EEA / Visual set up

[Hendog666]

Looking to buy me first set up. 
 

would like something to start off with visual and progress to EEA. I like refractor scopes having owned one in the past, and the virtually maintenance free they offer (no collimation etc) 

 

looking at buying the Altair starwave 152 along with the ioptron AZ pro mount. 
 

Would this setup allow me to move onto EEA when the time comes? 
 

Thankyou for any advice 

[Elp]

You can use alt az for EEA, one of the most popular pieces of astro equipment at the moment the ZWO Seestar is alt az though an equatorial mount will allow you to expose per image for longer.

You can technically do EAA with any optical setup (even normal camera bodies) when paired with a camera and computer controller/software.

A scope that long will need a very sturdy tripod or mount onto a pier.

[Hendog666]

43 minutes ago, Elp said:

You can use alt az for EEA, one of the most popular pieces of astro equipment at the moment the ZWO Seestar is alt az though an equatorial mount will allow you to expose per image for longer.

You can technically do EAA with any optical setup (even normal camera bodies) when paired with a camera and computer controller/software.

A scope that long will need a very sturdy tripod or mount onto a pier.

Yes I’ve looked at the see star and vespera but would like the option for use visually aswell. 
 

So would a 2 inch tripod with the ioptron mount be adequate?

 

thankyou for your input 

[Elp]

I would think a thick leg tripod would work. Is there any reason you're looking at a 6 inch refractor, I use a 4 and it's perfectly fine and a more manageable size.

Edited March 2 by Elp

[Hendog666]

22 minutes ago, Elp said:

I would think a thick leg tripod would work. Is there any reason you're looking at a 6 inch refractor, I use a 4 and it's perfectly fine and a more manageable size.

No reason in particular, just thought I’d get the biggest aperture for the visual side 

[Elp]

The thing with size, your focal length also increases (and fov gets smaller). For imaging this means your tracking has to be better, not sure how the az will perform as I've always used equatorial when imaging.

What you will be able to see visually will greatly depend on your bortle zone and local LP. A camera isnt hindered so much by this as it can see over time rather than at the time visually (unless there's a massive light shining nearby).

Edited March 2 by Elp

[Cosmic Geoff]

One scope to do everything never works well. That is why I have four.  

I have found that the inexpensive 102mm f5 Startravel works well for EAA.  With the money saved you could find a 6" visual scope that doesn't weigh 9 KG or cost £600.

[Hendog666]

4 minutes ago, Cosmic Geoff said:

One scope to do everything never works well. That is why I have four.  

I have found that the inexpensive 102mm f5 Startravel works well for EAA.  With the money saved you could find a 6" visual scope that doesn't weigh 9 KG or cost £600.

How would the mount mentioned perform for EEA? 

[Hendog666]

13 hours ago, Elp said:

The thing with size, your focal length also increases (and fov gets smaller). For imaging this means your tracking has to be better, not sure how the az will perform as I've always used equatorial when imaging.

What you will be able to see visually will greatly depend on your bortle zone and local LP. A camera isnt hindered so much by this as it can see over time rather than at the time visually (unless there's a massive light shining nearby).

I have a camper conversion so would be travelling to use it, mainly remote places, not so much as a garden set up in use every regularly.

was after something to play about with visually and for EEA and seen that was f5.9 and thought it would work.

Appreciate your feedback

[Elp]

Visually you can technically use any scope as long as the mount and tripod are sturdy enough. To get satisfying images without vibration or tracking issues takes some more work (and added money), a shorter FL scope would be easier in this regard (less tracking accuracy for the mount).

Edited March 3 by Elp

[M40]

From an eea view point, I use both an 85mm and a 125mm. I use the 85mm for eea with just a camera so as simple an optical chain as you can get and I can't see me running out of targets suitable for this telescope anytime soon. The 150mm you mentioned, like my 125mm will enable you to image the smaller targets. If you use a reducer with the 150mm you will likely get most targets in your field of view.

Visually, the 150mm will be more of a light bucket so is likely to give better views, but as I have found out, the length of the larger telescope will require a much more stable mount. Also, the closer your target gets to the zenith, the lower the eyepiece will be. Just something to consider.

Noting that you will be transporting your stuff so the lighter and smaller the better, so from a purely eea perspective, I would suggest starting with a smaller telescope requiring a smaller goto mount. All the best and I hope it makes sense.

[PeterC65]

An AZ mount is fine for EAA, and for visual. I do both and have recently upgraded from a Sky-Watcher SynScan AZ GOTO mount to the AZ EQ5. I did a lot of research during this process and seriously considered the iOptron AZ Pro.

There are a few AZ GOTO mounts in the sub £500 bracket that will handle payloads of up to 5kg, but to handle scopes heavier than this there is a big jump in price to £1000+. If you can afford it I would recommend going for a 15kg payload mount as it will be much more stable and futureproof (I found my first mount greatly limited my choice of scopes). I really like my AZ-EQ5 but it is not easily transportable. I think the iOptron would be a better choice in this respect.

The Starwave 152 has a wide aperture but it is an achromat and so you will see chromatic aberration when doing EAA, and it has quite a long focal length making it better suited to smaller objects. For about the same money you could get a 6" Newtonian which would be good for visual and for EAA on smaller objects, plus a smaller apochromatic refractor which would still be useful for visual and would be a good scope for EAA. I have a 72mm apochromatic refractor for example which is my EAA workhorse and is also useful for widefield visual.

 

[Beardy30]

I went for the 102 startravel on the azi GTI - personally I found it frustrating and have since ditched my 224mc camera and I’ve bought a Seestar s50 - it’s so simple to use I’d recommend it, however I also Like my 102 - not a high end scope but it does a good job visually 

[Anne S]

My husband has used the Altairastro 152mm f5.9 for several years. He does EAA with it and had it mounted on an Ioptron original IEQ45 mount. That worked well particularly as it was on the earlier Ioptron pier type tripod. He also has a minitower pro mount in a tripod, the current AZ pro mount is the replacement for the minitower pro. If you are going to use a long scope on the AZ it will need to be carefully balanced. Also you may need the mini pier extension if you use a tripod as the scope my collide with the legs in the starting position. The objective is very heavy so the eyepiece end will be low down, hence the risk of hitting the tripod.

The 152 is excellent for EAA. He does use a mono camera and then sketches what's on the screen so he doesn't really have to worry about chromatic aberration.
Anne

[Hendog666]

Some great Infomation sent back here, appreciate it so much, Thankyou all