5se or p150i star discovery?

[stevie1980]

Hi peeps. 

I'm  choosing a new scope and I have 2 in mind.

A nexstar 5se

Or 

The SW star discovery p150i goto.

Which one in yr own opinions would be better for planetary imaging.

The 150SW SD doesn't come with control as its wifi. Hmmmm 🤔😬

Edited August 27, 2022 by stevie1980
Spelling error

[Zermelo]

Hello.

since you are asking specifically about imaging, you might get more relevant comments posting in the "Getting Started with Imaging" section.

I have the Star Discovery 150i, but I'm visual only.  It would be unsuitable for DSO imaging, but should be OK for some simple planetary work with a webcam. It's not great for using a DSLR in prime focus; the focuser isn't the most solid, and you might have trouble getting distance to achieve focus (though I think some people have managed, with a shallow camera body). The SW PDS versions are designed more with imaging in mind.

You mention the lack of a physical controller - yes, that's one of the ways they kept the price down on this model. You will find opinion split on the matter - some people much prefer to have a separate handset and/or don't get on with wifi. I actually prefer to control it via a phone, because I run Synscan with Skysafari planetarium software and I like to manage my sessions that way.

I don't have experience of that Celestron, but I do have a 5" Mak. For general-purpose use I think the 150i is slightly better because of the wider true field. But if planets are your main targets then you'll mostly be aiming for narrow fields and higher magnifications. The SCT has the advantage of a 1250mm focal length, vs. the 750mm of the 150i, so higher magnifications will be a bit easier to achieve. It would also be a bit more stable, having a shorter physical tube. I've not noticed any difference in limiting magnitude or resolving power between the two, though in theory the 150i ought to have the edge.

I hope you'll get some responses from the imaging community too.

 

[stevie1980]

Hi there and thanks for the reply.

Yes im aware of the prime focus issue and thats a bit of a pain.  I know the mirror can be moved forward slightly to get better advantage for prime focus/ for astro p. But I'm not touching the mirror so if I want to do a bit of astrophotography (which I will be doing sooner or later) then ill just buy a 102 refractor from SW or the 72 ed and put that on the discovery mount...thankyou very much for yr input.  Ive decided to get the SW P150i. I assume I can still get a good focus on planets using a barlow though? 

[happy-kat]

The star discovery mount moves in tiny left right up down movements to track, that's fine for planets and the Moon as exposures with a planetary camera are in ms. For DSO field rotation does become an issue and is the limiting factor for longer exposures but if stick within the limitations and crop the edge off where field rotation mostly shows then imaging with a tracking altaz mount is not impossible, it depends on the aims and desires of the user and what and how much the expectations might be.

[stevie1980]

23 minutes ago, happy-kat said:

The star discovery mount moves in tiny left right up down movements to track, that's fine for planets and the Moon as exposures with a planetary camera are in ms. For DSO field rotation does become an issue and is the limiting factor for longer exposures but if stick within the limitations and crop the edge off where field rotation mostly shows then imaging with a tracking altaz mount is not impossible, it depends on the aims and desires of the user and what and how much the expectations might be.

Gotcha..I used to have the 8" SW PDS with the heq5 if I remember and  couldn't do a decent polar align as couldnt see polaris from my observation point (on my tiny back garden).so now im using (going to be using i should say) the alt az for planetary and try eventually to do some quick astro/p with lots or short time exposures probably something like ie 200x10sec exposures..im not expecting an amazing image by any means, but just enough to make me want to by another eq mount and another 200pds and then travel to use it under darker skies and being able to see polaris to get a good p align... felt sick selling my 8" eq set up aswel but I got my hair off not being able to p align and it was only a matter of time before I stuck the OTA into somebody lol pardon the expression..  

Many thanks for taking the time to reply. 

Edited August 29, 2022 by stevie1980
Spelling correction as per usual lol

[Zermelo]

48 minutes ago, stevie1980 said:

I assume I can still get a good focus on planets using a barlow though

Sure. In the UK, magnification is often limited by the seeing rather than the equipment, for visual at least. You may have an advantage with a webcam,  as you could still stack a reduced  proportion of good frames in poor conditions? I'm guessing, but someone will put me right.