I have night blindness, looking for the right scope

Hello. I'm a new member of the group and have a question regarding the right scope for my vision deficiency. I currently have an 8" dobsonian that I built several years ago. I also have RP which is disease which affects the rods in my eyes (needed for peripheral and night vision). Unfortunately I can't see very many stars anymore and so it's quite difficult to manually find what I'm looking for unless someone else is around. I've decided to do astrophotography since my center vision still works fine and the images from the camera can help offset what I can't see through my eyes. I just recently purchased a used Canon 40D and I'm about ready to buy the telescope. I'm thinking of the Meade LX90 8" ACF. I want to take wide field pictures along with some deep space pictures.

So my question is, is this the right scope that will allow me to easily find what I want to shoot and also allow me to take decent pictures (assuming I set it up correctly and complete the post processing correctly)? Are there other options/scopes that I should be considering?

Thank you.
Bill

Generally speaking, you would be better off with a wide field refractor rather than an 8 inch SCT (which is what the ACF is, right?). It is hard to learn imaging on an SCT with its long focal length. It is even harder to get a wide field picture off on one.....They are not made for that. Also, since the ACF may not be the best choice, you might want to consider a German Equatorial Mount instead of the Fork. A GEM adapts better to a variety of tubes and is quite popular in imaging.

As for the vision problem, if you can read a computer screen you can do astroimaging. Won't be as easy as it might be otherwise, but you can do it.

The 40 D should do you quite well. You will also need a laptop.

Alex

Bill Hasan said:

Hello. I'm a new member of the group and have a question regarding the right scope for my vision deficiency. I currently have an 8" dobsonian that I built several years ago. I also have RP which is disease which affects the rods in my eyes (needed for peripheral and night vision). Unfortunately I can't see very many stars anymore and so it's quite difficult to manually find what I'm looking for unless someone else is around. I've decided to do astrophotography since my center vision still works fine and the images from the camera can help offset what I can't see through my eyes. I just recently purchased a used Canon 40D and I'm about ready to buy the telescope. I'm thinking of the Meade LX90 8" ACF. I want to take wide field pictures along with some deep space pictures.

So my question is, is this the right scope that will allow me to easily find what I want to shoot and also allow me to take decent pictures (assuming I set it up correctly and complete the post processing correctly)? Are there other options/scopes that I should be considering?

Thank you.
Bill

If you are not already committed to imaging with a CCD, think about a Stellacam or Mallincam deep sky video camera coupled to the LX90. That will allow you to "see" plenty on a video monitor--and you won't need a 200-inch a someone "helpfully" suggested. ;-)