What EAA set up would you choose if you had to start again from scratch?

[Cosmic Geoff]

I have tried two setups for EAA, both using equipment to hand:

102mm f5 Startravel achromat, ASI224MC, EQ-5 Synscan.

CPC800 f6.3 reducer, ASI224MC 

EAA is not the same as visual. You don't need a large aperture. If you want to go fainter, lengthen the exposure.   I have found that the 102mm will show me as much or more from an urban location as a 203mm will visually at a dark skies site.

If you want a larger image scale, e.g for imaging planetary nebulae, you need a bigger scope.  However, if the focal ratio remains the same, you will not record fainter objects with the same exposure.  I found that my CPC800 f6.3 setup requires a longer exposure to image planetary nebulae to the same image brightness compared with the f5 Startravel.

[Martin Meredith]

Good advice on aperture Geoff. I'd add that even with a bigger scope / longer focal length there is no guarantee that seeing will be good enough to resolve the additional detail.

[Mike JW]

Agree with Martin/Geoff. As has often been demonstrated in the EEVA reports, 8" scopes often rival my 15" setup for detail although most time my set up probably has the slight edge. From my visual days here in GB the generally poor seeing meant only on the rare occasions could I use the 15 to its full effect but then when I could Jupiter would be awesome.

In GB scopes in the 8-10 " range do best in our poor seeing.

The obvious plus of the 15 is the speed at which I can get a shot because of its large light gathering.

Mike

[Jimbo64]

Hi again,

After lots of consideration and some great advice from FLO (thanks Chris) I went with this option: https://www.firstlightoptics.com/reflectors/skywatcher-explorer-200pds-heq5-pro.html

It's arriving this afternoon, Clear Outside is suggesting it will be late on Christmas Night before I get good enough weather for first light!

[Mike JW]

Well done. You will not live long enough to see all the targets within reach of the scope (even if you live to 100yrs!!!).

Mike

[RobertI]

5 hours ago, Jimbo64 said:

Hi again,

After lots of consideration and some great advice from FLO (thanks Chris) I went with this option: https://www.firstlightoptics.com/reflectors/skywatcher-explorer-200pds-heq5-pro.html

It's arriving this afternoon, Clear Outside is suggesting it will be late on Christmas Night before I get good enough weather for first light!

Can’t go wrong with that I think. 👍

[bosun21]

If you are going to do EEVA then try and place it somewhere sheltered if it’s windy at all, as they can suffer badly from the wind.

[nicoscy]

A good choice of scope and mount! There are coma correctors + reducers you can use should you feel the need to make the system faster. From then on, it is a combination of your local seeing and camera choice in terms of pixel size to sample correctly. 

If of any use, play with the attached. Change only the yellow cells. I use this for checking my setups. It's set for ZWO cameras (I use the ASIAir hence only interested in ZWO), but the chips used are the same, so if you use a different camera, it's the sensor that matters as opposed to the brand.

ASI Sensors.xlsx

[denodan]

Well the Dwarf 2 is a good starter. Getting great reviews and lots of support from the astronomical community. Does not cost much, and very useful in the day also.

 

very portable and a good place to start and get your feet wet, if you find doing eaa is. Bothersome as it can be awhile in setup time and has put people off.

 

Dwarf 2 is setup in less than 3 mins and so light a quick and grab setup, and fir tramping also.

 

dont discount the small Aperture as for its size does well. A great starting point for the pure beginner and always useful as it’s just as useful in daytime also

[SCANS]

On 22/12/2022 at 05:09, nicoscy said:

From then on, it is a combination of your local seeing and camera choice in terms of pixel size to sample correctly. 

Hey all, I also found this handy resource :

https://www.bintel.com.au/tools/astronomy-calculator/

It's a bit like FLO's own Field of View Calculator (https://astronomy.tools/calculators/field_of_view/) with the added indicator for over/under sampling. Of course now that I've figured out that it's just confirming if the resolution is in the acceptable range, I can use the FLO calculator with the same effect on more objects / scope combinations. My challenge remains matching resolution to seeing conditions, although with conditions in Nova Scotia being lousy so often, I'm usually just happy to capture something when I'm out 😁