on the road to imaging???

[couleurblue]

Hi,

I have just sold my motorcycle and have a few bob to start getting together the makings of an astroimaging system. The scope I have been browsing is a megrez 110 apo on a celestron cg-5 gt goto.

Does this seem a reasonable starting combo?

thanks .

[Cornelius Varley]

I would have probably gone for a Skywatcher HEQ5 Syntrek as a alternative to the CG5. The mount is actually more important than the telescope. It needs to be able to track accurately and not be overloaded too much by the imaging equipment. Infact I would choose the Skywatcher EQ6 Syntrek as this will take a heavier load than the smaller HEQ5.

Peter

[Beyond_Vision]

I would suggest the same as Peter. The CG5 although it is a reasonable mount is quite noisy when slewing. There is also the great free program called EQMOD which works only with the HEQ5 and EQ6 mounts and enhances the capabilities of these mounts even further.

Regards

Kevin

[couleurblue]

Thank you Peter,but I have heard that the skywatcher is more difficult to use,and the celestron a breeze! Is that not the case?

[moocher]

Snyscan is a breeze to use. I had a CG5 and didn`t get on with it!!!! Like its been said it doesn`t matter how good the scope is if the mount doesn`t track accurately it may as well be resting on a table!!! Invest in a HEQ5 pro and an 80ed.... you won`t go far wrong especially if you buy used....

Alan:)

[arad85]

I had a CG5 with a 10kg C9.25 on it. Visually, it was "ok" but was a complete nightmare when trying to get some planetary images. I swapped to a EQ6 and the difference is like night and day. If it were me, and I was interested in astrophotography, I'd go EQ6 with EQMOD on a PC conmtrolling it. EQMOD really is that good - I've never actually used the hand controller on my EQ6 but have it in case I want to go light one day and not take along a PC (which given I'm just about to build a 110Ah power supply is probably never)....

[couleurblue]

Thanks guys. Excellent advice.I will let you all know when I get my first ,if laughable,deep sky pic:)

Gordon.

[SteveL]

Dont worry, (almost) everyones first deep sky image is appalling... but it will be YOUR first image, and you will be proud of it, just as everyone else has been of their own first images. Its the progress thats the important bit, the learning process along the way, step by step, and we all started somewhere..... so when you do get that first image, post it with pride, and look back at along the way to see how far you progress....