|
Personally I'd go to a 4" (100mm or 105mm) rather than the 3" ED80, but the ED80 is a great starter scope, and may end up your guide scope if you end up getting a big bugger later, and with the 105mm you can get a faster scope with more detail than an 80mm.
But either will get great images, but I don't use my ED80 anymore, but I don't reckon I'll ever sell the 105mm/650. I guess you are just less likely to outgrow the 105.
You will get all kinds of advice, and all of it will be right, but the main thing is to take it one step at a time, there is an insane amount to learn. Truly insane...and most of it you have to learn by doing, it looks so easy on the page, then is so damn fiddly frustrating f^&*$#* stupid focuser slipping, drift alignment, what, my stars are still eggy even with the coma corrector, #^&*%^$*!!
Sorry...
There is a lot to get right.
You have to get your head around aligning an equatorial mount to an unimaginable level of accuracy.
Then you have to deal with the weight of the camera and the attachments to get it *perfectly* square and get the focus right, which usually means upgrading the focuser to something like a moonlight or feathertouch, and then soon you want an electric focuser.
Then deal with the fact that it still won't track perfectly. Which takes you into guidecam territory, a piggy back scope or an off axis guider, which leads to wanting a more sensitive guide scope.
Then framing... you end up needing a focal reducer, and the egdes are wonky, so you also need a flattener. Then you want some Ha and OIII filters to get the extra detail, which leads you to modifying your DSLR or getting a dedicated Astro cam.
Then you realise there is flex somewhere in the arrangement, and you try strengthening up the newtonian and arrrggh!
And so it goes.
So, keep it simple at the start, by going with an ED80 or a 4" refractor. There are no collimation issues, no sidemounting, lower weight so easier to manage, less flex etc. get a triplet if you can afford it, a doublet if you can't.
You can get a simple adapter t-ring to 2" nosepiece adapter to slip your DSLR in the end of the focuser, and I'd get a good quality focuser immediately, it will save you so many headaches.
(Choose one that has an inexpensive electronic focuser add-on so that you can do that down the track without having to replace the whole focuser.)
Stick it on an EQ6 and you are pretty much ready to get imaging. Fend off the temptation to upgrade your gear and learn how to get images and you will have a scope and mount that you will probably keep forever, will be quick and easy to setup and you can focus on alignment and getting your images right.
Then you can start to learn about processing!
|