Esprit 150ED APO too heavy for NEQ6 Pro?

[Hailfire101]

Hi guys. 

As the title says.

Im eyeing up the Esprit 150 ED APO to up my astrophotography game. But it's a beast. Is it too heavy for the NEQ6 Pro. (With belt upgrade) 

Thanks in advance. 

[Skipper Billy]

Well the scope on its own is over 15kgs plus say 2kgs for camera and filter wheel etc

Plus say 2kgs for guide scope and camera makes about 19kgs

The mount is rated for 18kgs but most say the max should be about 50- 75% of that so statistically its too heavy for that mount.

Not saying it wont work but there might be better combos?

[Hailfire101]

I'd be better off getting the 120ed then, as it's lighter. 

I'm presuming that these two scopes are a certain improvement on a 200p for imaging. 

[Skipper Billy]

Too many variables to give you a meaningful reply.

What do you want to image - what camera etc - why a frac rather than a newt - etc.

What do you want to improve?

[Hailfire101]

I'm after DSO images. And I'll hopefully have the ASI1600mm cool ccd soon. 

I'm after a frac simply because I believe they provide sharper, better images, compared to the 200p

Also, I hate collimation.

[wigggyy]

I use the Esprit 120 on an NEQ6 pro with guide scope, camera and filter wheel all performs well for me

[Aidan]

Likewise, Esprit 120 with guidescope, CCD & Filters on my NEQ6 and it works a charm.  

[Hailfire101]

Would you guys consider the 120ed an upgrade to the 200p for DSO imaging? 

[wigggyy]

It depends on what you want to image I suppose I wouldn't call it an upgrade as such as I just like refractors they are more compact and easier for me to deal with more plug and play if you like the 200p is faster of course at f5 the Esprit is f7 hope this is of some help to you

[wimvb]

If you put too much weight on your mount, you pay for pin point stars, but may very well end up with egg shaped ones. Imo, that would be money down the drain. I haven't used fracs, but with any setup, I'd stay below the specified load limit.

There are several ways to keep the weight down:

Lighter scope, less glass, carbon tube, etc

Off axis guider (or a finder guider)

No guiding, use high gain and short exposures.

[gorann]

For 6" refractors the Espirit 150 is probably the best you can get for that price, but if you go down towards 5" then there are many good and reasonably prices ones, and I would not necessarily go for an Esprit (I would also look into WO, TS and ES for example). And if you are still prepared to pay 4000 pounds (the FLO price for an Esprit 150), then you may get a top brand 5" scope (such as APM-LZOS or Takahashi)

[ollypenrice]

I think it could work. The EQ6 carried my TEC140 very well. Unlike the other posters I don't regard the weight as the key issue. (I rarely do, by the way. They key issue is mount accuracy.) So the real question concerns the level of resolution you're trying to acheive. When the TEC was working pretty well on one of our EQ sixes it had an Atik 11000 in the back working at 1.8 arcsecs per pixel. I also use an Atik 460 in the same scope, giving about 0.9"PP. In that configuration I would far rather have the setup on the Mesu 200!

In terms of accuracy the EQ6 is very, very variable. If you have been guiding with yours already you should be able to derive a guiding RMS in units of arcseconds. You will also be able to ascertain the value in arcsecs per pixel of your proposed 150/camera combo. If your guiding RMS is around half of your imaging scale you have the accuracy you need and, in my view, the EQ6 will cope with the weight.

Like everyone else in this game I've had my share of guiding hassles. How many of those hassles have come from the problem of payload? None of them.

Olly