Come join the friendliest, most engaging and inclusive astronomy forum geared for beginners and advanced telescope users, astrophotography devotees, plus check out our "Astro" goods vendors.
Come join the friendliest, most engaging and inclusive astronomy forum geared for beginners and advanced telescope users, astrophotography devotees, plus check out our "Astro" goods vendors.
I bit the bullet and bought a Stellina. I set it up tonight, though it is now a little below the recommended minimum temperature now. I am grabbing a 30-minute (if it stays clear) of the Crab Nebula now.
Not something to replace a good AP setup, but I just haven't managed to get out there much (particularly while nursing a knee injury).
Some pretty good results. Not the most stable thing, but it compensates pretty good. 10-second exposures, live-stacked. It is an 80mm doublet ED I believe. It might be good for certain outreach events, but I am not sure how the community will accept such a thing.
I wonder if I am going to get Shunned now!
I promise, I will get to real AP this spring, once I level-out the back yard and set things up. And I am going back out with the binoculars once I warm back up a bit.
Not sure if the local NHAS members are interested in taking a look.
Meade 6", 8", and 10" SN, Meade 10" f/6.3 Lx200, ES ES-102, Meade 90mm DS-2000, Celestron CPC-800 HD, Celestron , AVX, CGEM-DX, Twilight I mounts. Omegon 2.1x 41mm Binocs.
Hyperstar for EdgeHD, ZWO and Celestron Nightscape CCD. A fully-functional Meade 12" RCX-400.
My hat is off to you sir. Early adopters pave the way for the rest of us and, hopefully let us avoid buying a turkey at a high price. You gamble and we win, either way.
No disrespect intended but I wonder if a a system built around a $300 camera (QHY retail) and a scope that could retail anywhere from $100 to $700 is a good deal. A five star user review said "Sure, it's Orion, an easy target, so the next target to try was Andromeda. After 20 minutes the dust lanes started to come out, very easy and no star trails or anything.
"20 minutes before the dust lanes started to come out..." for the Andromeda Galaxy? From a red zone suburb of a major urban area I would be very unhappy with that result with any of my scopes, from 50mm SV-50 to an f/10 SCT and with any of my cameras, some of which would not compare well with the current QHY or discontinued ZWO cameras that use the Sony IMX 178 sensor.
What value can be fairly assigned to the self aligning mount. The $325 Celestron Starsense fits of the Celestron go to mounts so we can add it to a Celestron NexStar SE Computerized Mount/Tripod - CEL-91203 @$423 for a total of $748.
The battery is about $30.
Software -No charge.
A comparable system from name brand components for $1200 to $1900. You lose some easy automation and gain flexibility and the budget for significant upgrades. So it is a choice, the 4 grand integrated system or the much cheaper assemble it your self and upgrade-able version.
That said I might well be willing to pay a premium for a better system that removes the tedious parts of using my current system. The premium would have to be smaller or the results superb, when I think about what I can buy for 4 grand.
Also may I apologize in advance for doing what it often done in that other forum, jumping in about hardware that I've never seen. But I think I am raising some fair points to be considered in any further review.
Good for you for jumping in early - no shunning here. It's out of my price range (for now anyway), but I'd be very interested in what you think and seeing some images.
============================================================================= I drink tea, I read books, I look at stars when I'm not cursing clouds. It's what I do. =============================================================================
AT50, AT72EDII, ST80, ST102; Scopetech Zero, AZ-GTi, AZ Pronto; Innorel RT90C, Oberwerk 5000; Orion Giantview 15x70s, Vortex 8x42s, Navy surplus 7x50s, Nikon 10x50s
I promise I will get a much fuller review soon, including daylight pics, closeups, etc. . Things were very busy at work for a while, but that will no longer be an issue.
I was going to setup tonight (even with the Evil Orb near full) but I had a "good-cause" donation for one of the local Astronomy club members on my todo list, and wanted her to pick between a few different setups. She went with the ETX-90, and I hooked-her up with a few good EPs. We spent some time going over the setup. She was delighted.
It has also been pretty crappy, or way too windy, or way too cold at night (she is for 32 degrees and above). But spring- she is about to start springing any time now. And I am going to try out some new power-adapter blocks so I can use the PowerTank and really put her through some paces. And I will be trying to hack the app onto my Fire HD instead of my phone.
Stay tuned...
Meade 6", 8", and 10" SN, Meade 10" f/6.3 Lx200, ES ES-102, Meade 90mm DS-2000, Celestron CPC-800 HD, Celestron , AVX, CGEM-DX, Twilight I mounts. Omegon 2.1x 41mm Binocs.
Hyperstar for EdgeHD, ZWO and Celestron Nightscape CCD. A fully-functional Meade 12" RCX-400.
There is a model that has green paint for $18,325 aus !, it doesn't say that it has extra components in it or anything !,given that the standard model is about $6786 aus, that's a $11,539 paint job !!! wtf ..
i'm sorry, i can only boycott this kind of behaviour from vaonis.. however it's form factor and simplified operation is it's pros , the price is killing it from making it a good product for astrophotographers who want some closer to value ...a very niche product for the $ big pockets $
if you have the cash to burn and you like it then kudos to you .
for me ,i'll be sticking with rudimentary tools rather then an art piece to make my astrophotography art.at the end of the night after hours of it spending time in the dark the dust cover goes over it
I hate products price and company's marketing but also can't wait to see your photos.
This more of my kit and caboodle
scopes :gso/bintel f4 12"truss tube, bresser messier ar127s /skywatcher 10'' dob,meade 12'' f10 lx200 sct
cameras : asi 1600mm-c/asi1600mm-c,asi120mc,prostar lp guidecam, nikkon d60, sony a7,asi 290 mm
mounts : eq6 pro/eq8/mesu 200 v2
filters : 2'' astronomik lp/badder lrgb h-a,sII,oIII,h-b,Baader Solar Continuum, chroma 3nm ha,sii,oiii,nii,rgb,lowglow,uv/ir,Thousand Oaks Solar Filter,1.25'' #47 violet,pro planet 742 ir,pro planet 807 ir,pro planet 642 bp ir.
extras : skywatcher f4 aplanatic cc, Baader MPCC MKIII Coma Corrector,Orion Field Flattener,zwo 1.25''adc.starlight maxi 2" 9x filter wheel,tele vue 2x barlow .