Conversation

[night sluice]

@woeful knot

[woeful knot]

Hi

Ok

Im not sure
if
I want to keep saving for the heq5
or just get the GTI
I would really like a bigish scope and mount
but
its so much money
I have the SWSA 2i rn so its not a big upgrade 💀

[night sluice]

Did you image with a scope before?

[woeful knot]

No

Only 55 - 250mm lens

rn

[winter mountain]

HEQ5 all the way

[night sluice]

What are the options that you‘d like to start with?

[woeful knot]

Wym

[night sluice]

Telescopes

[winter mountain]

Especially if youd like a bigish scope

[night sluice]

(or more so, what are your goals exactly?)

[woeful knot]

Hmmm

Well

I would like to get some decent galaxy images

my plan was to get the 150p quattro

with it

[night sluice]

the heq5 is definitely the minimum for a scope like that.

[night sluice]

I‘ve used a combination like that myself, you should keep in mind though, that the collimation of an f/4 newton can be tricky.

[woeful knot]

Yeah

I do hear that

[night sluice]

And You‘ll also have to add about 200-300$ to the price of the scope for some modifications that will improve the performance massively

[night sluice]

(that does not include the cheshire/ocal collimator)

[woeful knot]

hm

[night sluice]

But I think that, you could definitely get some great images out of the combination after a short accumulation period.

[woeful knot]

What about a GTI

and a small frac

[night sluice]

Didn‘t wanna discourage you from going for the newt btw, it won‘t dissapoint, once you know how to handle it.

[woeful knot]

Yeah

I was originally thinking just about getting the 130pds

[night sluice]

its not as well suited for galaxies, but you cant really go wrong with that.

[night sluice]

On that scope the collimation would be easier, as it is f/5.0. But it‘s also a little slower and you need to purchase the coma corrector separately.

[woeful knot]

what would a good frac be

NOT THE REDCAT 51

I need more focal length

[night sluice]

I‘d recommend going with the quattro though. That is, if you‘re willing to spend like 2-4 nights fiddeling around with the collimation

[woeful knot]

all the upgrades tho

[night sluice]

more focal length on a decent refractor is gonna get expensive and you’ll probably need to get the heq5 or an alternative to that as well.

You can‘t really go wrong with takahashi, they have some longer focal length scopes

[woeful knot]

72ed?

that has like 430

at like 700 bucks

[night sluice]

I‘ve never tried a 72ed myself. I heard that they have a pretty good color correction tho. (for a doublet, you‘ll still get a bit of colorfringing)

And they supposedly use fpl-53 glass, which you cant go wrong with.

[woeful knot]

hmmm

okkk

[night sluice]

As I‘ve started with a Newtonian myself, I can guarantee that the joy of getting images out of the newtonian, after you‘ve modified it yourself, will be greater than „just“ images straight out of a bought refractor.

Those modifications wont take too long either. (I‘ve done it myself in one afternoon) And there are tutorials on YouTube by Cuiv the lazy geek for example.

[woeful knot]

well I mean

that makes sense

but

there really is no newts that can fit on a gti

[night sluice]

With a longer focal length I‘d recommend going with the heq5.

Maybe you‘d upgrade a view months later anyways.

@woeful knot

[woeful knot]

months

wym upgrade a view

[night sluice]

When I got myself my first mount (the AZ-GTi at the time), it took like 4 months and I upgraded to a heq5 pro.

I‘m referring to buy once cry once.

[woeful knot]

what does that even mean 😭

oh

because it sucked or smth?

[night sluice]

I‘d only recommend the sa gti with a widefield frac (at max the redcat 51 or maybe an evostar 72ed)

[night sluice]

You need to spend more money at once, but because of that you spend less money in total.

[woeful knot]

YEah

well

its only gonna take me till

sometime in november

to save

up

Unless

I sell my 2i

then it would take a lill less time

[night sluice]

I can absolutely guarantee it though that you wont regret getting the heq5 pro.

[night sluice]

would be a valid sollution.

[woeful knot]

ok good 😭

but how would I even put my dslr on it

[night sluice]

With a vixen dovetail.

something like that

[woeful knot]

dang

I saw a 3d printed one

and my brther has a 3d printer

[night sluice]

That would also work.

the DSLR isnt too heavy so I think even PLA should hold it.😅

[woeful knot]

https://www.printables.com/model/288648-dovetail-camera-mount-for-telescope/files

not sure if I need the short screw or the long screw one

[night sluice]

take the short screw one. It wont be in the way of the mounts saddle.

[woeful knot]

kk

[woeful knot]

did your heq5 come with a clamp type saddle or the bolt one

[night sluice]

with the clamp type saddle

[woeful knot]

Look what I pinged you in

[woeful knot]

@night sluice

for my first dedicated astro camera

I was thinking smth like the 533mc

[night sluice]

should work pretty good. Had one of those as well. You can see some of the images I took with it on my instagram.

[woeful knot]

I cant

I dont have instagram account

[woeful knot]

hmmmmmmmm

Ok

decent

[woeful knot]

my YT search history is crazy :

[night sluice]

damn

someone likes astro ig

[woeful knot]

sorta

I just need goto so badly

or an 8 inch dob

💀

[night sluice]

It takes time + the skies arent gonna get any clearer.

[woeful knot]

wym

about skies

its raining rn

[night sluice]

yeah

if you have all your equipment its gonna automatically reduce your clear skies. Its called the cloud-syndrome

[woeful knot]

I wanna see a glob cluster SO bad

[woeful knot]

So rea

real

[night sluice]

isnt that possible with the sa?

[woeful knot]

SA?

[night sluice]

star adventurer

[woeful knot]

I mean

not really

technically yes

but seeing m13 in an eyepiece would HIT different

plus I only have 250mm

[night sluice]

Try M13.

[night sluice]

yeah thats true

I‘m not really one for the visuals but the first time I saw M3 I believe through a 10“ sct was amazing.

[woeful knot]

DOES the StarSense Explorer 8" Dobsonian Telescope have good optics?

[night sluice]

let me see

[woeful knot]

thats probably the one I would buy

just beacuse of the app

its SO good

[night sluice]

Should be pretty much the same as an 8“ by skywatcher, so yeah.

[woeful knot]

someone said to me the star sense was worse than classic

[night sluice]

I think astrobackyard reviewed it.

[night sluice]

Maybe look into that, I‘ve never used it myself so I cant really say something definite about it.

[woeful knot]

ok

[night sluice]

If its just for the app, I think there are other apps as well, that work on different scopes.

[woeful knot]

Yeah but

this app is just way better than astrohopper

[night sluice]

Or maybe just train starhopping by eye, I dont think it should be that hard to find a globular cluster.

[night sluice]

that definitely, but it also costs way more.

[woeful knot]

sorta

[night sluice]

Or if you really dont like to move it by hand, skywatcher also has some goto dobs.

[woeful knot]

yeah

but those

are REALLY expensive

[night sluice]

compared to putting one of those onto an equatorial mount, not really😅