the thought I had started. link to photo

[Chris]

4 hours ago, Ags said:

NexStar 4SE mount can't take fracs, at least not the ST80 which would be a similar shape.

They can be persuaded at a push Ags, but when I gave it a go I thought it best to remove the diagonal before slewing. Here is my old 4SE mount with a 90mm f/6 frac :

[oobydooby]

26 minutes ago, happy-kat said:

Found a bit of what I was after. My error is was not an ED80 but a WO ZS66SD on a Nexstar SE mount, this is an image of it in use. Anyway I'll finish now as I wanted to close the thought I had started. link to photo

Unfortunately the nexstar 4SE has a shorter mount so anything other than the 4" 'scope supplied will be too big.  I have one and I cannot even put my DSLR on the back as per the illustration in the instruction booklet as it hits the base even when tilted using the built in wedge.

for this reason I am hoping to get a goto tripod setup that has a higher neck (is that the correct word?) that has a backwards tilt to avoid the camera hitting the base if aimed too high.

[happy-kat]

The star discovery has a different design and gives clearance for a 150p reflector if looking at altaz goto and an ED80 does go on that plus dslr a member Nige G did that.

[Ags]

If properly balanced, you don't get much vertical freedom of movement with an ST80 on a 4SE mount - most of my sky is straight up and to reach it I have to use the SE4's wedge. My SE4 must be over 6 years old now and it is feeling its age. 

I've been thinking some more about my predicament and I think I'm going back to my old idea of a 150PDS on an AZ4. The scope and the mount both get solid reviews and they are both "keepers". The 150PDS has the advantage over a small frac of being a widefield scope with twice the aperture for half the price. Observationally it would open up new targets to me a small frac never would (specifically open clusters and the brighter globs). While the frac might theoretically give nice views of open clusters, it won't under city skies. With its aperture, the 150PDS would probably be a vast improvement on planets as well over my mak because however good my little mak is, it has a small exit pupil and often all I see are floaters.

When I get the longed-for AZEQ5 pier, the 150PDS can go on that in a dual scope setup in AZ mode. It is also a fair basis for messing about with my camera. The nice thing is the 150PDS and AZ4 combo is only GBP395 on FLO at the moment, so I can save for that in a realistic amount of time. In terms of eyepieces, I need only buy a 5mm and maybe 4mm eyepiece to cover the planetary mags.

The only concern I have is higher magnification on an AZ4. I imagine the 150PDS is at the large end of a scope for the mount and I wonder would I be able to track at magnifications around 150-190? That magnification range is just fine for Jupiter and Saturn, although I like to use more for Mars.

[Ags]

Well, after five years of hemming and hawing (and about 20 SGL threads on the subject), I finally decided and sold my much loved NexStar 4SE today. I am going the 150PDS on an AZ4 route, unless there are other small manual AZ mounts to consider. I am looking at this one as an alternative:

http://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/product_info.php/info/p1753_TS-Optics-Alt-Azimuth-Mount-Deluxe-with-worm-gears---up-to-8-kg.html

Fine motion controls might be an advantage when looking at planets?