New telescope advice

[Colin (Colin)]

So I have two relatively wide field set ups but find myself with galaxy and planet envy, especially at this time of year.

If you had the choice between a Celestron C8 and a SVBONY 503 102mm f7 refractor for imaging galaxies, which would produce the better images?

I’m torn between the aperture of the C8 as against the simplicity of the refractor.

Advice welcome!!!

[Shawn]

Ive been there and done that. Do you need the rig to portable is the first question you should ask yourself, how are your skies ?... For imaging or observing ?... If your going for the faint fuzzies in horrible skies it will take the enjoyment out of it. I went portable some years back, because my skies here are horrid for about 500 days a year...

[Tulloch (Andrew)]

For planetary imaging, you need the larger aperture, there is no substitute. Better than the C8 is the C9.25", it's on a different level (it's what I use) and well worth the extra cost.

I image the planets and some galaxies, and have assembled the Planetary FAQ on Cloudy Nights which you can see here (the images at the top are from my C9.25").
https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/8...-january-2025/

I've only just started with galaxy imaging, but you can see some of my better images here using my C9.25" and a Meade f/6.3 reducer. I'm in the suburbs of Melbourne, in Bortle 6 skies..

https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/9...3-27-may-2024/
https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/9...04-6-jun-2024/
https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/9...997-march-2024
https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/9...a-august-2024/

[JohnA (John)]

Like Andrew, i too have the C925 and think its brilliant for planets along with the asi678

Now that i recently got the sv555 with the asi533 im going to give galaxies a go on the c925 with reducer and the 533.

I think the c925 will do a great job on galaxies, but it is a big heavy unit and you will want a good mount for it.

If you want portability, then be warned it is heavy and taking it on road trips along with all other equipment can be a bit of a pain.

[Leo.G (Leo)]

Wow Andrew those shots are AMAZING!


Yes, aperture is king, always been said BUT, if you want to take it somewhere with good dark skies lugging 60Kg of gear up a hill for a lunar eclipse 2 months after a heart attack, NOT FUN!


I have two 8" scopes, a Newtonian and a RC carbon (and a heap of Achromat refractors), they are both amazing in my back yard. The RC I could transport because it's very light being carbon but it's bulky and personally I've not had good results with planetary due to the central obstruction. It's a contested point about planetary and just because I've failed it could more be me. The Newt I recently obtained a coma corrector and haven't tried it yet, along with a focal reducer for the f8 RC (again, not tried). I believe I got OK results with M42 with the RC, I can't remember, there was a full moon.

I have an 80mm Megrez, the original model and it's an amazing little scope, light, portable and my grab and play in a hurry scope. I recently paired it with a TeleVue 5 times Powermate and my full frame Nikon (D810) and was blown away. I can also use it on a standard camera tripod somewhat heavy duty (25Kg capacity).
80mm with accessories can be powerful, not sure on nebulae with it using the Powermate but I believe on it's own with wide field it would be good for M42 and the like, I haven't tried it.

If you have the finances to own both, great choice. I don't, I've purchased everything I have used for bargain prices over many years after buying 1 new scope in the late 80's, a now heavily modified Tasco refractor. Keep an eye on the classifieds here, there are some great bargains on great gear to be had.

[Tulloch (Andrew)]

Don't forget that you don't need dark skies for the bright planets or the Moon, as long as a street light isn't pointing directly down the tube you will be fine.

Galaxies are best captured in dark skies it's true, but the images above were taken from my backyard in the Melbourne suburbs, hardly a dark sky site.

[John K]

Don't know your budget or your mount, but another option is a good 10" reflector or even a 12" reflector. Cannot beat these for the planteraty elements and easier to collimate than a SCT. With a good quality focuser and coma corrector great for deep sky. The 10" would be super portable.

Clear skies.

John K.

[gregbradley]

Celestron Edge HD with the .7X reducer has some nice images on Astrobin.

Why don't you surf Astrobin's search engine for sample images from the various scopes you are considering.

Greg.

[Matthieu (Matt)]

I can't speak to astrophotography but I've compared visually my C5 to my SV503 102ED on the same night.

For the C5, I used a 9mm Nagler Type 6 for 139x whereas for the SV503, I used the SvBony sv215 zoom at 5mm for 143x.

I found that I marginally preferred my freshly collimated C5 on the moon, Saturn (it was the only planet at the time) and 47 Tuc. Whereas the SV503 felt slightly better for M7 and splitting Alpha Centauri.

So I would imagine the C8 would provide much better light grasp for galaxies and resolution for planets.