Quote:
Originally Posted by casstony
With guiding you'd probably find that the CG5 is entirely adequate for long exposures with an 80mm refractor.
The refractor would be the most painless option - just focus, apply a dew strap and it won't give you any grief.
The TS 80mm fpl53 f/7 doublet is a good scope and its price keeps you under the gst limit. The TS72 fpl53 doublet that I have is also good and cheap but even more widefield. The focuser on these scopes is a good 2.5" R&P.
TS sells a 4 element 0.8x reducer to suit these refractors.
Similar scopes are sold under other brands such as Astro-tech and Stellarvue.
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Thanks Tony, I had a look at them briefly, certainly the price point is quite reasonable. How much difference in terms of capability between an 80mm & a 72mm?
Good to know the mount will be up for the journey, particularly with guiding... I got it at a bargain price, just had to source a replacement DEC motor to get it up & running properly..
Quote:
Originally Posted by casstony
The GST (up to $1000 goods price) does not apply to businesses which import less than AU$75000 worth of goods into Australia per annum.
I imagine information will be updated over time and more companies will be added to the "over $75000" list, but I've had a couple of orders come in from TS in the last 6 months with no gst applied.
The TS115 did have GST applied, as expected.
Platforms such as ebay are considered to be a single entity, thus gst is applied to all international purchases.
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Yes indeed, I think one just has to be cautious about who one buys from. I've bought eyepieces & bass gear from some overseas sources & avoided GST quite recently.
Quote:
Originally Posted by sil
Priority 4: just get a 6 or 8in dobsonian, no goto or anything, as simple as it gets and fantastic for visually something to do while your AP rig is busy. Also easy to pop outside and show stuff to friends.
As for an OTA, maybe forget and use your existing camera and lens with a dovetail camera mount and work on your setup and alignment and tracking of you mount, and the processing too... an OTA adds magnification that fast amplifies mount issues. So maybe patience and just use camera on mount first to get understanding and refine your setup/teardown process and gear storage, maybe pick up tracking issues that need to be addressed regardless too. Something to get on with while deciding on OTA.
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Agree, I absolutely have to be doing visual whilst the AP rig is running otherwise I will be bored feckless.. I still love visual astronomy... to that end I have on of Mental4Astro's exquisite 12" dobsonians coming later in the year...
Interestingly, I have my DSLR mounted atop my Orion ST right now though, that was more about achieving RA balance as the counterweight for my mount is significantly heavier than the OTA on it. I will give your suggestion some serious consideration as I move from Az/Alt based AP to EQ based AP, it certainly has some significant merit.
Thanks to all thus far...