Good equatorial mount for 8SE (EQPro, GCE or other?)

[fintwin2]

I am new to the Astronomy game but have always been an avid lover of space. I have an 8SE and the Alt AZ mount it comes with leaves much to be desired due to how unstable it is. I have been on the market looking around to get things really stable so I can try perhaps some planet photography but mainly I want to get rid of constant wobbling with the slightest touch or breeze. I would love to add the Hyperstar in the future to do more deep space photography just for fun so would love to be as accurate and smooth as possible. I have been seeing a lot about the Starwatcher EQ6 Pro but was wondering if anyone has suggestions. I can only find a single store in my city that does anything with Telescopes and they have an old GCE Mount for $999, originally like a 5K mount, but I think it is a little too robust and heavy, plus, I am needing to travel a bit to see any good skies. I think I would also need an inverter to use the GCE out and about whereas I think my current battery I am using with my Alt AZ mount will work with the Skywatcher EQ6 Pro. Any guidance or suggestions would be appreciated. 

As a bonus question, I have a white light filter (Thousand Oaks) for solar viewing but really would love to get into H Alpha as I would love to see prominences and such. I think it would be cool to get the zoom of the 8SE with an H Alpha but I am having trouble finding anything about it or if it is even possible/recommended. I am guessing its quite expensive and intensive to do as I am supposing it would need a filter or mirror adjustment due to looking at the sun as well as the H Alpha eye piece to do any sun viewing. If that isn't feasible, or just to costly/intensive, what would be a good Solar scope to see Prominences?

Note, I do know that the 8SE isnt the best option for deep space photography and things like that, I just really want to mess with this thing to see what all I can get out of it besides good planet viewing.

[bwj]

I can't speak to a GEM for the C8, but I also have the 8SE. While it not the steadiest, I haven't had a problem with it for visual. I have am starting to use a piggyback mount for my DSLR.

This article might be useful.

https://www.sdfalchetti.com/blog-1/2021/1/16/astrophotography-with-the-nexstar-8se

 

Clear skies!

[RT65CB-SWL]

Hi @fintwin2 and welcome to SGL. 

I have a C6/SCT and up until a few years ago, I would mount it upon a Vixen GP. I never used to like EQ mounts until then. Something about owning a Vixen mount just ticked the boxes in the right places. I later sold it to fund one of my ‘T’ alt-az mounts as shown in my signature, as I enjoy a dual mounted setup and the Vixen GP was unable to cope with the extended payload. I do regret selling it. Anyway, the mount is the solid foundation of any ‘scope and for imaging, the sturdier it is, the better.

H-alpha ‘scopes are expensive, maybe US$2500+ for a 60mm aperture. Nothing as far as I know exists for the average amateur consumer in larger apertures. 

Is your Thousand Oaks solar filter a solar film or glass one? - reason I as is that I prefer the view from the glass ones. Even if it is glass, it still needs to be checked thoroughly before each and every use. I have one and it is has a few minute pinpricks which become noticeable when held up to the Sun [and not on the ‘scope] but not under a light bulb. I don’t use it now. Admittedly Thousand Oaks glass solar filters do include a ten year guarantee and mine expired just after its tenth anniversary. For my ‘white-light’ solar viewing I use a Herschel Wedge and a refractor. DO NOT USE a Herschel Wedge with any type of reflecting telescope or Petzval type ‘scope or lens.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

My C8 came on a Vixen Great Polaris mount, which is very sturdy, and more than capable of carrying the C8, and mine has been doing this for 28 years or more. The EQ5 is a copy of the mount, and it should be adequate (although some say the engineering of the Vixen is better). I now also have an iOptron HEM15, and that should also be capable of carrying the C8 OTA (although I haven't tried that yet). The C8 OTA is both light and compact, meaning it does not tax the capabilities of a mount very much

[Cosmic Geoff]

If you want to image small galaxies with the C8 (not a trivial task) you will need a mount like the HEQ5, the EQ6, or maybe the Celestron AVX.

Plus an autoguider or off-axis guider (one of those things that attach into the optical path). 

7 hours ago, fintwin2 said:

As a bonus question, I have a white light filter (Thousand Oaks) for solar viewing but really would love to get into H Alpha as I would love to see prominences and such. I think it would be cool to get the zoom of the 8SE with an H Alpha but I am having trouble finding anything about it or if it is even possible/recommended. I am guessing its quite expensive and intensive to do as I am supposing it would need a filter or mirror adjustment due to looking at the sun as well as the H Alpha eye piece to do any sun viewing. If that isn't feasible, or just to costly/intensive, what would be a good Solar scope to see Prominences

I am not familiar with this particular kit, but you need a full aperture filter for white light viewing, and take care not to melt the scope or your eyeball. For H-alpha you'd need a dedicated scope like a Lunt, and they are expensive.  There may be energy reducing filters and H-alpha filters you can stick on a C8, but again they will be expensive.

I did manage to get some planetary images with my C8 SE.

Or you could buy a Seestar S50 and see where you want to go from there.

[ollypenrice]

I'd put it on a Skywatcher AZ EQ6. AZ (Alt Az) is much nicer for visual because eyepiece position and orientation are more consistent and this is OK for planetary imaging, too.  It's quick to set up, with no polar alignment. But... when you want EQ orientation, you have it. Finally, you will not be under-mounted, which is just so nice.

For Ha viewing I would just buy a dedicated Ha scope at whatever budget suits your pocket.

Olly

Edited March 26 by ollypenrice
typo

[fintwin2]

I appreciate all the feedback. I do think the AZ is fine for visual but I have to keep the legs at the lowest setting as any touch or breeze makes things really shaky and doesnt stop for a while and is just a little annoying. Not a major issue for visual really but definitely an issue for any exposure longer then 10 seconds as they are hit and miss. 

As for my Thousand Oaks filter, I am using a film type as that is all I could get my hands on. Its been working fine so far and I did recently check it for any pinholes but didnt see any. I will definitely double check before trying to look at the eclipse which will be the next time I pull that out. 

Just really looking for a good Equatorial for when I want to set it up for a long night or to take some photos for fun. Just a life improvement want and a need for trying out long exposure. I would like to eventually add on a guide scope so the equatorial will have to account for the weight of the C8 OTA, any camera mounting and guide scope weight.  

Edited March 26 by fintwin2

[fintwin2]

11 hours ago, michael.h.f.wilkinson said:

My C8 came on a Vixen Great Polaris mount, which is very sturdy, and more than capable of carrying the C8, and mine has been doing this for 28 years or more. The EQ5 is a copy of the mount, and it should be adequate (although some say the engineering of the Vixen is better). I now also have an iOptron HEM15, and that should also be capable of carrying the C8 OTA (although I haven't tried that yet). The C8 OTA is both light and compact, meaning it does not tax the capabilities of a mount very much

That a cool setup! I haven't heard of the Vixen before. You think the EQ5 then should be more then capable so I wouldn't need to go to the EQ6 Pro for example? Have you heard anything about the CGE mount? There is a local store in my area selling an old version of the CGE mount I posted the link to for $999. I don't know the shape of the gears nor do I know what software its running, if it needs to be updated in some way or if that is possible. Plus, I think it would need an inverter to be used with a battery pack and it is quite a heavy guy. 
https://www.celestron.com/products/cge-pro-mount

 

[Elp]

7 minutes ago, fintwin2 said:

shaky

Have you thought about upgrading the tripod only? From my experience the tripod is always the weak point and should always be the point of focus from the start of putting together any setup.

[fintwin2]

6 minutes ago, Elp said:

Have you thought about upgrading the tripod only? From my experience the tripod is always the weak point and should always be the point of focus from the start of putting together any setup.

I was debating on doing that but I have a little extra money to maybe upgrade to an equatorial so I thought I would skip that step if I could. I may still get one in the future just to keep using the AZ SE mount when I want quick deployment and not wanting to do long exposures. My eventual goal is to do long exposure photography and I want a mount that can handle the 8 OTA, cameras and guide scope. Wanting to get the best bang for the buck that would allow me to do that as that means I could use that mount for 8 OTA deep space photography or even just a camera with a good lens if I don't plan on using the OTA that day.

[Elp]

If you want to image DSO you definitely need to invest in a good tripod from the off, it is critical when imaging, even more so at the FL of your scope. I've never used off the shelf or packaged solutions, I've always bought the tripod and mount separate, and sold on the packaged tripod that came with the mount. There are decent packaged tripods, ones I've used are the ioptron and Skywatcher thick steel ones. I tend to use thick leg carbon fibre ones now, I also have a short Berlebach Uni which is solid as a rock. Even for visual a good tripod is a sound investment.

Either that or consider a pier or permanent pier like a todmorden DIY solution.

Edited March 26 by Elp

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

1 hour ago, fintwin2 said:

That a cool setup! I haven't heard of the Vixen before. You think the EQ5 then should be more then capable so I wouldn't need to go to the EQ6 Pro for example? Have you heard anything about the CGE mount? There is a local store in my area selling an old version of the CGE mount I posted the link to for $999. I don't know the shape of the gears nor do I know what software its running, if it needs to be updated in some way or if that is possible. Plus, I think it would need an inverter to be used with a battery pack and it is quite a heavy guy. 
https://www.celestron.com/products/cge-pro-mount

 

No doubt the CGE-Pro (or are you talking about the CGEM?)  is a good mount, and the price seems very low, but it is a very heavy beast (154 lbs or 70 kg, payload 90 lbs 41 kg, i.e. complete overkill for a C8 OTA at 5.3 kg). Even the CGEM (which I also have) is rather heavy to set up every time. The Great Polaris is set up very easy by comparison, as is the HEM15.