Planetary Imager and Autoguider

[MishMich]

The US Orion website has a Starshoot Planetary Imager and Autoguider - but in the UK there only appear to be a Starshoot Planetary Imager (colour) or Autoguider (monochrome). Opticstar do a version PL-151 (colour) which is supposed to do both - but I have the PL-150 colour planetary imager which I'm not that impressed with. Given a choice between the Celestron or Meade planetary imagers (also supposed to support guiding), I think I'd prefer a Philips webcam.

So - does anybody know if there is a dual-purpose colour high-res planetary imager and autoguider which can be set to perform both functions, available in the UK (other than the three mentioned above)? Something less than £250.00?

M.

[arad85]

The problem with colour for guiding is that you lose resolution and sensitivity. Sensitivity can be overcome with longer exposure, but, because of the bayer matrix on most CCDs, you end up with a less accurate guider. Or so I'm led to believe

[jgs001]

The QHY5v is sold as suitable as both, and in my use it's proved to do both well. There is apparently a colour version, but the one I bought from Bern is mono. Having only really used it on the moon, being mono is not so much of an issue, I've yet to have an oppo to try it on planets. It's not a CCD, but a CMOS chip, and uses the same chip as the LVI Autoguider (I think). You can see my lunar results with it on here or my blog. It costs £150