What to upgrade?

[Datalord]

Upgraditis is hitting at the same time I'll be getting into a bit of extra money. Before sinking this amount of money into the hole, I want some expert opinion. My interests: DSO. Nebulae, galaxies and I'd like to be able to take good pictures of the entire Messier catalog.

I know I need a new mount first. I'm looking at Celestron CGX, CGX-L or CGE Pro. It also depends on what route I should take with the scope to handle weight etc. Celestron because I got to know the evo and like their software.

Scope: The dilemma here is that I'm now totally in love with how easy the WO is to use. A 5 element lens makes everything just plug and play. But I want to have some better magnification on the galaxies, which leads me to the following choices:

1. Refractor: Tak 130. Expensive, but plug and play and 1000mm focal length. Or a William Optics FLT 132 Triplet, 925mm.

2. Newtonian. Something like this: http://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/product_info.php/info/p6673_TS-Optics-Astrograph-10--aperture-f-4-56---D-54mm-field.html . I'm worried about what is said about the vignetting for DSLR, which I think is odd with the large illumination field, but the fast newtonian with a focal length of 1100mm sounds nice.

3. RASA. The Celestron RASA looks pretty damn nice with an f/2. However, the 620mm focal length and the requirement for a CCD camera is putting me off quite a bit.

Camera: I love my 6D. I think it has already proven itself so good with my limited setup that I'm not really looking to change it. However, if the final decision on the above hinges on changing the camera, I'd be looking for a cooled solution mono so it can supplement the 6D. ATIK 11000 seems like a potent candidate.

 

Any thoughts on all this? I guess the biggest is actually whether I should change from refractor to reflector, which then has a huge halo of subsequent questions coming.

[Davey-T]

Where do you live ? you may have to move house to image the entire Messier catalogue 

Dave

[Datalord]

48 minutes ago, Davey-T said:

Where do you live ? you may have to move house to image the entire Messier catalogue 

Dave

Hah, well, I might travel to get the last of them. I live in the UK, south coast.

[SonnyE]

Never one to like messing with mirrors, I'd always take the refractor route.

That said, a friend of mine has a Celestron RASA and takes some stunning photographs with it.

I do wish I had your dilemma... 

[pete_l]

7 hours ago, Datalord said:

 ATIK 11000 seems like a potent candidate.

If you take the route of a mono 11000, you'll have to spend another £1000 on a filter-wheel and 50mm filters. Plus several hundred £££s more on an OAG.

if you want narrowband, add another £1000 on top.

[Datalord]

On 2017-5-28 at 04:07, SonnyE said:

Never one to like messing with mirrors, I'd always take the refractor route.

That said, a friend of mine has a Celestron RASA and takes some stunning photographs with it.

I do wish I had your dilemma... 

I have the same with mirrors, so I went refractor with the WO. But boy, when I see the DSO images people put up with a large (10+) newtonian, my trigger finger really starts to twitch. 

And then there is the RASA at f/2, but only 620mm focal length. I guess I could Barlow it up to 1240 and f/4? Any experiences with that? 

[Alien_Photons]

Obtaining a full frame, full resolution in a given time frame for messier objects can sound simple enough. There might be other setups that could be more cost effective or more portable for these objects.

In any case the TAK. As once you have imaged all the messier objects you wont want to part with it.

 

[SonnyE]

In 3 words: "Oh, hell no!"

Or in Proper English: "Oh bloody hell, no!"

But a long time ago, I stacked Barlow's to the equivalent of 5X (2x + 3x) and did visual on Saturn on a summers eve. (Did a none, did a 2x, did a 3x, and finally stacked)

Caused quite a stir here.

No, Sir. I fancy myself Galilean.  But with a computer twist... Newton was some "Johnny come lately, whippersnapper." Mirrors belong in a Ladies handbag.

[DaveS]

The biggest upgrade my imaging took (Bigger probably than going from a guided HEQ5 to unguided DDM60) was when I moved from a DSLR to cooled mono CCD. Yes it was expensive (Trius 694 / wheel /  Baader LRGB and NB filters), and took an even bigger hit when I bought a set of 4 Astrodon 3nm filters.

If you're looking for a 'frac in the 1000 mm FL range, have you considered the Skywatcher Esprit 150? There are a few on here who use them, and they have a good rep.

TS also do a 150mm apo

http://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/product_info.php/info/p6463_TS-Optics-Photoline-150-mm-f-6-6-Triplet-Super-Apo---FPL-53-Objective---Starlight-3-5--foc.html

Beyond that you're into TEC, APM and CFF territory with silly-money prices.

[Datalord]

Really sounds like the votes are going towards the refractors. Sounds like a plan. Would also save me some on the mount, as the "small" Celestron CGX can easily handle that load.

What I'm also taking away is that I should start by getting the mono CCD plus filters, potentially just sticking with the WO while I learn to use that. Then upgrade the mount and finally the scope in the end?

I can get perfect 20 min subs with the current setup, so if the weight remains the same, I see little point in changing that immediately.