Red Cat 51

[Beardy30]

Hi all

as a visual hobbyist I’ve never ventured into AP however I’m tempted to jump in 

what’s the view of the following:

red cat 51

sharpstar 61 version II

or the sw 72 ed

I have no idea what hat I’m doing I’ll admit that when it come to AP!

so any help in layman’s terms most welcome - I understand that I’ll need a dslr or a cam on the guide cam and ota and some sort of computer software to process but have no idea wheee to even start 

 

cheers 👍🏼

Ps my mount is the azi gti ! And I’m intending to stick with it - I have the mak 127 I use for visual 

[DSviewer]

Hi there I am in the same boat as it were looked at starter deep sky setup and short focal length wide field refractors recommended number of sources Redcat51 was one but also the zenith or if u want to triple the WO GT. Obviously depends on type of camera as this can restrict field of view.

[Beardy30]

8 hours ago, DSviewer said:

Hi there I am in the same boat as it were looked at starter deep sky setup and short focal length wide field refractors recommended number of sources Redcat51 was one but also the zenith or if u want to triple the WO GT. Obviously depends on type of camera as this can restrict field of view.

The sharpstar 61 is the one I’m leaning towards after quite a few good recommendations 

[The Lazy Astronomer]

I was recently looking at the Sharpstar 61 too, for wider field imaging, but l have some reservations about its ability to control chromatic aberration. At the minute I'm leaning more towards the WO71GT, but still very undecided...

[Simon Pepper]

The SW is a doublet, shsrpstar is a triplet, but the Redcat has four elements plus a flat field I can’t speak from experience but you may need flatteners for the others too. I would rule out the SW because it’s a doublet it won’t refract all the colours the same so you may see some artefacts. I can’t comment on the sharpstar either but I have a Redcat and it’s the best image quality scope I have by far. Being widefield as well it’s very forgiving for a newcomer to AP. I am sure others on here can provide some additional yeys or neys though. You should check https://astronomy.tools/calculators/ccd_suitability as well cause as above it can depend on your camera and pixel sizes too.  You want to avoid over sampling. 

Edited January 26, 2023 by Simon Pepper

[Beardy30]

The red cat is quality there’s no doubt but, imo it’s a tad over priced for its size,  one could argue it’s a beauty and it’s cheaper than buying an item you’ll never use and maybe end up being frustrated with, the sharpstar is is a decent alternative imo 

Edited January 26, 2023 by Beardy30

[Elp]

I use a WO Z61 mostly, its performance is very good. Being a synthetic fluorite fpl53 glass it's CA control is very good both visually and photographically, as a doublet I also have the benefit of choosing what flattener/reducer I wish to use with it so I can shoot native f5.9, down to f3.9 with a Redcat like fov, but having the benefit of a slightly longer native FL if I choose.