Mount advice

[Celestron4]

I bought a Celestron Nexstar Evolution 6" telescope when I first started Astrophotography (5ish years ago) and have since upgraded to an equatorial mount which made a significant difference.  I still use the SCT telescope itself but no longer use the Alt/Az mount that came with it and am now considering my options for what I can do with it. It is in good condition and was only used for a relatively brief period of time before I upgraded to an equatorial. I would be grateful for any thoughts or advice as to what my best options are at this point.

If I was to consider selling it how would I go about doing this and how much could I expect to get for it? Is it even worth selling it at this point?

The other option is to use it as an alternative to a Skywatcher Star Adventurer type mount as I have a DSLR and telephoto lens already. Is it even worth considering this?

 

 

[Cosmic Geoff]

You could consider selling the Celestron Nexstar Evolution C6 as a complete package, and then re-purchasing a C6 OTA (or whateber OTA you want). Why? The implied value of an Evolution mount is high (check the relevant prices) but you might not get much for it if you try to sell it separately as an alt-azimuth mount for small short telescopes.   As a guide price, you might attain for the package 66% of what a new C6 Evolution costs.

If you are going to use the mount as a camera tracker, you need to figure out how to do the star alignment. It might be better to dispose of it and get a dedicated camera tracker. As a guy at my astro club pointed out, these relatively new devices are becoming increasingly capable.

[Celestron4]

Thank you very much for the advice, I'll definitely have a look at how much others are selling it for. I've been considering changing the telescope for a while - it's great for photographing galaxies but its large focal length is somewhat limiting when it comes to larger objects (M42, M31, IC1805, etc). I've been looking at refractors as they seem to be the most versatile for deep sky astrophotography but finding one that fits my limited student budget has not been easy. Do you have any thoughts?

[Cosmic Geoff]

You could get a Startravel 102mm achro refractor.  It costs about £200, so worth considering if you can't afford an ED or APO.

[Celestron4]

I was looking at the Skywatcher ED Pro range and William Optics Zenithstar 73 (so £500 ish budget, if it helps). Are there any others that you think I should be looking at?