Which Mount for Astrophotography/Observing?

[icytailmark (Mark)]

Losmandy G11
Skywatcher HEQ6
Or a Dobsonian 12" GOTO

im planning on using a 12" newt OTA and maybe upgrade to a 16" OTA later on.

[Alchemy (Clive)]

The losmandy is the better mount for astrophotography, neither is really suited for long exposure with the 12 inch.... It's doable just with the g11, but as I found out tube flexure on the newt will limit your time.

FOr visual you could use either ,Goto if you use an equatorial is a big bonus, both mounts come with it (optional on the g11)

For pure fun on a budget the dob will serve you well

[NorthernLight (Max)]

Hi Mark,

depending on what you gonna do in terms of imaging it might be possible to load a 12" newton on a eq6.

Brendan Mitchel from WA has managed to do that and wrote about it in a another thread. but I think he mentioned that exposure is limited and the eq6 probably wont live too long if you do it regulary.

from what I ve read so far the best option for a 12" or 16" newton would be a paramount me mount in a dome. that carries up to 50kg and is a very accurate tracker (for its $50k) and the dome keeps the wind out that would be the worst enemy on a 16" newton sail.

but quite frankly instead of very expensive, huge and unportable mounts just go with a 12" or 16" SCT on Celestron CGE or Losmandy G11.

but it sounds like an interesting project- keep posting!

Cheers

[icytailmark (Mark)]

so would it be possible to do planet astrophotography with a goto DOB? What if i used a 10 " OTA on a eq instead could i do long exposure?

[Alchemy (Clive)]

Planet imaging can be time dependent

moon happy snaps with a digital easy just in the 100ths of a sec category

Moon shots with webcam, the more frames the better so can be time dependent, means some form of tracking is preferred, stack in registax or similar

High res planetary requires good tracking, and can be at focal lengths of 6000 mm and up, and will require 100s if not 1000s of frames usually with a more expensive video cam.

There have been those who have used a 10 inch on an eq 6 with success for astrophotography so why not. WARNING..... Be prepared to spend more than you first expected if you want to pursue imaging.

[RobF (Rob)]

It really comes down to what you most want to do. Once you get above 8" in any scope weight makes tracking difficulty and expense exponentially more difficult. With modern DSLRs and CCDs you don't really need huge aperture. Just look at the sublime work people show with Takahashi FSQ106s (4 inch scopes).

You can do planetary video work with a dob (Mike Salway has a great article in the Resources area of this site), but its quite a bit of work.

If you're likely to be wanting to do long exposure at any time, definitely worth investing in the best mount you can afford and spending around half that again on your OTA (and then expect to spend 5 to 100 times that over the coming years as you slip deeper into the imaging black hole.....)

Why not get some experience with a good mount and much smaller OTA to start with? (apologies if you've already got lots of imaging experience under your belt)

[icytailmark (Mark)]

i think ill settle for planetary astrophotography with a 12 " newt on an EQ then maybe later buy a small refractor for DSO imaging.

[mithrandir (Andrew)]

One of the guys at work has just bought a 12" newt and an eq6pro. He still has not made up his mind whether to keep the newt or swap it for an 8 to 10" SCT or a refractor. He finds it takes 20Kg of counterweights, is hard work to set up and the wind shakes it a fair bit.

[RobF (Rob)]

Yep - strongly suggest limiting to maximum 10", unless extra resolution for planetary is essential. You're talking a BIG heavy scope at 12"......

Have you actually seen one set up on an EQ6?

[mswhin63 (Malcolm)]

Originally Posted by icytailmark

so would it be possible to do planet astrophotography with a goto DOB? What if i used a 10 " OTA on a eq instead could i do long exposure?

Goto only is enough for locating objects, need tracking to follow based on rotation.

I have a 12" DOB and done a lot of AP. Moon easy, Planets hard. I am almost finished a EQ mod for my DOB in which I hope to get much higher res shots, wishing for better skies.

GOTO with tracking is no good for Deep Sky due to rotation, you would need to get a field de-rotator to compensate for the image twisting while tracking on a DOB. EQ is the only way. My mount is expected to be rough prototype maybe but should be perfect for Moon and Planets, I hope that my construction skills are good enough to do good widefield AP. Still waiting for bearings from Germany.