[damo_Melbourne (Damian)]

Greetings all,

Based on much reading and the advice of many of you I have had a great time with my little celestron 6" Newt ( celestron C6N, F5, 750mm on a CG4 mount no motors, Phillips SPC 900NC, Mogg adapter ) over the last 18 months. Ive got into webcam imaging a bit of afocal stuff and had alot of fun with Registax and photoshop and basically learing my way around the sky - got some nice pics of Jupiter all thanks to the great advice here so thanks for that.

I currently have access to a mates Canon 40D but planning on getting a 450D anyway so I have had a "play" with short exposure prime focus too.

What I would like to do is improve my webcam imaging and dabble with the dslr for nebula with long exposures ( Orion, globals etc). Now I realise these two are probably at odds with each other in terms of the equipment required.

I want to keep the C6 OTA for the moment - its a great grab and go and we are often away so I always have it with me when we are down the coast here in Vic.

should I

1) update the current celestron cg4 mount with a motor drive and possibly GOTO kit
Im still learning but I fear further investment here is overkill. These upgrade kits are around $900 so they aint cheap!. GOTO is a nicety and I like the idea of it buts its not a requirement.

2) Buy a decent mount like a HEQ5 or HEQ5Pro so I have a decent platform to start with for guiding and longer exposure pics
Can I mount the little C6 on this for the time being? Is this even possible?
Give me a good platform to learn I thought then later I was thinking of picking up a 8"Dob or 10" and mounting it on that when aperture fever strikes - well it has already but Im trying to restrain myself a bit!
Any issues with this logic?

Any thoughts or other options? Im leaning toward option 2
The EQ6 and EQ6 pro are huge (size and weight) and I wasnt considering them at this stage.

What I am really trying to do is utilise what I have but also move forward but not quite sure how to.


many thanks