Christmas is around the corner...

[djdurance]

Yup... That's right! I was just chatting with the folks at FLO and they strongly encouraged me to order now to ensure the Christmas present arrives in time and isn't back ordered. I currently have:

- Star Adventurer

- Solid tripod

- 600d

- some basic camera lenses (50mm, 135mm, 55-250mm)

- Skywatcher 90MAK

- Assortment of 1.25" eyepieces

I'm "asking"  my wife for a small scope foo photography and for what we bring for camping (so visual as well). 4 boys are starting to get into this so this will be a nice compliment to my Skywatcher 90MAK. I want to make sure that when we open things up and head on our Christmas trip we aren't missing anything. Here is what I've come up with as I compare the 4 scopes I'm looking at... I can't push this any further (budget was actually 500!) so guiding is a 2021 dream at this point. The SkyWatcher 80ED is probably pushing the weight.

I assume I can use my finderscope from my MAK? I'm not sure if the Diagonal is a must to get going?

[DaveS]

Winter is coming .

[djdurance]

1 hour ago, DaveS said:

Winter is coming .

Long nights

[wimvb]

1 hour ago, DaveS said:

Winter is coming .

 

15 minutes ago, djdurance said:

Long nights

Aka low noise season, for those who don’t have a cooled camera.

2 hours ago, djdurance said:

I want to make sure that when we open things up and head on our Christmas trip we aren't missing anything

Batteries?

[djdurance]

2 minutes ago, wimvb said:

 

Aka low noise season, for those who don’t have a cooled camera.

Batteries?

 

Any thoughts on which choice to go with?

[wimvb]

I think that a 12v leisure battery can do the job. But if you want something fancy, you could go for this

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/batteries-powerpacks/skywatcher-powertank-17ah.html

Although I have no idea what a siren is good for in astrophotography, or a big flashlight for that matter.

[djdurance]

Just now, wimvb said:

I think that a 12v leisure battery can do the job. But if you want something fancy, you could go for this

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/batteries-powerpacks/skywatcher-powertank-17ah.html

Although I have no idea what a siren is good for in astrophotography, or a big flashlight for that matter.

Ah! Thanks... Yes, I have this. I was curious about the various scope options!

[Kyle Allen]

I have a William Optics Zenithstar 61 that I use with a Star Adventurer mount. It is a good combination. I can lift the whole thing outside fully assembled - then I just have to connect all the cables to my laptop, which I use for guiding and controlling my camera. Recently I've been able to get some nice images with it that I'm really pleased with. 

Mine is the early version without the dovetail bar and saddle for guide-scope. The new version is quite a lot more expensive than I payed for mine. I think the other option worth considering is the Skywatcher Evostar 72ED. It seems like really good value for money and many people seem to use it to good success on the Star Adventurer. For visual use it should give you much nicer views than 60mm and less field curvature as well.

In my opinion, the other two options are just too heavy for the mount. I hope this helps! 🙂

[wimvb]

1 minute ago, djdurance said:

Ah! Thanks... Yes, I have this. I was curious about the various scope options!

Ok.

I have no direct experience of any of those scopes, but I wouldn’t want to push the limit of the SA. So, not the SW 80ED. The SW 72ED and the WO 73 are very similar in fl and ”speed”. But is the WO ”, even though it’s an apo, worth more than double the price? You could have a look on astrobin and compare the images that both scopes produce. Not exactly a shoot out, but imo a decent indicator of what to expect from these scopes.