NEQ6 with SW 130PDS or 150PDS?

[RolandKol]

Hi Guys,

Long story short, - which one to buy for my NEQ6 mount?

Now the long story:

I am quite a beginner in this field and  I saw quite a few similar posts... the main question is which one to take? 130PDS or 150PDS for AP.

As I found out, 90% comments suggest going for 130PDS, as the main disadvantages of 150PDS are: it is a larger sail to catch the wind and it has a smaller field of view...

But,

I have managed to get a second-hand NEQ6, (not EQ5 or even EQ3 like most of the posts are about),

and planning to plant a pillar for it in my garden, and usually, it's not windy in my place.

As per field of view,

My garden faces South, from South London, so of course, I will re-start with Orion and Andromeda in Autumn.

And it looks like only Andromeda will not fit in on my Canon 1300D sensor in full and I am sure the rest objects are smaller than M31
So I am willing to go for 150PDS,

However, most of the posts are advising for 130PDS...  and it's confusing me at the moment...

P.S.

I do have 10" DOB for around 18 months, Light pollution hasn't allowed me to see Andromeda through it properly, so I have attached my Canon to it and WOW!

This is how this 10" toy hooked me up on AP...  and after 10", -  I afraid 130PDS will be a bit too small in aperture for my back garden.
 

[spillage]

I have both but I really do just use the 130. I find both very good but the 130 has the larger fov and is more suited to my current targets. I find with AP I want the  larger fov for nebula and smaller for galaxies give or take a few. Thats why the ed80 refactors as recommended so much.

I would read steve's book "every photon counts" see what you want out of it and go from there. The 130pds has so much bang for the buck I can only recommend it highly. Don't forget you will need a coma corrector to go with it.

The neq6 will handle the 150 with no issues.

 

[RolandKol]

11 minutes ago, spillage said:

I have both but I really do just use the 130. I find both very good but the 130 has the larger fov and is more suited to my current targets. I find with AP I want the  larger fov for nebula and smaller for galaxies give or take a few. Thats why the ed80 refactors as recommended so much.

I would read steve's book "every photon counts" see what you want out of it and go from there. The 130pds has so much bang for the buck I can only recommend it highly. Don't forget you will need a coma corrector to go with it.

The neq6 will handle the 150 with no issues.

 

Thanks a lot! I was not expecting to get an advice from a person who has both scopes!  lucky me
It looks like 130PDS wins all the time
I guess, 150PDS is also a bit too small for Galaxies, so it is somewhere in between...

And yes, I've been looking to buy a Coma Corrector, https://www.firstlightoptics.com/coma-correctors/skywatcher-coma-corrector.html 
Which, by the way, places the field of you of 150PDS close to 130PDS without CC.

[spillage]

The coma corrector will not change the fov. It just stops the outer stars being out of shape due to the curvature of the mirror on a newt. That is why the ed80's are popular, no coma not collimation needed but they do need a field flattener.

For the cc have a look here.

The 150 is great for those smaller objects but to be honest the 130 is not too far behind and has the advantage of dealing with the larger stuff.

[RolandKol]

Ammm...
My link states "Skywatcher 0.9x Coma Corrector also acts as a 0.9x reducer so a f5 Newtonian becomes f4.5 and f4 becomes f3.6.". Or I missing something there...

I have never used any Coma Correctors.

And my FOV calc, unfortunately, had no 0.9 value, - so I took 0.85, but it should be close.

 

[spillage]

sorry my mistake I use the baader with will not cause any reductions.

[bottletopburly]

Author  of Making every photon count has a sadder cc for sale at the moment 

 

[alacant]

Hi

I use a 130pds and a 150mm f5. It takes significantly longer to build an image in the 130; the 150 is noticeably brighter. OTOH, the 130 is great with the 0.9 cc, giving a nice wide 580mm, about the same as a -miserable by comparison- 80mm refractor.

Would it be possible perhaps to have -use of- both and more besides? Join a club, see which they haven't and borrow/loan/share?

HTH and good luck with whatever you decide:)

[RolandKol]

OK guys,

I am convinced 100%

Will go for 130PDS and SW CC 0.9 (I am afraid of SW CC 0.9 a bit, as some people have problems with the intrusion of the focuser to deep into the tube and shadowing the primary mirror, but I will take a risk).
150PDS is a bit too short for the galaxies anyway, so in the future, I will get something more specialised if I want to.

Case closed... fingers crossed...
 

And of course, many thanks to you all for advice. 

[spillage]

Best of luck to you. Now next on the list, oag or external, st80 or converted view finder,  then which camera for guiding. Should you consider a permanent pier? What would be the best way to polar align. .

[Stub Mandrel]

On 14/02/2018 at 12:30, spillage said:

The coma corrector will not change the fov.

The skywatcher CC reduces the FL by 0.9 so it does slightly increase the FOV.

[RolandKol]

19 hours ago, spillage said:

Best of luck to you. Now next on the list, oag or external, st80 or converted view finder,  then which camera for guiding. Should you consider a permanent pier? What would be the best way to polar align. .

thanks
I have already ordered my 130PDS and Skywatcher EVOGUIDE 50ED 50mm Guidescope (will try it as a lens on my CANON 1300D also)... Not decided on a guider cam yet...
I do not want Mono as I am waiting for Jupiter to get closer and of course for Saturn... I presume my 10" DOB will manage to catch them well with x3 Barlow and Colour ZWO cam
Thinking of a cheap ZWO ASI120MC-S Colour 1/3" CMOS USB 3.0 Camera for a start...
Has anyone tried to guide with it? (off topic...)  

And pier, - yes. They are quite expensive, so I think of DIY one. Sadly, I will be made to dig him in around 10 meters from the house and I cannot find such long cords to be able to hide inside and stay warm

but spring is coming, so I have time until October.

[carastro]

Did you already buy the SW CC?

I have the 130PDS and love it.  I was disappointed that the Baader CC did not act as a reducer so ordered the SW CC.  However when it arrived all the threads were different to the camera threads and I would have needed to buy a adapter to make it fit, thus increasing the spacing and that would have made the focusser even further inside the tube.  HATE DIFFERING THREADS.  So I sent it back and got a refund (thanks FLO) and bought a Baader CC.

This is how much my focusser protrudes into the tube with the Baader (non reducing) CC.

It seems to be just about OK on the stars, though sometimes I think the central part of the star looks a little mishapen and other times not, still toying with whether to saw a bit off the focusser.

HTH

Carole 

 

[RolandKol]

2 minutes ago, carastro said:

I have the 130PDS and love it.  I was disappointed that the Baader CC did not act as a reducer so ordered the SW CC.  However when it arrived all the threads were different to the camera threads and I would have needed to buy a adapter to make it fit, thus increasing the spacing and that would have made the focusser even further inside the tube.  HATE DIFFERING THREADS.  

This is how much my focusser protrudes into the tube with the Baader (non reducing) CC.

It seems to be just about OK on the stars, though sometimes I think the central part of the star looks a little mishapen and other times not, still toying with whether to saw a bit off the focusser.

HTH

Carole 

 

 

6

yep, Carole, I afraid to have the same with SW CC  as many posts are similar to yours... I have a JigSaw ready

[bottletopburly]

10 minutes ago, RolandKol said:

thanks
I have already ordered my 130PDS and Skywatcher EVOGUIDE 50ED 50mm Guidescope (will try it as a lens on my CANON 1300D also)... Not decided on a guider cam yet...
I do not want Mono as I am waiting for Jupiter to get closer and of course for Saturn... I presume my 10" DOB will manage to catch them well with x3 Barlow and Colour ZWO cam
Thinking of a cheap ZWO ASI120MC-S Colour 1/3" CMOS USB 3.0 Camera for a start...
Has anyone tried to guide with it? (off topic...)  

And pier, - yes. They are quite expensive, so I think of DIY one. Sadly, I will be made to dig him in around 10 meters from the house and I cannot find such long cords to be able to hide inside and stay warm

but spring is coming, so I have time until October.

Make sure your pc has usb3 and a SSD drive , 10m away from pier is fine just use an active usb leads with a powered usb hub at mount , just run a pipe underground so cables can be fed to mount ?

[Adam J]

On 14/02/2018 at 11:25, RolandKol said:

Hi Guys,

Long story short, - which one to buy for my NEQ6 mount?

Now the long story:

I am quite a beginner in this field and  I saw quite a few similar posts... the main question is which one to take? 130PDS or 150PDS for AP.

As I found out, 90% comments suggest going for 130PDS, as the main disadvantages of 150PDS are: it is a larger sail to catch the wind and it has a smaller field of view...

But,

I have managed to get a second-hand NEQ6, (not EQ5 or even EQ3 like most of the posts are about),

and planning to plant a pillar for it in my garden, and usually, it's not windy in my place.

As per field of view,

My garden faces South, from South London, so of course, I will re-start with Orion and Andromeda in Autumn.

And it looks like only Andromeda will not fit in on my Canon 1300D sensor in full and I am sure the rest objects are smaller than M31
So I am willing to go for 150PDS,

However, most of the posts are advising for 130PDS...  and it's confusing me at the moment...

P.S.

I do have 10" DOB for around 18 months, Light pollution hasn't allowed me to see Andromeda through it properly, so I have attached my Canon to it and WOW!

This is how this 10" toy hooked me up on AP...  and after 10", -  I afraid 130PDS will be a bit too small in aperture for my back garden.
 

Lots of things won't fit into the FOV of the 150PDS and if you want to do small galaxies etc. Then the 150 won't make much difference. Aperture does not matter for AP only FOV and pixel scale. 

[spillage]

6 minutes ago, bottletopburly said:

And pier, - yes. They are quite expensive, so I think of DIY one. Sadly, I will be made to dig him in around 10 meters from the house and I cannot find such long cords to be able to hide inside and stay warm

How far away is you router. You can get a cheap laptop or and old pc to stay outside with the mount and run cat5 and power to it. Then using teamviewer or similar software connect to it from another pc.

I used a 6" pipe for my pier and it all seems fine. You can also add a larger diameter pipe around this to go about halfway up for more stability if you think you need it.

[carastro]

By the way Roland, I am just down the road from you in Bromley if you need any advice/help (but am not highly technical), I have an observatory currently with the SW130PDS set up in it, though I do have other scopes as well. 

Good luck with your LP, its bad enough here!!!

Carole 

[RolandKol]

11 minutes ago, carastro said:

By the way Roland, I am just down the road from you in Bromley if you need any advice/help (but am not highly technical), I have an observatory currently with the SW130PDS set up in it, though I do have other scopes as well. 

Good luck with your LP, its bad enough here!!!

Carole 

Hahahaha  it is really nice to find some neighbours in this hobby  And be careful with me as I have Googleplex amount of questions
 and yes... LP is really bad and I have already placed some crosses on the Google Maps near the seaside not far away from Folkestone 

 

21 minutes ago, bottletopburly said:

Make sure your pc has usb3 and a SSD drive , 10m away from pier is fine just use an active usb leads with a powered usb hub at mount , just run a pipe underground so cables can be fed to mount ?

I am lucky to have quite powerfull notebook, with SSD, 3USB and etc, - not a problem...
The last click left... on ZWO ASI120MC-S COLOUR, - buy or not... this is the question

[Stub Mandrel]

37 minutes ago, RolandKol said:

Thinking of a cheap ZWO ASI120MC-S Colour 1/3" CMOS USB 3.0 Camera for a start...
Has anyone tried to guide with it? (off topic...)  

Yes never had trouble finding a guide star at 1 second exposure, but I have a fast guide scope (f3.5)

[Stub Mandrel]

26 minutes ago, RolandKol said:

yep, Carole, I afraid to have the same with SW CC  as many posts are similar to yours... I have a JigSaw ready

The skywatcher CC has a t-mount thread to  give the correct spacing with the matching adaptor.

[RolandKol]

Quick Update: was made to order ZWO ASI224MC USB 3.0 Colour as they had no ASI120MC-S in stock for my tomorrow's delivery... Lost extra £££, but it does not make sad by any means

It looks like we are going to have few hours with moderate skies tomorrow... 
I am sure I will fail to make all work from the first time, so I have another task:

to find a someone who is responsible for the clouds above London (Sadiq maybe?) and bribe him! 
I need 2 continuous weeks (minimum) of the clear skies to get this stuff work! 
any intel info? please pm!

[Susaron]

Be careful with the 224MC. as it does not have built it IR cut filter as the ASI120MC has, you will need an IRcut for guiding and/or planetary duties with the 224.

Anyhow welcome to the 130PDS sect.

[bottletopburly]

2 hours ago, spillage said:

How far away is you router. You can get a cheap laptop or and old pc to stay outside with the mount and run cat5 and power to it. Then using teamviewer or similar software connect to it from another pc.

I used a 6" pipe for my pier and it all seems fine. You can also add a larger diameter pipe around this to go about halfway up for more stability if you think you need it.

I used 139mm pipe  mm easier to get hold of https://flic.kr/p/Yi4AfJ

[RolandKol]

1 hour ago, Susaron said:

Be careful with the 224MC. as it does not have built it IR cut filter as the ASI120MC has, you will need an IRcut for guiding and/or planetary duties with the 224.

Anyhow welcome to the 130PDS sect.

Amm... I have managed to miss the part about IR filter while reading "all about all" the last 6 months ... What is going to happen if I will use it without the filter,  burn the chip?
damn.....
I would be very grateful if you drop me the link to a  correct filter... 
I hope my missus will not kill me with the cast iron pan after all
 

1 hour ago, bottletopburly said:

I used 139mm pipe  mm easier to get hold of https://flic.kr/p/Yi4AfJ

 looks solid