Lowest rated mount for planetary imaging?

[Dan13]

Hi, Ive recently sold up most of my astrophotography gear as it just wasn't being used, last year for me was terrible weather wise and decided to sell up while the prices were good with a view to take it back up again when i retire.

That being said i kept my 127 mak as still want to view but id also like to still do planetary imaging, What type of mount will be sufficient without breaking the bank? is a Star adventurer enough payload wise to image with the mak?

I think it will be the mak, a red dot and an asi 224 or 290 ill be using, i know im a bit foolish as i sold my HEQ5 pro but the current price for 2nd hand atm it was hard not to and also the added fact i would like to be more mobile and go out with my rig more leaned me towards something lighter.

Anyone image the planets with a 127 mak and Star adventure? or the ioptron equivalent?

thanks for any help

[vlaiv]

AzGTI?

As long as mount can track reasonably well and keep planet in FOV - you can image with it.

Only drawback of using AltAZ mount over EQ one is imaging the moon in multiple panels. If you use alt az mount - panels will end up slightly rotated, but if your stitching app can handle that - then all is fine. You do have to be careful when planning mosaic so you don't end up with "cracks" between panels.

[Dan13]

Thanks @vlaiv Is there much of a difference between that and the SA? think there's about £100 in it between them (new anyways) thanks for the heads up on the mosaic, something i hadn't though of 

[ScouseSpaceCadet]

The AZGTI isn't a one trick pony like the Star Adventurer. It's a bona fide GoTo mount while being very small, light weight and versatile.

 

 

There's loads more videos and a search on the forums will reveal plenty of info.

 

Edited April 6, 2021 by ScouseSpaceCadet

[Dan13]

5 minutes ago, ScouseSpaceCadet said:

The AZGTI isn't a one trick pony like the Star Adventurer. It's a bona fide GoTo mount while being very small, light weight and versatile.

 

 

There's loads more videos and a search on the forums will reveal plenty of info.

 

Thank you, Funny enough i was just about to watch Cuiv's video, yes i have had a little browse through the forum, kind of wanted some first hand experience with folks using the same scope, thanks for the info ill keep digging and watching

[CraigT82]

You don't really *need* tracking at all (although it definitely makes things easier).

If you have something like an AZ4 you can manually track the planet with your mak, well you don't so much track as place the cameras FoV just in front of the planet and let it drift through whilst capturing, then reposition amd repeat. 

I got this Jupiter image using my 200mm f/6 newt on a skytee mount (2.25x barlow and an old imaging source DFK21 camera). I captured about 10,000 frame in total, of which there were about 4,000 that had the planet in it. Used pipp to auto detect and centre the planet in each good frame and then stacked best 25%.

 

Edited April 6, 2021 by CraigT82

[Space Oddities]

I love my AZ-GTi  I bought it initially with a 4" Maksutov to do planetary imaging and get started with observing. It works really well, and tracking is good too when setup properly (but that's true for any mount).

Photographers always say that the best camera is the one you have with you. This little mount can be taken anywhere, you just need a backpack and you're good to go. I often bring it over at friends or family with my Maksutov, to show them the planets. I once set it up in just 3 minutes, one of my friends wanted to take a peak at Jupiter before leaving!

It can handle anything below the 5kg payload limit, so your 127 Mak should be fine. I believe Sky-Watcher even sells these 2 as a bundle, so it's safe to say the Mak 127 is officially supported. Of course a solid tripod and potentially a counterweight, might be necessary as you get closer to the 5kg limit, especially at extreme magnification, where the tiniest movement is visible.

Now it has replaced my iOptron SkyGuider pro as an EQ mount too. The Go-To alone makes star trackers look like prehistoric tools in comparison, while having the same form factor, price and payload. And it's really nice to have a mount that does both EQ and Alt-AZ, in such a small package and for such a low price!

It has its quirks of course, and some folks seem to have received bad copies and have problems with tracking. But you're covered if you purchase it from a reputable source anyway, and I wonder to what extent the problems are really the mount's fault, or human error. The mount can be capricious sometimes, but once you learned its language, it's great  

[AstroNebulee]

I love my AzGti mount with my Skymax 127 and though I haven't been able to image the gas giants planets with it yet as I only had the mount a few months ago but did image Mars and Uranus. It's a revelation for lunar imaging with my zwo asi120mc-s and aldo my dslr. I use it with the star adventurer tripod that came with the az gti mount and pretty solid but its really at top weight capacity and I have a 6x30 RA fs on it. Its such a portable system as space oddities rightly said and I can also be set up in 5 minutes then cooling time of course, I also use my 72ed on this mount and have had beautiful images with both. I'm waiting on delivery for my star adventurer to use my 72ed on. Here are some images of my skymax 127 set up, clear skies 

Edited April 6, 2021 by LeeHore7

[AstroNebulee]

Edited April 6, 2021 by LeeHore7
Addition supposed to go with my description above.