Orion ED102T CF

[sross58]

Hi all,

I am interested in astrophotography but have little to no experience, i have an opportunity to pick up a second hand Skywatcher HEQ5 Pro Goto Mount along with the Orion ED102T CF.

Ive heard the HEQ5 is great and would most likely buy one anyway, so i am more wondering about the scope as far performance goes as well as what sort of money i should be paying for such a setup?

Thanks very much for your time and any input would be much appreciated.

[Wavytone]

Hi Sam,

I have an Orion 102ED f/7, with plain aluminium tube, a few years old though I am a strictly visual observer.. The optics in these are definitely much better than an achromatic doublet and should be fine for astrophotography; mine is diffraction limited and will show an Airy disk on a still night with good seeing. The field of view isn't perfectly flat and depending on your big your camera sensor is, you may need a flattener - elsewhere I have seen people suggest the William Optics 0.8 Flattener as a good match.

Nothing wrong with an EQ5 mount.

Not sure how much to pay though... assuming the gear is in good nick I'd expect to pay upwards of $2k, maybe $2500 depending on what bits & pieces come with it, such as decent tripod, a hard case for the OTA (not just a cardboard box), handset for the mount (electronics), finder, rings for an autoguider (guidescope), adapters for the camera body, diagonals and eyepieces. Note that if eyepieces are included, check the brand and focal length carefully as there are huge variations in what these are worth.

[rolls05]

I agree. It's 2200 for a skywatcher ed 100 and goto eq5 on bintel so it's amazing how much extra you have to factor in for all the extra gear. Couple eyepieces and there's a hundy or two. That particular ota is particularly good. Check it out on the net. If theres a bit of gear and under 2000, I'd be interested for sure.Those mounts are 1500 new.