Thanks for that Alex - all makes good sense.
with an OAG, are you always able to find a guide star at the right place in the field of view? Then I have seen those cameras that have imaging and guiding CCDs in the same box - are they any good / better than OAGs?
For me this is all academic at the moment anyway - I have no guide camera and no imaging scope - so my goal in the short term is to get a cheapie scope that is not
too shabby to use for some very basic visual stuff, then medium term (once my goto upgrade finally arrives....
) to use as a guidescope for widefield camera shots, then go the whole hog longer term and get my dream imaging scope, and stick this one on top to guide it....
I kind of know where I am going - but I just want to take it one step at a time so I don't end up with a whole lot of gear that I don't need.
Adam