"Minimum" Mount for Astrophotography

[Startinez]

I'm trying to get my head around what mount I should get for my beginner setup.

 

I have an Orion 90mm refractor (Astroview 9024), and a budget of £750 for a dedicated astro camera & tracking mount. I've had my eye on a HEQ5 Pro but the issue is, it would have to be second hand to be in my budget and I don't know enough to properly scrutinise any purchase I'm making.

 

I've seen an EQM35 mentioned and whilst one would assume due to the price difference this will be not as good as the HEQ5, it would allow me to purchase from new and still have £200+ for an astrocamera. Would the EQM35 be stable enough for my telescope? My main goals by this time next year are to have properly imaged M31 and M42 so accurate tracking on DSOs is a must.

[Kriss Craik]

Hello Startinez, from what I can see your scope would be pushing the limits of the EQM35 for visual use let alone astrophotography. The max capacity is 10kg for visual.

As the mount is your foundation my advice would be to go for something more stable like the HEQ5. That way you would not be shelling out for a new mount (too soon anyway).

That said the targets you have on your bucket list are easily achievable with a DSLR on a tracking mount such as the staradventurer and these would both be in your budget.

hope this helps

[Startinez]

10 hours ago, Kriss Craik said:

Hello Startinez, from what I can see your scope would be pushing the limits of the EQM35 for visual use let alone astrophotography. The max capacity is 10kg for visual.

As the mount is your foundation my advice would be to go for something more stable like the HEQ5. That way you would not be shelling out for a new mount (too soon anyway).

That said the targets you have on your bucket list are easily achievable with a DSLR on a tracking mount such as the staradventurer and these would both be in your budget.

hope this helps

This certainly does help, and I guess that going forward it will mean less compatibility issues should I wish to upgrade my scope. Thank you.

[ollypenrice]

The minimum mount is the mount which is a little above the minimum mount you need! But seriously, this really is the truth. If you joined an astrosoc you might find someone who could look over a mount for you. Buying second hand is certainly the biggest way to cut costs. A large majority of the kit I use as an astronomy provider was second hand, including 2xMesu 200 mounts, Takahashi FSQ106, TEC140, Meade LX200 14 inch and DMK planetary camera and Atik 460 CCD. It's all perfectly good kit and no different from new.

The HEQ5 is a good mount with plenty of backup available.

Olly

Edited March 24, 2019 by ollypenrice

[Sypher]

I'm sorry I don't have an answer for your question. I've been thinking about getting that model telescope and was hoping you could give me your opinion on it?

 

[Realtimedoctor]

I'd suggest getting an EQ5 Pro, it should be able to handle your telescope well, and a dslr. 

It's unlikely you'd find a dedicated astro camera within that budget. However a second hand dslr( modded/unmodded) will give you good results. 

You should keep in mind though, that if you ever upgrade your scope you'll need a new mount as well. 

 

PS - I'm selling a modded and TEC Cooled cannon 600D if you need one

Good luck 

[rnobleeddy]

I got an EQ5 earlier this year. Borrowed from a friend, but basically new.

It's good enough to get started. Mine didn't guide that well out of the box due to what I guess is stiction in the DEC axis, so whilst ymmv, I would have to throw away more than half of the subs for 5 minute exposures, but of course, I had a much better success rate for shorter exposures. 

I've set out to replace some of the bearings and tune it as far as I can. There's some great videos on youtube that cover a full tune/rebuild that you can dip in and out of. I'm yet to test due to clouds, but I'm hopeful that my changes will have improved things. 

The other issue is total weight. I tried hard to keep the weight down, so have tried to opt for lighter weight components, but it all adds up. I'm closer to 6Kg than the recommended 5Kg (with a 130PDS and a modded 450d) and so have no room left to add anything else.

If the budget is strict, a new EQ5 Pro and a second hand DSLR is just within your price range. If you're happy to buy second hand, I've seen second hand HEQ5s for the same price as a new EQ5, but they come up pretty rarely (and even more rarely within sensible driving range).

From what I've read, there's not a great deal of point getting a dedicated astro camera for DSO until you can afford a cooled camera, but others may have a different opinion.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Whilst a second-hand HEQ5 is certainly a good choice, and most astronomers treat their kit well, so I wouldn't worry too much about getting a lemon, you can get results with a lighter mount, at the expense of more hassle, and probably more subs discarded. With modern CMOS cameras, stacking many short exposures has become a viable option, and even with my humble EQ3-2 mount I have got some pretty decent results, even without guiding.

However, the scope I use is an apochromat, and has a much shorter focal length (480 mm and most often 384 mm with reducer) than your Astroview 9024 at 910 mm focal length, and that makes tracking and guiding far more difficult in your case. At just over F/10, the scope is rather slow for DSO imaging. The above image was taken at F/4.8 with a total exposure time of a few hours. At F/10 you need to quadruple the exposure time to get the same illumination on the chip. A short telephoto lens might get much better results, even with a lighter mount. The following is a result obtained with a Canon 200mm F/2.8 L lens and Canon EOS 700D on an EQ3-2 mount.

Having said all this, the HEQ5 is a great, future proof mount,