An RCOS on a Paramount with a big fat SBIG hanging off the end.
H
You already have a big fat SBIG...so you are 1/3rd the way there. Me..I would go for the Alluna Optics RC24 on a Paramount ME with a big fat Apogee CCD hanging off
Hmmmmm?...let's see....ignoring the more fanciful options I could wish for ...I recon a good 10" APO on an AP1200 mount, a 24" F3.5 dob with a full set of Ethos eyepieces and say a 20" F3.5 corrected Newtonian astrograph with 4" Wynn corrector on a good accurate fork mount with my big fat ProLine 16803 hanging off it (each scope with all the bells and whistles of course) wouldn't go astray...oh and the APO and Astrograph in twin domed building linked by a control room with an observing pad outside for the Dob...and move my backyard to darker skies.
I'd buy Hubble off NASA & the ISS, just for weekends of course & if anything broke I'd dump a truckload of cash on NASA's doorstep & say "FIX IT, don't bother me with the details just do it".
But more realistic would be one of those 32" RCOS jobbies stuck on a mountain in the Atacama desert....300 clear nights a year you say Mike...Noice one.
I'd buy Hubble off NASA & the ISS, just for weekends of course & if anything broke I'd dump a truckload of cash on NASA's doorstep & say "FIX IT, don't bother me with the details just do it".
But more realistic would be one of those 32" RCOS jobbies stuck on a mountain in the Atacama desert....300 clear nights a year you say Mike...Noice one.
You'd need a BIG CCD for the 32" too though or else you would be limited to capturing postage stamp size images oh and a jet to fly you to the desert, you wouldn't wanna actually live there
You guys are all doing it wrong. Money is no object. You can't image if there's clouds. I'd build a cloud-zapping machine that punches holes in the sky so I can use the equipment I have any night you want.
This is my wish list. I am planning on getting most of this during the next construction boom.
Soooo.
20" Meade 400RCX on Max mount for doing planetary imaging. This thing has auto collimation, internal dew heaters, moving secondary, cooling (but will need peltiers), quite sharp optics and heaps of light for imaging at hi res. It will make the C14 look like a bucket of bolts.
17" CDK from planewave with STX and filter wheel on top of a PME or Robotic unit. That will be my DSO unit down at my country house.
Nothing else needed, just those things. I am a firm believer that the SCT is the better imaging telescope for planetary imaging over nearly every other unit. In good seeing it produces superb images.
The planewave scope has reportedly the flatest field getting around and is very sharp. Times for delivery are better than RCOS.
and imagine what a 32 inch could do in the right hands-I have inspected my mind and it boggles (channelling PG Wodehouse there)
Ah...that image is now 'old school' with its 2x2 binned data
The Lightbuckets team and I out did it with this effort late last year - shown here
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Interesting thread. No one has yet indicated they would go on any courses to learn photoshop inside-out in order to boost their knowledge on processing. What good is a million dollar rig when you don't know how to maximise the data you're obtaining from it. Sure the cost of a couple of courses is nothing in comparison to equipment, yet it is probably your knowledge (and available time) that's going to be letting you down. Food for thought.