moving house - need new scope!

sejanus (Gavin) · #1 04-09-2008, 02:31 PM

hey guys

So I'm moving to a new house in a few months and unfortunately it's closer to light pollution than further away from it

So when I use a scope I'm going to have to chuck it in the car. Unfortunately my lovely 16" LB is not what I would describe as the most portable scope. At my current house I just wheel it out of the garage 10 metres to my grass area and I'm ready to rock so the size doesn't matter there, but putting it in a car is a drama.

So I was thinking an SCT and to be honest I haven't looked at sct's in so long (despite having once owned a 11" celestron sct) that I'm really out of it know.

Are the meades and the celestron still the ones to get? I'll probably be buying it as an OTA and getting an eq5 or 6 to put it on.

I assume my 6mm and 7mm eyepieces will be not much good on a sct. But has anyone used the 13mm ethos on one?

btw, I know one solution would be to buy a 10" dob and chuck that in the car, but if I'm going new I'd prefer to go back to the computerised/tracking world again. I'll probably put my bits that I don't need anymore up for sale once I work out exactly what I don't need and take pics of them.

cheers

Gav

sheeny (Al) · #2 04-09-2008, 03:33 PM

I don't know about a 13mm ethos, but my 13mm Nagler type 6 is just beautiful in my SCT. I wouldn't expect any problems from the ethos.

Al.

PhilW · #3 04-09-2008, 03:44 PM

How handy are you feeling? The LB structure is much bigger & heavier than it needs to be; you could always take the optics out, throw away all the particleboard, & build an ultralight dob around them.

sejanus (Gavin) · #4 04-09-2008, 03:48 PM

heh. if it doesn't have a keyboard attached, I'm useless. my wife is the handyman of the house

PhilW · #5 04-09-2008, 04:13 PM

OK, so can she use a router?

tnott · #6 04-09-2008, 08:00 PM

You could get a kit from: http://www.dobstuff.com/

or ask SDM to build a compact around your optics.

Then add Argo Navis and Servocat if you want GOTO.

Or, building your own is not that hard and fun. You have the optics, so this would be the cheapest option as well.

My 16" scope is much more portable and easier setup than a 10"-12" SCT on either a fork or EQ mount.