Which setup is best for imaging?

[Robin Lee]

Hi guys, my friend is thinking of getting into the hobby. Now, he's in a plight of choosing which platform to go. He is going to involve in astrophotography in the near future. So, let's talk about the scopes capable of doing AP.

10" LX200ACF + piggybacked 80mm ED + wedge
EQ6-Pro + 10" LX200ACF
CPC800 + Hyperstar
C8 + HEQ-5 + Hyperstar

Hyperstar seems appealing to me. Imaging can be done with fork mount. I have seen many successful photos. They look really good. No polar alignment, no hassle to mount the scope onto a wedge, it saves a lot of time.

Do we see much improvement if we get the "hyperstared" OTA onto the GEM? Since the image scale is 5x smaller, is the resolution lesser as well? If yes, does the image have any scientific value or is it still suitable for use in astrometry?

Is HEQ-5 capable of driving a 10" LX200ACF?

Has anyone tried to design and actually frequently used a wedge here? I was told my LX90 fork mount maybe overloaded as the forks are horizontally aligned to the ground and some told me that it works. However, they're from US.

*My mind is not very clear at the moment so I don't think I question my doubts very clearly.

[MooEy]

i would not buy any of the rig if i'm ever going to consider AP. statistically it's proven that there are more gd shots taken thru small refractors than large cassegrains. at least for the amateurs. Focal lengths over 1000mm should strictly be left to the pros. life is short, why try to make it any shorter.

AP is often one of the main killer of astronomy, too many people jump into the hobby thinking of AP only and end up buying lots of stuff, only to find it too hard or too expensive.

If ur friend is really that interested in ap and have all the patience in the world, he's better off with a cheaper cg5-gt, a small refractor and one of those used canon 300d/350d. if aperture is impt, prolly a r200ss and a eq6 would make him stay in the hobby longer. y spend so much jumping into AP only to find out it doesn't work out for u. esp on rigs that few amateurs have luck on.

~MooEy~

[perseid]

The scopes you mentioned aren't suitable for AP. Focal length too long and F ratio too slow, although you can get away with the HyperStar.

I would recommend a HEQ5 and a small refractor such as 80mm ED. You'll also need to invest in canon DSLR camera and focal reducer/flattener. You may also consider investing in a guide scope and autoguider.

BTW, HEQ-5 is too small for 10" LX200ACF.

[jermng]

Get a Vixen GPD. You'll be happy.

[rcj]

same thoughts. start humble with low focal length imaging....so a wide field field flattened refractor will do (80mm or 102mm). You will realise later that you will pull out your hairs when you discover it is a challenge yielding round and TIGHT stars. Also your FOV will be restricted to small galaxies and planetaries. All of us have a little ambitious trait within, but you must understand that such things take time and lots of patience. The weather will also kill you, unless you are in a dry climate like Australia. It will be less hassle free to go the way of the german equatorial mount. This is not to say that the fork mount is impossible, it's just that you will lose more hairs or perhaps have more white ones in the process.

[Robin Lee]

First of all, thanks for the replies.

Is HEQ-5 Pro capable of handling a C8 with hyperstar? I am amazed by the hyperstar simply because it converts your slow SCT to a very fast scope. The C8 will be a 400mm scope with 8" aperture. Isn't this sound very cool since the weather here is not always encouraging. Short exposure can pickup many details if compare to the slow f/10 setup.

Since he also wants to do planetary photography, do you think a short tube 80mm refractor will do a better job than the SCT with the hyperstar removed?

By the way, regarding the time we consume to setup the mount, is the following sequence correct?
Fork mount on wedge > GEM > Fork mount

[anat]

A DSLR or a good CCD camera is too heavy and large to mount on C8's corrector plate. The hyperstar adapter is as expensive as a good 80mm ED refractor. It is better to start with a small refractor.

[Robin Lee]

But you have 2 abilities in one scope, one for DSO and one for planetary, isn't it? My camera will be a QHY2 which is lighter than the QHY8 which quite a number of hyperstar users have.

[anat]

No. You pay two to get the two abilities.

[Robin Lee]

Yup, but you don't have to bring 2 scopes.