Hello everyone,
I guess you would say I am only just getting into astronomy even though I have had a reflector for about 15 years since I never used it that much as there was a problem with the munt so only used it alt/az and could never locate anything with it so pretty much just used it to look at the moon.
Anyway I finally have some money saved and have decided to get a decent telescope which I intend to do astrophography with as well as visual viewing.
I will probably end up trying long exposures but for the most part I will just be photographing the moon and since i'll finally be able to locate things probably the planets.
I've been taking photos of the moon for the last 15 years with camera lenses as well as the 8" reflector however I messed up my reflector when I tried to collimate it and would like to get back to taking high magnification shots of the moon.
I have looked at the Meade LS/LT and Celestron NexStar series since the photography will primarily be just short exposure but have ruled those out and am looking towards dual arm fork mounts such as the Celstron CPC 800 XLT or a Meade LX 90 8".
I know a G8 equatorial mount etc is better for astrophography but I am only doing short exposures mainly and since all the shots i've previously taken were with a stationary reflector at high magnification (moon was only in view about 8 seconds before it was gone) then I see no problem with a fork mounted alt/az scope (do not intend to purchase the wedge straight off, maybe if I get more into long exposure deep field shooting) and the tracking in alt/az should if anything give better results then I got with my stationary shots which were still extremely sharp since being the moon were around 1/20 shutter speed
http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4091/4...81d56923_b.jpg
I'll be using my Nikon D90 but also do so digiscoping with my other cameras and will be purchasing several CCD imagers to see how they compare.
I have read a bit about both scopes over the years and it's always the case of the fans of one will say the other is crap so I am at a loss as to which if either is better especially for my purposes.
So any input on which I should look towards or another scope if you think it is btter would be appreciated however I bluntly will not get a scope on an EQ mount. I've had terrible times over the years with my reflector and not once wa able to get it to balance correctly or stay stable enough for it to actully be usable mounted as EQ instead of alt/az so I am set on a fork mounted scope.
I am looking at spending under $3000 and am considering the CPC 800 as
www.btow.com.au is advertising it for only $2525
I also read alot about problems with dew and condensation (is there an actual difference between the two in astronomy? I keep reading people saying how they use a dew shield to prevent dew then in the same sentence say they use a something or other for condensation
) but nearly everything comes from people in north america etc so do we have similar problems in australia? I'm in Newcastle and if its a cold night and I leave the camera out for a couple of hours the lens will fog up but I don't see any actual drops appears and can condensation form on the inside of a schmidt scope and if so would that cause issues?
Alnd has anyone purcahsed anything from sites such as
http://www.ozscopes.com.au/ or
http://www.telescopesdirect.com.au as they seem alot like other video/electronic sites that say they have something in stock but ends up taking you months before you recieve the item if at all so would like to know if its worth considering getting the scope or accessories from one of those of if i'd be likely to have problems.
I look forward to any recommendations or advice anyone may have for me.