[luminary (Ben)]

Hi all,

I've just purchased a CPC 8" SCT. I have been out of observing the sky for more than a decade and my last telescope was a Meade reflector that had an equatorial mount etc.

What I understand is that the telescope comes on a fork mount, and only one eyepiece the 40mm in a 1.25 inch size.

Ideally I want to buy everything now for keeps and don't want to muck around with intermediate learning etc. purchases. I've read that 2" eyepieces would be a good idea etc.

To be honest I don't know much else about it. I have a Canon 5D II and a Lumix GF1 micro four thirds camera. I'd like to do some astrophotography too.

Here are some of my questions:

1. Do I need to buy a power supply? What should I buy if so? A Celestron power tank or some other car battery with charger etc? Please suggest products that are easy to use, even if they are a bit more expensive.

2. Which eyepieces should I buy? Stick to 1.25" or move straight to 2"? Axiom or E-Lux in the kits?

3. Astrophotography? Apart from a wedge what other things are a must? An f6.3 reducer? A T-mount for my camera? A T-adapter for the scope? A radial guider? These are just from my research. I'd like to use the micro four thirds camera rather than the bulky Canon...

4. Terrestrial viewing? A separate diagonal that erects... is that all it takes?

I know it's a lot of questions but any help is appreciated.

Ben