Celestron Astro Fi 6 Schmidt-Cassegrain Telescope for basic AP

[Nickscope]

I 'm not a complete novice, but I' my after a little bit of advice. I was thinking of the Sky-Watcher Explorer 150P-DS on an EQ5 goto pro, as I wanted to do some AP. Looking at the weight I think it will be too heavy, so I was considering the Celestron Astro Fi 6 Schmidt-Cassegrain, as it says you can do some basic AP. Does anybody have experience of doing AP with it or for that matter any experience of using the Telescope? Thanks. 

[Ags]

I use a 6" SCT scavenged from an Astrofi 6 with an AZ-GTI mount. The telescope is excellent, no different from any other Celestron 6" SCT, and can be used for imaging planets and the moon (and even deep sky objects if you get an f6.3 focal reducer/corrector). I have no experience of the Astrofi mount, but I am pretty sure it would let you image planets or the moon, but would be a real headache trying to image deep sky objects which need longer exposures and thus a more stable platform.

Edited December 6, 2023 by Ags

[bosun21]

40 minutes ago, Ags said:

I have no experience of the Astrofi mount,

He's talking about an EQ5 pro mount.

[Ags]

Not sure, I thought the astrofi was an alternative to eq5+150pds. Hopefully the OP can clarify.

[Nickscope]

Thanks for replies, I was talking a about the Astro Fi on it's AZ-alt mount, instead of the 150P-DS on it's EQ5 mount. 

[bosun21]

10 hours ago, Ags said:

Not sure, I thought the astrofi was an alternative to eq5+150pds. Hopefully the OP can clarify.

My apologies I must have read it wrong 😔.

[Cosmic Geoff]

The C6 OTA will be good for planetary imaging and maybe live-stacking EAA of bright small objects like planetary nebulae (maybe aided by  F6.3 focal reducer).  The astro-fi system may well prove to be awkward to use for imaging, as this setup is AFAIK primarily intended for visual use, and the tripod may well prove to be wobbly - it seems similar to the SLT tripod which I have found too wobbly for imaging use. 

If you intend to do serious deep sky imaging, you need to get kit dedicated for the purpose, after you have thought hard about what size of object you want to image, as this makes a major difference to the kit, with potential targets ranging from 10 degrees down to a few seconds of arc in size.  Be aware that astro imaging can soon get very expensive.   A small refractor would probably be easier to use than a 6" Newt, and is a popular starting point.  If you want to dip a toe in the water, order a Seestar S50 for around £550.

Many serious deep-sky imagers use an EQ-6 which is heavier than the EQ-5.

Trying to make one outfit serve for visual and imaging rarely works out well.

Edited December 7, 2023 by Cosmic Geoff