cheapest goto mount for c8 edge

[iwols]

just wondered what the cheapest mount for a c8 would be that would cope with the c8 edge thanks

[Merlin66]

I used the C8 Meade equivalent successfully on a HEQ5 mount for a while......

Having said that I moved to a NEQ6pro later (for a C9.25) and found that even more stable and easily capable of handling a C11.

(Inow use a C11 with a spectroscope, four cameras and electronic finder on a NEQ6PRO- no issues, no drama.)

 

[iwols]

right my dilema is ,i have a ror with the heq5  mounted with a tq 100 and all set up for astrophotography which i dont want to disturb but the problem i have is at the moment both jupiter and saturn are low down and the area the pier mount is, is too close to a row of bungalows ,so i thought about using my c8 to start with for visual where i can use it on my patio which will just be able to view both planets,now im starting to think i will want to take some images,so visual and astro will now doubt be used,the heq5 is serving me well ,confused iwols? any suggestions appreciated

[MilwaukeeLion]

Not sure its most inexpensive but AVX is good light weight mount for moving around yard imaging planets.  Can accurately polar align from anywhere in your yard with only hand controller. Polaris not needed.

Other night wanted to image ISS crossing moon.  Moon was low so trees would be an issue.  Noticed Jupiter was only 1 degree higher than moon and on same trajectory so looked at alt/az coordinates of moon when pass happened.  Moved Jupiter in stellarium to that position and noted the time (about an hour earlier).  Went outside to see where Jupiter centered up between trees at that time.  Set up AVX mount where I was standing - Jupiter in center of tree gap.  Only views I have in this spot is partial South, SE, SW and up.  Used all star polar align in hand controller was able to accurately polar align with no view of Polaris or N, E or W.  I captured the pass, was quite pleased with myself.

Enjoy being able to set up and polar align anywhere in yard.  Not very good mount for long exposure imaging.

[iwols]

16 hours ago, iwols said:

right my dilema is ,i have a ror with the heq5  mounted with a tq 100 and all set up for astrophotography which i dont want to disturb but the problem i have is at the moment both jupiter and saturn are low down and the area the pier mount is, is too close to a row of bungalows ,so i thought about using my c8 to start with for visual where i can use it on my patio which will just be able to view both planets,now im starting to think i will want to take some images,so visual and astro will now doubt be used,the heq5 is serving me well ,confused iwols? any suggestions appreciated

so if i bought a better mount i would probably want to use that for my fixed set up which would leave me with the heq5 pro,would this be good enough for the c8 edge for occasional viewing /imaging thoughts appreciated

[ollypenrice]

Is this for DS imaging?

Because the C8 has a fairly long focal length, even with reducer, it will need a mount which can handle the weight and deliver the tracking accuracy you need. The accuracy may be a lot harder to meet than the weight requirement. It will ultimately depend on the pixel scale at which you are imaging. This will depend on the camera's pixel size. You can find your pixel scale here: http://www.12dstring.me.uk/fovcalc.php  If the imaging is casual and you're not hell bent on exploiting the full resolution of the C8 (which is always going to be difficult with most cameras) then accepting imperfect guiding would be OK provided it were roughly equally imperfect in both axes, giving you round stars.

HEQ5 'possible,' EQ6 'better.'

Olly

[Chris]

For visual to run along side you HEQ5 in the obs I think the EQ5 pro would work fine. I think this is one of the cheapest options that could carry the C8. 

[Cosmic Geoff]

If you want to mount a C8 for planetary imaging, the minimum requirement is not that severe.  For a whole season I used a C8 with the SE alt-az GoTo mount. It is not suitable for the purpose - it's wobbly, has backlash and for this exacting task tended to drift, but none of this affected the quality of the planetary images.  I also used a RA motor-driven EQ5 one night - that worked OK too.

An EQ-5, HEQ5 or AVX would do the job, but note that you don't need a EQ mount for planetary imaging - in fact it might be better to use an Alt-Az GoTo, since one expert points out that tipping a SCT upside down partway through the session might induce some mirror shift and put the collimation out.

I actually use a CPC800 at the moment- no polar aligning required!