Another newbie,,checklist advice

[mat,v]

Hi all
about 12 months ago i bought a canon 40D as i had injured my back and suddenly had a lot of spare time on my hands,,im getting my head around the camera pretty well and have some good lenses,a few weeks back i started taking photos of the moon,,big mistake,,now i'm hooked,,i recently purchased a meade lx90 8" SCT autostar etc in mint condition from ebay and plan on getting involved in the astrophotography side of things,i believe i will need a t-mount and t-adapter for prime focus,,but would i be better off getting an off-axis guider and illuminated reticule instead of the t-adapter,this way it should be easier for me to get accurate alignment and keep an eye on the tracking a little better,,My scope uses 1.25" eyepieces,but ive read in the forums that i should buy a 2" visual back and noise piece adapter to prevent vignetting.
My ep's are 1.25" so i should be able to use them for observing,,or would i be better off purchasing a 2" eyepiece kit to view with the above 2" conversion.
I am happy to take my time learning things slowly, but i would rather buy the right gear straight up and not replace items 6 months down the track,,
My scope arrived last week and it has been raining ever since so i have used this time to study heaps of forums,books etc,,and now i'm getting pretty antsy about getting out there and sinking my teeth into it,,so can somebody tell me how to get rid of these bloody clouds haha,,
PS,,I absolutely love this website,,plenty of info and many good laughs too..

[renormalised (Carl)]

Hi Mat, welcome to IIS

Ah....a good scope I have one, too

One thing, don't worry about an illuminated reticle EP for guiding. Save your neck and your back....get a guidescope and an autoguider. It'll keep your scope on target much better than you ever could and save your eyes from redeye oblivion and strain. Say something like a Orion ST80 refractor and an Orion Starshoot autoguider, or an SWED80 apo refractor with the same autoguider (or a QHY5). You'll find that the LX90 doesn't have an inbuilt autoguider port (what Meade were thinking, I don't know!!!), and Meade have discontinued the #909 APM, however, you can get a #909 clone port module that's much better than the original from here.... http://home.comcast.net/~lynol1000/as_909/as_909_clone.htm

That'll solve that problem. You can also use the off axis guider and guide through your scope using your autoguider, which will help when you're using the scope at long focal lengths (like using a powermate to increase the focal length/f ratio for planetary and very small DSO imaging). The 2" accessories will help with taking piccies...many DSLR's have chips that are bit too wide for the light cones coming through your typical 1.25" accessories, as they mimic 35mm film format, and the smaller sized equipment may cause some vignetting in your pics. Keep your 1.25"'s though. You'll still need T adapters and such to attach your camera. Also, avail yourself a Meade (or similar) focal reducer...the f/3.3 focal reducer would be ace. That'll speed up your system to f/3.3 which means you should be able to image an object quicker and also pickup more light for a similar length of exposure...means better and brighter images It also means wider fields of view, meaning you'll be able to image larger targets much easier and most likely get them into the field of view in their entirety.

Good online (as well as offline) shops like Bintel, My Astro Shop and Andrews Communications, will help you out with all the bits and pieces you need. Also, keep an eye out for bargains at IIS's Trade and For Sale forums. You may pickup a bargain there

Anyway, I hope that helps, and once again Welcome to IIS. You're going to have fun and learn all at the same time

[mat,v]

Thanks heaps for that,i reckon that will keep me busy,entertained for a while,,now that i have more to research,study,,,you watch the clouds disappear and the stars come out,,almost not enough hours in the day,,might have to become nocturnal,,,cheers again

[garyp]

Hi Mat, Welcome

I hope the rain stops soon.

Love to see you post some images when you are all set up for astrophotography

Cheers

Gary

[mat,v]

No worries gary,might take a while to get the hang of it all, but you'll know when i do,,you'll probably hear me from over there,,i got the scope out last night and stretched it's legs,,definitely a lot too see out there,,,bed times gettin later and later,,,thanks buddy,,MAT

[mat,v]

GDAY all,,does anybody know if i can use LPI to autoguide my 8"LX90 SCT through an off axis guider and take pics with my CANON 40D in prime focus at the same time,,My telescope doesn't have an autoguider port, but the LPI & AUTOSTAR SUITE use a cable to link my laptop to the RS-232 port on the scope, so the software makes the corrections to the scope as the LPI tracks the star,,I could be way off track, but is it another option,, thanks for your input,,,MAT

[renormalised (Carl)]

Yes, some peeps autoguide their LX90's that way. However, I'd want to use a autoguider a bit more sensitive than the LPI if I wanted to track objects for long periods. A dedicated autoguider will pick out dimmer stars than the LPI, making it easier to guide with it mainly because of the greater number of guide stars you can choose from. That's why I suggested the #909 clone in an earlier post. But, you can autoguide the scope with the autostar suite and an LPI. If you want to find out off of the experts with LX90's, here's a place to join....

LX90's User Group

[mat,v]

Thanks buddy,,just throwin ideas around,so could i autoguide with a better quality unit but still through an off axis guider,,the reason i'm not to keen on a seperate guide scope is the leader of the opposition is giong to put forward a good case on fiscal policies,,haha,,,thanks again,,MAT

[renormalised (Carl)]

Ah....problems with the Ministry of Finance....the Treasurer should realise that said purchase will be in the national interest

[mat,v]

Point cautiously forwarded,,Veto powers put in place,,Diplomatic immunity denied,,Not yet prepared to become independent state,,fragile truce declared,,

[renormalised (Carl)]

A magnanimous gift of sweet confectioneries, along with a substantial granting of gift/s aimed to sweeten any deal between "gov'n depts", or the acquisition of items noted to be of highly prized value to the Minister of Finance/treasurer, may cause a loosening of the purse strings should one find it most agreeable and advantageous to acquire for oneself items found to be of value to one....namely the purchase of secondary instruments of an ocular nature and devices for attachment to the said ocular instruments, of such nature that the munificent guidance of the primary ocular instrument now in ones possession shall be greatly enhanced by the attachment to the primary ocular instrument of said secondary devices of an ocular and guiding nature

(Sir Humphrey Appleby, eat your heart out)

[mat,v]

Touche,,very very good,,,im am humbled in the presence of a genius,,care for a job as my mediator,,pays not great but the fireworks would be a site to behold,,MAT

[renormalised (Carl)]

Let it be said that I, a humble public servant from the Home Office, would not countenance the fact the onerous duties of a mediator are within my grasp, in any manner, shape or form. It is not for me to say to the Honourable Minister of Finance anything about the where to's and why for's of any interministerial disagreements. I believe a rapproachment needs to be facilitated by far more capable hands than I. A singularly loftier conscience, more versed in the verisimilitudes of diplomatic conversation needs to be employed in just such a situation

[mat,v]

Such a shame,,anyhow,I'm going to take the "softly softly" approach to the purchasing of my assorted goodies,,for the T-ADAPTER & T-MOUNT, do i order them in 2" or do i have to order them in 1.25mm and get a converter, also should the focal reducer be in 1.25mm or 2",,,last question "for now" will a 2"off-axis guider still take my 1.25mm EPs,,thanks heaps,,,MAT

[renormalised (Carl)]

What I would do is buy 2" adapters and such for photographic work and keep your 1.25" stuff for visual work. Your T-Mount should be for your specific model of camera, they won't work otherwise. 2" stuff will be dearer, but you'll see the difference when taking pics. Not as much possible vignetting to begin with. Some OAG's will take both EP's but others won't. Most are either 2" or 1.25". You can get flip mirrors which will hold both sets of EP's, but they're not so good for continuous off axis guiding...more for visually centering objects than full on guiding. They're also more expensive.