Help me choose a scope my heads spinning!

[PhoenixRising]

Hi Guys,

I currently own a 200P, but want to sell it and get two scopes. One for widefield, and one for close ups (Ring Nebula, Jupiter etc), So, with a budget of £300-800 for each, does anyone have any recommendations. I thought about the Skywatcher MN190, but I want to try to get away from "big" scopes.

Thanks for any help, my heads spinning with f ratios, focal lengths etc.

[John]

Are we talking about imaging or visual use ?.

[PhoenixRising]

Sorry, Imaging.

[ollypenrice]

Before you think about long focal lengths for DS imaging do you have a mount and autoguider capable of delivering the very accurate tracking required at long focal lengths? The problem of getting the tracking right at long focal lengths is an all new ball game, believe me.

You need to set some kind of upper limit in your mind as regards f ratio. For deep sky that would be (for me) f10 and then only on certain objects, small and bright. More than that, no. F8 would be nearer the mark. So the Maks are out. It would proably be a C8 for me since the mirror flop issues are less problematic than with Meades. You'd want a Crayford and focal reducer as well. I'm not sure that this can be done on your budget.

For the small refractor the whole thing is much easier. Maybe one of the ED80 variants with focal reducer-flattener. The basic old gold ones never cease to amaze me and the Equinox might be even better. But you could have something smaller still for wider still from the WO line-up. I'd go for the ED80 option myself.

For long focal lengths I have still not plucked up the courage to go beyond a metre but now that I have an EM200 mount running well it is time I did.

Olly

[BlueAstra]

I have a C8 with a 0.63FR for narrow FOV with my 1000d. This gives a focal length of 1280mm F/6.4. The FOV is 60' x 40', but would be smaller with a smaller chip CCD camera. The pixel FOV is 1". I use an OAG and LPF with an EQ6 mount, which seems to work OK. I tend to use 3-5min exposures due to LP on DSOs. For planetary/moon tracking accuracy is not so important and the target stays in the webcam FOV for typical video runs.

My wide FOV system is a Meade 5000 ED80 & 0.8FR. This has a focal length of 384mm F/4.8 with a FOV of 3 x 2 deg (3" per pixel).

Both are mounted piggy-back, so when I use the ED80 I leave the OAG on the C8.

I have a feathertouch microfocusser on the C8 which gives me pretty good focus control without an extra crayford on the C8 output.

[PhoenixRising]

Is that the Meade triplet because I really like the look of it but don't want to make a mistake.

[BlueAstra]

Yes it is. The focal lengths given are with the FR attached. If you image with a small chip you may not need the FR for flat field coverage, but it may improve exposure times.

[PhoenixRising]

I use a 500D. Thanks for your input so far guys, I made some mistakes when I started out and I dont want to repeat them.

So, I was thinking an f8 or less 80ED for widefield. What about close up, ie Jupiter, a Mak Netonian? 120ED? I've seen this on ebay ending tonight, any good? Also, what about the Equinox 100 someone has for sale here, is it suitable for me?

My mount is a NEQ6 Pro.