Well will this work.....

[Bigwings]

Round in Circles I goes.......

I would like to do some imaging but my main interest is observing across the board.

Now I have an SE8 on a single altaz goto which I dont think will take the weight of even a small refractor cameras etc. Do I just enjoy the SE8 and add the custom wedge Celestron make for it and do some shortish exposures with a focal reducer (6.3). OR do I have to bight hard and buy an EQ6 Pro to mount my SE8 on with imaging kit.

If I thought I could get half decent shots with the current mount I would stay with it for portability.

The SE8 mount has an autoguide port. Anyone expert imaging with anSE8?

[Milamber]

Umm. Well, there's off-axis guiding of course? Has a great deal going for it in your situation, especially given a QHY5 dropped straight in to the guideport.

Arthur

[Bigwings]

Thanks for that Arthur...............I just wish I understood it??????

I feel a little lost.

[Milamber]

Well, I can't say too much for sneaky commercial reasons, but basically, off axis guiding invloves poking a prism or mirror into the lightpath and pinching a bit of the image for another camera that is mounted at 90 degrees to you scope - usually just ahead of the main camera. As the scope image is round and the camera's is square, it's unusual for the prism to interfere with the main image. This small "stolen" image is then used to guide with. It has many benefits, not the least of which is weight... and no flexure either!

Arthur

[FLO]

Well, I can't say too much for sneaky commercial reasons...

Another project Arthur?

[Milamber]

Well, doing some development/prototyping for someone Steve... if you know your history you'll know who for - and why it's hushy

Arthur

PS - actually, come to think of it, there's a lot of that happening around here at the moment - not all for the same people though

[FLO]

Sounds intriguing

Apologies for the diversion Bigwings.

[Bigwings]

Hey dont mind me chaps. Im almost on the hook LOL. Sounds fascinating. So how long do I have to wait to see the fruits of development and save myself a fortune?

[FLO]

Returning to your question, if you have the Celestron 8SE you should be looking to mount the OTA on a suitable GEQ mount like the Skywatcher HEQ5 or EQ6 Syntrek or PRO series. You'll find it a much better solution than the Celestron SE mount with wedge.

HTH

[Milamber]

Hey dont mind me chaps. Im almost on the hook LOL. Sounds fascinating. So how long do I have to wait to see the fruits of development and save myself a fortune?

No idea, but try googling off axis guiding and find out a bit more info.

Arthur

[Bigwings]

Well guys after doing the homework I have the solution for my mount. An off axis guider but instead of a guiding eyepiece a webcam thing that passes its signals to my autoguider port.....

anyone do it