[1ponders]
03-06-2005, 09:48 AM
Sorry guys, but this run of fine weather is about to end for a while. I put my order in for new scopes yesterday.
After a long and agonizing decision making progress where I nearly bought a Celestron 9.25, I've finally decided to stay with the Meade 8" OTA and supliment it with an Orion 80mm ED as guidescope and widefield imaging scope. (In fact both scopes can act as imaging or guidescopes). I've also ordered a JMI NGF-CM motorized microfocuser. I may even get a Taurus Tracker III OAG and flipmirror system.
I went with the meade rather than the Celestron (even though its reputation is excellent and it has a larger apperture) for 5 main reasons.
1. I know the Meade OTA and I am very happy with its performance.
2. Even though the meade and celestron are only about half a kg difference in weight the celestron has a longer moment arm and for the GM-8 mount this may have caused me difficulties with mount flexure and carrying capacity with the guidescope attached. Total weight for both meade + GS and Celestron + GS is about 25 - 26 lb. GM-8 capacity is 30lb, (I'm sure there would be a bit of tolerance in it). This is going to be pushing the astrophotography recomended mount limit of 50% - 60% carrying capacity as it is but I'm hoping the lower moment arm for the meade will help out here. It's also the reason I'm considering the Taurus Tracker OAG in case the Meade + GS combination is still too much. Also because its shorter it will be easier to lug around, even though it only weighs 19lb
3. Meades Mirror lock will help to deal with any mirror shift/guiding problems I may have experienced. A common problem apparently with using SCTs and refractors together for guidescoping and imaging.
4. The meade is considerably cheaper than a carbon fibre celestron. It was hard to justify spending the extra money on what for me at this time would probably be a marginal increase in imaging quality. Maybe in a couple of years I'll be thinking "Why didn't I get the Celestron when I had the chance :( "
5. To keep the LX200 users here happy. One of us going over to the dark side is bad enough. (And you know who you are :P )
My choice of the Orion is based on a lot of research and asking questions of a lot of people both online and by phone. My original selection was Orion/Saxon/Andrews/ZenithStar/Megrez. All excellent scopes in their own right. I whittled it down to th Orion/ZenithStar/Megrez. After a bit more research the Orion/Megrez split won out over the ZenithStar. While an excellent short scope the general consensus from suppliers and users from the states and here is that while the ZenithStar is a top class visual scope the Orion/Megrez split performed better astrophotographically. While I loved the workmanship of the Megrez (I saw Dan's (grandpanancy) at Marks on Saturday night. Beautiful looking scope and excellent workmanship) I couldn't justify the extra money for what opinion seemed to say was a marginal improvement in optical quality. I also have to say that I was concerned about the issues Dan was having with his scope as far as optical performace was concerned. I certainly hope he is able to get his supplier to sort out the issues.
I decided to get the JMI focuser as it will work well the autofocusing with DSLR Focus. I'm very quickly coming to really appreciate this little program and once the JMI is up and running theoretically DSLR should be able to autofocus as well as take the shots. Or I could use Robby's StarMate to do that. Why would I want this. Well if I decide to mount the Orion onto my celestron refractor and guide using the celestron i can set the meade up on another mount and do some visual astronomy at the same time.
Why would I get the Taurus Tracker? As I mentioned above, incase the total weight is a bit too much for the mount is one reason. The other is that with it I will increase my photography options considerably. I will now have three scopes and two mounts that can be used in a number of combinations and adding the tracker to it will increase my options for selecting the most suitable system for imaging of a particular object, while till giving me flexibility to do some visual work.
So at this point in time I'm very excited over the arrival of some new babies over the coming weeks (The Meade has to come from the US so about a 4-6 week delay, which is good as that will give me time to play with the Orion on my other refractor and get its little quirks worked out). But I am sorry for the SE-Qlders for the upcoming weather. At least the farmers will like me
Clear Skies
After a long and agonizing decision making progress where I nearly bought a Celestron 9.25, I've finally decided to stay with the Meade 8" OTA and supliment it with an Orion 80mm ED as guidescope and widefield imaging scope. (In fact both scopes can act as imaging or guidescopes). I've also ordered a JMI NGF-CM motorized microfocuser. I may even get a Taurus Tracker III OAG and flipmirror system.
I went with the meade rather than the Celestron (even though its reputation is excellent and it has a larger apperture) for 5 main reasons.
1. I know the Meade OTA and I am very happy with its performance.
2. Even though the meade and celestron are only about half a kg difference in weight the celestron has a longer moment arm and for the GM-8 mount this may have caused me difficulties with mount flexure and carrying capacity with the guidescope attached. Total weight for both meade + GS and Celestron + GS is about 25 - 26 lb. GM-8 capacity is 30lb, (I'm sure there would be a bit of tolerance in it). This is going to be pushing the astrophotography recomended mount limit of 50% - 60% carrying capacity as it is but I'm hoping the lower moment arm for the meade will help out here. It's also the reason I'm considering the Taurus Tracker OAG in case the Meade + GS combination is still too much. Also because its shorter it will be easier to lug around, even though it only weighs 19lb
3. Meades Mirror lock will help to deal with any mirror shift/guiding problems I may have experienced. A common problem apparently with using SCTs and refractors together for guidescoping and imaging.
4. The meade is considerably cheaper than a carbon fibre celestron. It was hard to justify spending the extra money on what for me at this time would probably be a marginal increase in imaging quality. Maybe in a couple of years I'll be thinking "Why didn't I get the Celestron when I had the chance :( "
5. To keep the LX200 users here happy. One of us going over to the dark side is bad enough. (And you know who you are :P )
My choice of the Orion is based on a lot of research and asking questions of a lot of people both online and by phone. My original selection was Orion/Saxon/Andrews/ZenithStar/Megrez. All excellent scopes in their own right. I whittled it down to th Orion/ZenithStar/Megrez. After a bit more research the Orion/Megrez split won out over the ZenithStar. While an excellent short scope the general consensus from suppliers and users from the states and here is that while the ZenithStar is a top class visual scope the Orion/Megrez split performed better astrophotographically. While I loved the workmanship of the Megrez (I saw Dan's (grandpanancy) at Marks on Saturday night. Beautiful looking scope and excellent workmanship) I couldn't justify the extra money for what opinion seemed to say was a marginal improvement in optical quality. I also have to say that I was concerned about the issues Dan was having with his scope as far as optical performace was concerned. I certainly hope he is able to get his supplier to sort out the issues.
I decided to get the JMI focuser as it will work well the autofocusing with DSLR Focus. I'm very quickly coming to really appreciate this little program and once the JMI is up and running theoretically DSLR should be able to autofocus as well as take the shots. Or I could use Robby's StarMate to do that. Why would I want this. Well if I decide to mount the Orion onto my celestron refractor and guide using the celestron i can set the meade up on another mount and do some visual astronomy at the same time.
Why would I get the Taurus Tracker? As I mentioned above, incase the total weight is a bit too much for the mount is one reason. The other is that with it I will increase my photography options considerably. I will now have three scopes and two mounts that can be used in a number of combinations and adding the tracker to it will increase my options for selecting the most suitable system for imaging of a particular object, while till giving me flexibility to do some visual work.
So at this point in time I'm very excited over the arrival of some new babies over the coming weeks (The Meade has to come from the US so about a 4-6 week delay, which is good as that will give me time to play with the Orion on my other refractor and get its little quirks worked out). But I am sorry for the SE-Qlders for the upcoming weather. At least the farmers will like me
Clear Skies