Opinions sought on my ideal setup (one day I'll get it!!!)

[cybereye]

Hello everyone!!

I've been looking to the future and when I upgrade my setup and have come up with what I consider my ideal setup. I currently have an 8" f/6 newt on a HEQ5 Pro mount and use an Orion ST80 as a guide scope. I use a QHY5 to guide and a QHY8L to image. In the imaging train I also have a Baader MPCC and a Baader UHC-S 2" filter. Attached to the focuser I have a Skywatcher electric focuser so that I can focus without touching the scope. As you can imagine, the HEQ5 Pro is starting to strain under all this gear!!

So when looking at the new scope, I thought about what I liked about my current setup and try to improve from there.

Firstly I liked the flat field (no to little coma) that comes from my MPCC. I also like my current, and would like more, aperture size. I like my ST80 as a guide scope and I love my QHY5 and QHY8L.

So taking this into consideration I came up with the following:

* A GSO 10" RC (aluminium unless I can afford the CF)
* A Losmandy G11G
* An extra 21lb counterweight as I believe the Titan G11G only comes with one and I think I'll need two.
* 2" Camera adapter (so that I can attach the UHC-S filter to the QHY8L - it currently attaches to the MPCC)
* A star diagonal to make it easy to look through
* A 2" eyepiece
* A finderscope
* A JMI Motofocus
* Losmandy DVA Adapter for the guidescope

Further down the track I'd also look at getting the following:

* A 0.5x focal reducer
* A 2" 2x Barlow
* An Orion T-thread spacer ring kit.

All up I'd have to keep the price below $7,500 which would include shipping.

So my questions are:

1. Will this setup work for imaging considering the CCD I have?
2. If not, what do I need to add to get it to work?
3. Is this setup cheaper than a tinnie as my wife constantly asks why I didn't take up fishing as a hobby instead of astronomy!!

Cheers,
Mario

[MattT]

Hi Mario,
Boats eat cash and then they SINK :D What kind of a hobby is that? For the real hobby how about an EQ8 when they are around?
Matt

[roughy]

I would recommend a Moonlite or Feathertouch focuser as they can now come temperature controlled. Makes a CF tube less "necessary".

[barx1963]

Just to clarify Mario, is the mount the G11G or the Titan, as they are two different mounts.

Malcolm

[cybereye]

This is the second time I've done this! It's the Losmandy G11G - I was contemplating the Titan but felt it was overkill. But all I've really achieved is to confuse myself!!! I've since fixed my original post...

Cheers,
Mario

[ZeroID]

Mario, boats are just a hole in the water you pour money into .... hang on, that's sounds familiar ..... :question:



Astrophotography is a ......... Oooops !! ;)

[Terry B]

If you like the flat field then another choice is a vixen VC200L or the VMC260L both of which are optimised for photography and much lighter than the RC scopes.

[cybereye]

Thanks for the info - if I got one of these I think I could use my existing mount. Some questions which I'm not sure about - how would my image times that I take with an 8" f/6 compare to a 10.25" f/11.5 scope? What about if I add a 0.5x focal reducer into the mix?

Cheers,
Mario