Posts Made By: Kelly Lyons

Hi all, I'm considering buying my fist scope and would like to know what you might recommend.

My desire is to buy a Celestron CGE, but I don't want to be discouraged by the setup time of a GEM, yet I want to slowly... a step at a time get into astrophotography. And the area of my property I'll be viewing from has Polaris blocked by my house. So I feel I'll wait on the CGE until I can permanently mount it in the future. For now I have my eye on a Celestron CPC or a Meade LXR series. Which unit will provide me with the simplest and most actuate alignment? I'll likely start by piggy backing my Canon XTI and go from there as I learn more about the hobby. I assume with the proper setup I can get good photos with an exposure of several minutes with either one of the scopes.

I'm not wanting to start a Celestron-Mead forum dispute, thanx for you feedback...

Kelly

Getting back into astronomy after many years, actually since a teenager. I'm looking at purchasing a CGEM or CGE mount. I know the CGE has been discontinued, but is still available at Orion. Presently I plan to start with a mount using my DSLR with telephotos to image the night sky and will add an OTA down the road once I figure out what I want. I understand the payload difference and other advantages the CGE offers, but my question is does the new CGEM offer a better GOTO or electronics system. It has 3-star alignment where the CGE doesn't seem to. I can afford the CGE, but is it worth twice the price and am I buying outdated equipment buying the CGE? The CGE Pro is a bit out of my budget. Appreciate your opinions on the subject before I make the purchase. Thanx!

Getting back into astronomy after many years, actually since a teenager. I'm looking at purchasing a CGEM or CGE mount. I know the CGE has been discontinued, but is still available at Orion. Presently I plan to start with a mount using my DSLR with telephotos to image the night sky and will add an OTA down the road once I figure out what I want. I understand the payload difference and other advantages the CGE offers, but my question is does the new CGEM offer a better GOTO or electronics system. It has 3-star alignment where the CGE doesn't seem to. I can afford the CGE, but is it worth twice the price and am I buying outdated equipment buying the CGE? The CGE Pro is a bit out of my budget. Appreciate your opinions on the subject before I make the purchase. Thanx!

Getting back into astronomy after many years, actually since a teenager. I'm looking at purchasing a CGEM or CGE mount. I know the CGE has been discontinued, but is still available at Orion. Presently I plan to start with a mount using my DSLR with telephotos to image the night sky and will add an OTA down the road once I figure out what I want. I understand the payload difference and other advantages the CGE offers, but my question is does the new CGEM offer a better GOTO or electronics system. It has 3-star alignment where the CGE doesn't seem to. I can afford the CGE, but is it worth twice the price and am I buying outdated equipment buying the CGE? The CGE Pro is a bit out of my budget. Appreciate your opinions on the subject before I make the purchase. Thanx!

I'm new at this and interested in learning about AP. Just as a trial I thought I'd try my Canon XTi with a 300mm lens mounted on a tripod on a half phase moon. Unfortunately all I got was an overexposed white blob. I know a 300mm lens isn't enough to to get a lot of detail but no matter what exposure I tried it was just a white blob when I magnified the image. What is the correct expose setting with a dark background and bright moon? Thanks for your help in getting me started and expanding my abilities step by step!