Posts Made By: John Kramer

Hi All,

Looking for an upgrade from my 8" Celestron Ultima 8 PEC. I have used this scope since 95, and its given many a nights of fine viewing. However, I have come to love the tight star images that I see from Newts and Refractors when I'm at star parties. I have collimated my scope over and over, but my images seem soft, blob stars, and no snap to focus. I have always found myself playing with focusing.

So any mak cass owners out there? It it a justified upgrade from say an 200mm SCT to a 180mm MCT like the Orion? Will stars snap to pinpoints in focus, with a black backround? Will I be able to push mags to over 250x?

Looking forward to hearing your inputs.

Thanks,

John

This has been driving me crazy, and the main reason I don't frequent the site, but I would love to change that.

How can I set my view preferences for the forums to expand the thread replies automatically? If I want to ready the contents, i have to click each and every post, which can't be the only way. Astro forums and other forums don't do it this way, so I'm hoping that I'm just missing the proper setting or something.

What am I missing please!

Thank You,

john

WOW...nice shot! I hope to have one of those cameras one day.

John

Awesome observing report! Its great to have that type of aperture to grab those galaxies. I had fun with just the 6" LS the other night as well.

Clear skies....john

I do not think so, but Celestron just released their NexGuider for $299.99 that should work nicely.

How do you like the NexImager, I've been thinking of this imager myself.

John

Bob Loewenthal said:

I've been thinking- almost ready to buy- about purchasing the Meade LS8 ATC. Tech support at Meade says that it can support my Stellarvue 80mm guidescope and mounting plate, an autoguider, and my Canon 20D DSLR. They say that the drive is so accurate that I can do long exposures (5-10 minutes). Has it improved to that extent? What do you think? Should I take the plunge? Your input would be greatly appreciated.

Bob

I'm confused then. First off, usually you have a dedicated autoguider port if the scope was built to interface for them, but the Meade LS 8 doesn't have an autoguider port, so I'm uncertain on how an autoguider would even be able to interface with the LS 8. Second, from my knowledge on astrophotography, the autoguiders will only work on equatorial mounted scopes, so at best, you would need to put the LS 8 on wedge and set it to equatorial mode, which I'm uncertain is possible. Third, to mount the guide scope, you would need a mounting point at the top of the OTA, and the LS 8 has no mounting screws or points at all on the top of the OTA. You could get a cradle-type, the kind that wrap around the OTA, and has the mountings on the top however. Now the LS 8 is possible of taking fantastic DLSR images within the 10-15 min mark, I have seen many by rigel123 on CN with his ETX-LS 6, but past that 15 min mark, ANY Alt-Az mount will probably introduce field rotation, so again, you would need a equatorial wedge. I love my LS 8, but the package your describing, wanting a guidescope and autoguider etc, then the LS is not the best option.

Yes, I own a LS 8.
John