Refractor options for the moon

[rogerg (Roger)]

Originally Posted by MortonH

I guess reflectors will always be softer than a good refractor due to the central obstruction. Then there's always the possibility that collimaton isn't perfect. And larger apertures are more susceptible to seeing conditions due to their greater resolution.

Yes, I wasn't meaning to dish the idea of a reflector full stop, it's just the 8" orange tube didn't work. I think it's a combination of age (attributing to the focuser being tricky to use and collimation being less smoothly adjustable) and it's collimation at the time and being more susceptible to viewing conditions.

[miki63au]

Hi Roger,
I have what you want.... and you have what I need ..... LOL
I'm after a full frame DSLR , but at this stage can't afford it

I have a C14HD SCT with a 0.6 deg flat(!!) FOV ...
with a dedicated 0.7x reducer the Lunar pic should be awesome in a full frame DSLR.... old Orange SCT has Coma and field curvature

You want a Celestron Edge SCT ... and you can have a sharp to the edge full frame Moon shot

my 2c.... Cheers,
Mick

[rogerg (Roger)]

Originally Posted by miki63au

Hi Roger,
I have what you want.... and you have what I need ..... LOL
I'm after a full frame DSLR , but at this stage can't afford it

I have a C14HD SCT with a 0.6 deg flat(!!) FOV ...
with a dedicated 0.7x reducer the Lunar pic should be awesome in a full frame DSLR.... old Orange SCT has Coma and field curvature

You want a Celestron Edge SCT ... and you can have a sharp to the edge full frame Moon shot

my 2c.... Cheers,
Mick

An 8" Edge would certainly be nice Seems like the best option.

Given I won't be spending that much money on the exercise just now, I have been fiddling with a 3x Televue Barlow and 5x Televue Powermate borrowed from my friend.

I have one image using the 3x Televue Barlow published which is acceptable but processing has let down the quality (have another thread regarding that):
http://astrophotography.com.au/the-moon/

I'm yet to process the 5x Powermate shots, but initial looks at the raw data suggest the 5x shots are flatter and have better edge clarity than the 3x Barlow, but will require stitching a mosaic as two frames are required to fit the Moon rather than one frame with the 3x Barlow.

The project is somewhat pending trying processing on higher spec'd PC, as my laptop seems incapable of processing the large files in Registax