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Astrophotography and Sketching >> Beginning and Intermediate Imaging
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jdoparnico
member


Reged: 01/20/13

Loc: KC Area, MO
Re: Best Scope to use for Astrophotography. new [Re: ghataa]
      #5643175 - 01/25/13 07:07 PM
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Hey guys,

Thanks for the idea ghataa!!

I actually am not having much luck finding a AT65EDQ online thats not backordered. Is there any other Scopes you guys would suggest? are there anymore Scopes like that one with a built in flattener? Or is there some I could get with a flattener and whatever other accessories for about the same price?

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wolfman_4_ever
Pooh-Bah


Reged: 07/15/11

Loc: El Segundo, Ca, So. Cal
Re: Best Scope to use for Astrophotography. new [Re: ghataa]
      #5645445 - 01/27/13 04:06 AM
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Quote:

. It appears to have cleaned up a lot of the CG5's shortcomings



Maybe one day I will find out what these so called shortcomings are.. Until then... May the force be with you.

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ghataa
professor emeritus


Reged: 06/20/11

Loc: Central, NJ
Re: Best Scope to use for Astrophotography. new [Re: wolfman_4_ever]
      #5645578 - 01/27/13 07:57 AM
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Dave,

I don't own an AVX but from I have read there are some general positive improvements. Threaded power cord, better alt/azm knobs, smaller motor housings, tracking past meridian, PPEC, new motors, beefier bolts in saddle, additional aux port and a few other things I don't recall.

I use a CG5 and have been productive with it but if I was new to market I would definitely give the AVX a look.

Best,

George

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ponz
super member


Reged: 07/18/12

Loc: Kansas City, MO
Re: Best Scope to use for Astrophotography. new [Re: jdoparnico]
      #5645804 - 01/27/13 10:51 AM
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Quote:

Hey guys,

Thanks for the idea ghataa!!

I actually am not having much luck finding a AT65EDQ online thats not backordered. Is there any other Scopes you guys would suggest? are there anymore Scopes like that one with a built in flattener? Or is there some I could get with a flattener and whatever other accessories for about the same price?



I'm almost as new as you are. I went with the ATLAS mount and the SkyWatcher Prp 80ED. Haven't hd a chance to do any imaging yet. Still wrapping my head around the gear, the sky, etc....

BTW - Many here beat me over the head with above suggestion and I truly appreciate them.

Welcome!
Ponz

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HenryV1598
member


Reged: 09/01/10

Loc: Houston
Re: Best Scope to use for Astrophotography. new [Re: ghataa]
      #5656791 - 02/01/13 05:11 PM
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Owning a CG-5 myself I can echo some of the above. A faster scope (shorter focal length/focal ratio) is your best option. I run an 80mm refractor and an 8" SCT on my CG-5. The images through the 8" are nearly unusable - lots of egg-shaped (or worse!) stars. That's with the best alignment I can muster and no wind. When I add in a focal reducer and drop from F/10 to F/6.3, it gets a little better - but I am still limited to 30 second exposures. The guys who say buy the best mount you can are right.

I've played with the 8" version of the NexStar GPS. On a wedge, its a good scope and I've seen work done by someone out there that's downright excellent. Its inner workings are significantly better than those of the CG-5. You need the wedge, however, or you will run into field rotation issues. Its also trickier to work with due to the placement of the fork pieces at times, but with a focal reducer getting you down to F/6.3-ish, it probably would work. The Hyperstar option, however, would be even better. You get down to an F/2.8 - a very fast scope! The Hyperstar for a C8 won't take a DSLR, but the C11 is supposed to. If you can afford that route, it's definitely worth considering.

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rflinn68
scholastic sledgehammer


Reged: 03/09/12

Loc: Arkansas
Re: Best Scope to use for Astrophotography. new [Re: HenryV1598]
      #5656804 - 02/01/13 05:19 PM
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http://www.astronomics.com/astro-tech-refractor-telescopes_c5.aspx

There ya go. In stock and ready for you

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jdoparnico
member


Reged: 01/20/13

Loc: KC Area, MO
Re: Best Scope to use for Astrophotography. new [Re: rflinn68]
      #5721097 - 03/08/13 07:55 PM
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Thanks for all the help guys!
I talked to the guys of Astronomics and got a warehoused AT65EDQ for really cheap.

It didn't have the case, dovetail, or rings which they and extra pair later and sold to me cheap as well. But I think they sold me the whole set up under $400. So that was awesome!

I also got a C8 with a Sirius GOTO mount cheap as well.

Like you guys said. I'm gonna use my AT65EDQ for imaging and my C8 for just visual use. Would it be possible to hook my AT65EDQ on top of my C8? or would that be too heavy for my mount?

Thanks,
-Josh

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CounterWeight
Postmaster
*****

Reged: 10/05/08

Loc: Cloudyopolis, OR.
Re: Best Scope to use for Astrophotography. new [Re: jdoparnico]
      #5721362 - 03/08/13 11:05 PM
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My images are in the link in my sigline... the 'crazry...' link

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jdoparnico
member


Reged: 01/20/13

Loc: KC Area, MO
Re: Best Scope to use for Astrophotography. new [Re: CounterWeight]
      #5721461 - 03/09/13 12:38 AM
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Great Pictures Jim. What's your normal setup for these pictures? Besides the scope of course.

Here's a picture of my new setup.


Here's one with my C8 and my AT65 hooked up on a finder scope mount. Would this be ok for taking pictures? I haven't tried it yet.

My plan is to get an eye piece video camera that hooks up to a tv. And I want to plug that into my C8 while my AT65 takes pictures, so I can look at the objects without damaging the pictures.

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CounterWeight
Postmaster
*****

Reged: 10/05/08

Loc: Cloudyopolis, OR.
Re: Best Scope to use for Astrophotography. new [Re: jdoparnico]
      #5721532 - 03/09/13 02:36 AM
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The widefield images are an ED80T with either an AT field Flattener or the TeleVue TRF-2008 which is a reducer / flattener. The 2 recent mono are with the 'Baby-Q'. All iamges taken with the monochrome ST8300 and filters as listed below. The mount is a pricy one, A-P mach1 on a concrete pier which keeps it very stable.

I would give that rig a try and see how it works start with shorter exposures just to get the feel of it?

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jdoparnico
member


Reged: 01/20/13

Loc: KC Area, MO
Re: Best Scope to use for Astrophotography. new [Re: CounterWeight]
      #5722223 - 03/09/13 12:31 PM
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I guess my biggest question now, is if my Sirius mount can hold the weight of all my gear which is roughly 23lbs and still track well enough to take pictures with? Or would I need a bigger mount for that?

Thanks!
-Josh

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jdoparnico
member


Reged: 01/20/13

Loc: KC Area, MO
Re: Best Scope to use for Astrophotography. new [Re: jdoparnico]
      #5728662 - 03/12/13 05:36 PM
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Here's a few pictures of my fist night out with my setup!

I was only able to do a 1 star align because of the area I was in.

The first picture was the best one of the night I was just taken with a 30 second exposure. The second one was only for a minute but a car drove by and really brighten up the image. haha. Also, it has a cool streak of a plane flyby.





I was struggling all night to really get the images in focus. I heard that BackyardEOS helps with this because it gives you a live view of what you are seeing.

Any tips or suggestions?

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