Advice Needed - Upgrade

[kdrdoc]

A thank you to all in advance for the advice...

So I am planning to upgrade an older existing scope, we have enjoyed the 8" Meade LX for the past 35+ years - but its time to upgrade.


Budget is $5,000 USD.

We want to use it for visual and Astrophotography, and portability is still needed.
Plan to use either a Cannon or Nikon DSLR with it.

Was looking at the LX600, 10" Meade with the X-wedge.

Thanks!

[helicon]

Hello and Welcome to the Forums! Sounds like that will be a very nice scope. I'm not a SCT expert so I'll let others chime in.

[sdbodin]

Some years ago, I went from a 10 to an 8 and really didn't notice much difference. You can still use the 8" for visual work, they are designed for this, not so much for photography. Telescope optics don't wear out, the pros are still using 100 year old instruments.

So, I have an alternate suggestion, $5K is a really good pile of cash to get a nice APO frac setup. I have an 80 and use it a lot in addition to my big SCT. Much easier to learn on short focus scopes, much wider field of views, and much easier to actually get a descent photo.

So, investigate a scope/mount that meets your portability needs and is of high quality, you probably can also get a dedicated astro-cam for that price, they work soo much better than DSLRs.

Just thoughts,
Steve

[Voyageur]

It's a beautiful scope. I had an old Meade 8" LX50 I really liked. My friend had the 10" version. It was a LOT heavier and more cumbersome. And that is my big concern about this setup, since you cite portability as a factor.

The OTA plus fork mount is about 80 lbs and the tripod alone is 50 lbs. Unless I planned to put it in an observatory or keep it set up in a garage on a wheeled base, I would not opt for that scope. Of course, I'm a 64-year-old woman. A big burly guy would find it much more manageable, but hefting that fork mount/OTA assembly up onto a wedge atop a tripod could be a thing that prevents you from getting out as much as you'd like.

And a very long focal length, high focal ratio scope like this one is not the best system to start learning AP. Accomplished planetary imagers use big SCTs, but to start out with one is going to be daunting to say the least.

Steve (sbodin) has the good ideas and the experience to back them up!

[JayTee]

Hello and welcome to TSS.

There are so many things you can do with $5,000, I'm still sorting out in my brain what to suggest.

Cheers,
JT

[Baurice]

If I had 5 grand, I doubt whether I'd spend it on a single instrument. I would probably blow half of that on a specialist solar telescope. I have a Coronado PST and would love something better.

I would consider an APO on a tracking mount.

[JayTee]

Hello again,

After considerable thought here is my suggestion adding to what Steve in his above post touched upon. If your Meade 8" LX is still functional then continue to use that as your visual scope. The difference between an 8" SCT and a 10" SCT is not worth the expense of buying a new scope.

There are 3 different branches of AP and all of them require different equipment, so it is helpful to know which branch/es you intend to pursue. Here are the 3 different AP pursuits:
1. Long Exposure DSO imaging
2. Planetary/lunar/solar imaging
3. Widefield/nightscape imaging
These are listed by difficulty with the most difficult branch on top.

So to fully realize my suggestion it would help immensely if I knew which area of AP you intend to "mostly" pursue. Many of us pursue all three of these areas.

Let us know,
JT

[kdrdoc]

Hello again,

After considerable thought here is my suggestion adding to what Steve in his above post touched upon. If your Meade 8" LX is still functional then continue to use that as your visual scope. The difference between an 8" SCT and a 10" SCT is not worth the expense of buying a new scope.

There are 3 different branches of AP and all of them require different equipment, so it is helpful to know which branch/es you intend to pursue. Here are the 3 different AP pursuits:
1. Long Exposure DSO imaging
2. Planetary/lunar/solar imaging
3. Widefield/nightscape imaging
These are listed by difficulty with the most difficult branch on top.

So to fully realize my suggestion it would help immensely if I knew which area of AP you intend to "mostly" pursue. Many of us pursue all three of these areas.

Let us know,
JT

First a big thanks for the warm welcome.....to help explain a bit more....this scope is shared with my older brother....he got me hooked early on 35+ years ago.
He has his 60th birthday coming and we have been discussing a new scope as the Meade 8" is starting to have some issues - drive stability, tracking, etc.

Sooo the family is planning to surprise him with a new scope.....lucky guy.

The scope will be used for both visual and AP - so we know we will have to compromise a bit.
We have been successful in the past with AP of lunar, planets, wide field (like the syzygy of 1982) - all on film lol

Hope that helps.

[StarBru]

The LX600 10" f/8 SCT with X-Wedge is indeed a very impressive AP/Visual system! It seems to have almost everything.

What it doesn't have is portability. It takes two people to handle the Fork & OTA safely during setup. Is this something that is convenient to you and you feel comfortable with? How often will you or your brother be setting it up and tearing it down? Of course if you have an observatory, then setup would not be a problem.

I know your present tracking/motor system is no longer reliable, but if the 8" OTA has no issues, I would buy a small fast APO refractor and an AP dedicated camera and just mount it and the 8" on a new HD Go To mount that can handle both telescopes.

As a visual guy, I do not know if my suggestion makes sense to those more knowledgeable than me about AP, but I would ultimately follow whatever advice they gave me.