Re: New equipment

I have access to an LXD-55 (similar) mount that I am in the process of setting up to take widefield shots. I have had some success with really wide DSLR views when I could get it really lined up with the pole. However, the biggest issue is that it does not have a standard autoguiding port. I recently purchased a "909 clone" of a Meade adapter that is no longer made that should allow guiding. Unfortunately I have not had a chance to complete testing of this via a GPUSB adapter. Definitely not the most straightforward setup I have ever seen. If it turns out autoguiding does work, then I will be able to test with a pair of 80mm scopes - one to guide and one to image. And will certainly report on what I find. Although this mount came with a Meade 5" refractor, it feels minimal for even the smaller scopes for imaging. Your 130mm sure sounds big.

Here is an example with a 110mm fl camera lens. I thought the tracking was great (for no guiding) this time, but you can still tell the stars got streaked.
http://www.fortlewis.edu/observatory/image_detail.asp?ID=179

Charlie

The LXD 75 is a great "grab and go" (which is what I use mine for) but I tested mine (misallign on the pole a couple degrees and do an exposure long enough for several worm periods) and the PE is not only 30 to 40 arc sec it is jumpy and rough and would not be guidable with an auto guider. Still would work fine for moon or planetary imaging and if you keep your exposures very short (10 to 15 seconds with low-medium focal length ...say under 500mm) and do a lot of them you can still do great stuff.