Quote:
Originally Posted by Emuhead
I don't think I'll have the patience that Discoduck has though (50hrs), and I'm not game like Kosborne to go a 10" mirror on an eq6r pro, at least not yet while im still playing nice with the mount.
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I'm very late to the conversation but thought I'd add my recent experience.
I started with an Esprit 100ED about 3 years ago and wanted to add more focal length. I thought carefully about adding an 8" RC but in the end decided to go for a high end Newtonian. I was nervous about the size and weight of the Newt (and it really does look top heavy in the attached pic) but it actually works well on the EQ6-R as long as there isn't too much breeze. I was equally nervous about the collimation and the big f number of an RC. A Newtonian is infinitely easier to collimate than a Ritchey-Chretien!
I dither every sub and lose a lot of time waiting for the scope to settle, but I live in a Bortle 4-5 suburb of Canberra and don't have to throw away too many subs. The Newt is a 254mm f/5 carbon fibre tube from Sidereal Trading and I've added OAG to reduce weight as much as possible. It weighs in at 17kg with imaging train which is a lot for an EQ6-R but it all seems to work. With a Baader MPC Mk III coma corrector it gives me a great flat field edge to edge and the focal length of 1270mm together with an ASI1600mm and ASI2600MC (and with the Esprit with or without a Starizona 0.65 reducer) gives me a great range of focal length and framing options.
The bottom line is don't underestimate what you can get with a good quality Newtonian!