To mount or not to mount

[rastis95]

Hi All
At the moment i own a GSO 12" Dob. Have been thinking about mounting to an eq6 pro. A couple of questions though,
Would doing this make the overall size to big ?
Or would I be better off buying a smaller aperture scope with the same ability.
Have been developing a keen interest in astrophotography hence the reason why ive been thinking about mounting the dob.

Cheers
Scott :D

[Ian Robinson]

A smaller apeture scope wont have the same capability, but will be less capable.

[dannat]

do you want to photo moon/planets or deeeps sky ojects

[miketheobscure]

Personally I think my 8"f6 on an EQ6 is about as unwieldy as I'd like to go; it's big, but still rock solid. I don't think a 10" newt would be quite stable enough for photography except for webcamming the planets ... if that's what you want to do that's cool, but I think a 12" newt on an EQ6 would be a giant vibrating sail ... others with stronger arms & stouter hearts may disagree. Disclaimer: I haven't tried.

People have successfully used 10" Meades & C11s on EQ6s, but not anything bigger/longer. The length of Newts is their downfall on eq. mounts.

- Mike

[Ian Robinson]

a 12" (f/5 ?) newt on a EQ6 might be pushing it , very long tangent arm .

Put it on a more capable GEM would be my advise. Several out there that will fit the bill depending on how good you want the tracking to be (esp for prime focus and eyepiece projection long exposures).

I know Orion Optical in the UK were selling their 12" f/5's on a GP-DX not so long ago , the equiv mount is the still around , or maybe a Sphinx DX (bit more capable) is the go for you if don't have the readies to go a GPE , G11 or Atlux at this stage.

Have you considered an dob equatorial platform that sits underneith the baseplate ?

[AlexN]

If you want to do deep sky, then look to a Losmandy G11/Celestron CGE or if you can find a 2nd hand Celestron CI700...

For planetary a 12" F/5 can be done, but it will take a bit of doing, not to mention 4 hands to set it up...

I have no troubles with an 11" SCT on my EQ6, but the C11 is only 2ft long, the newt would be closer to 5.5ft long I think..

there are a fair few people successfully using a 10" newt on an EQ6 for deep sky imaging, so dont write that idea off, as a 10" newt is a lot cheaper than a 10~11" SCT..

Mikes comments above about an 8" F/6 on an EQ6 are perhaps a little conservative, my EQ6 didnt even break a sweat with my 8" newtonian.. And there are forum members who've very successfully used 8" F/6 newts on HEQ5 mounts.....

[rastis95]

Thanks to everyone for there advice,
Im interested in mainly deep sky imaging, Hence the reason im wanting to put what looks like a cannon on a tripod :lol:. With having so much weight plus a guide scope im assuming vibration must also play a part. If i was to use an eq platform would i still be able to image dso's or would i be restricted to planets.

Cheers
Scott :)

[AlexN]

an EQ platform would limit you to planetary/lunar I assume.. For deep sky imaging your 12" newtonian will be too much for the EQ6... I did quite a bit of research into this a few months back, as I wanted to do the same thing.. The replies I got were to either go with a smaller newt, an SCT, or go for a bigger mount. 90% of opinions on the bigger mount side of things were to go for the Losmandy G11.. Forum member 'Alchemy' does great work with a 12" newtonian on a G11 mount.

[Ian Robinson]

Go for a OAG rather than a guidescope , it'll make the rig lots lighter for guiding those deep space photos.

Something like http://www.lumicon.com/telescope-accessories.php?iid=LG1015&cid=59&in=Newtonian+%2F+Refractor+Easy+Gui der+2in&hn=
unfortunately Lumicon no longer make their superb Coma Corrector field flattener lens that simply screws into the scope end of these anymore (but you might find one secondhand somewhere if you hunt about) ,sorry I think I bought the very last one that was still in the wild only a few months ago (to replace my old one that walked).

[rastis95]

With the cost of a Losmandy G11 at over 4k im imagining i would be better off with a second hand meade 10 or 12" (both are for sale in the classifieds). Alex I did have a look at Alchemy's setup on his web site, and it looks like it can be done ( I also like the observatory but the wife's not keen on that one :)). On the imaging side of things im assuming i would get better performance from a 12" meade than mounting the newt, including the fact that the whole setup is smaller. Would the fork mount of the meade need mounting to a wedge for dso' imaging.
Cheers
Scott :D

[iceman]

I use a 12" newt on my EQ6, for planetary imaging.

For deep-space imaging, I take the 12" off and put on a side-by-side mounted ED80/80mm refractor.