Portable visual/AP rig

[discardedastro]

Hi all,

While I add to the pile of cables and accessories on the 200PDS at home, I may end up with some days soon where I have to commute down south and overnight before I head back home. While I can get a hotel or B&B no problem the thought did occur to me that if I'm just overnighting for the sake of breaking up my driving, and since I'll be within 20-30 minutes of some fantastic dark sky reserves, I could just as easily find a campsite and pitch a tent for the night. But having lobbed my EQ6-R and 200PDS in the back of my car before (once was enough), I'm starting to consider what a low-cost second rig would look like for some wide-field AP and a bit of casual observing.

So the spec is:

• Telescope, mount, tripod, dew shield, power
• Something that won't mind being carried around bumpy roads
• Total cost below £600-700 or so initially
• Not a Dobsonian/Newtonian

I'd like a frac because I've already got the Newtonian side covered, and I'd like this to complement the Newt at home when I'm not out and about.

Currently pondering some of the smaller WO APOs or the Startravel ED scopes, but the mount side of the equation is vexing me. I may just be being unrealistic about the cost, ultimately. What should I consider? I've also not done any "off grid" observation/imaging before - what else should I consider?

[Vixen4eva]

Star Adventurer / Tripod / DSLR and telephoto lens. Thats what i use...

Alan

[Dinglem]

10 minutes ago, Vixen4eva said:

Star Adventurer / Tripod / DSLR and telephoto lens. Thats what i use...

Alan

That's exactly the set up I've just aquired and waiting for some clear sky's to play with it.

[david_taurus83]

Bit of a tricky one. For AP you need a tracking mount. For decent visual you need aperture/focal length, depending on what you want to see! Which way are you leaning?

[Anthonyexmouth]

second hand Star adventurer and a new WO z61 would be a nice little package for the budget 

[vlaiv]

How about AZ GTI instead of Star adventurer. It can be used in both AZ and EQ configuration - can be guided, good for visual and wide field imaging?

Something like 72mm F/6 doublet would be good scope for that? I think it would go nicely with a reducer and 183 sensor.

 

 

[discardedastro]

I hadn't really fully considered the SLR approach, if I'm honest, but it might make a lot of sense for the imaging half of the equation as I'm only thinking about wide-field. I've been pondering a new camera for terrestrial use anyway (looking at the Nikon Z6) so could expand/make better use of the budget overall in that sense, and I've got the big scope for Ha, so OSC without modification/cooling would be fine; would just need to pick out a decent lens/scope. An SLR would be easier to lug about than the ASI with all the supporting bits and pieces it needs, so there's a lot to be said for that!

To be honest though even if I stuck to the ASI183MM as a camera, going down the "camera tracking mount" route looks to be more sensible than going full-blown APO on small mount, instead going for a very small APO like the WO z61 I could sling on a Star Adventurer or with a simple camera lens rather than a scope. The iOptron SmartEQ Pro+ looks like it'd work out about the same or thereabouts as a SA+tripod and be a bit more flexible; that plus a z61 weighs in around £820 which is a bit over spec but not a million miles away. Not sure about the SmartEQ vs the AZ GTI.

I think I'd lean more towards imaging than visual - totally understand that optimising for one in a very tight set of requirements (weight, cost) is going to give a much better result than half-arsing both.

72mm f/6 would suggest the WO 73mm APO which is a fair bit dearer but agree it'd work well with the 183 for wide-field.

Lots to think about - thanks all