What can I do with this scope?

Recently a friend loaned me a large telescope...

it's an old Meade, Model 628, a 6" f/8 reflector scope.
Here's the brochure from way back then (a real kick to read):
http://geogdata.csun.e​du …lassics/meade/m​eade78.pdf

The scope is the one on page 5.


The tracker doesn't really work at the moment, and even if it did, the brochure
claims that it's not accurate enough for photography.

My question is, outside of the moon, is there anything we can shoot?
We do have the camera adapter system for our EOS mounts, but is stacking even possible with such a rig?

Also, are there any Meade/Celestron/etc scopes out there with tracking systems worth a darn for photography?

thoughts?

Heya,

I'm not familiar with your scope but if you're already shooting with, why not just try photographing something else? Shoot for as long as you can before trailing. M42 is quite popular, large and easy to find.

Then when you have about 20 subs, try stacking.

- Daniel

I have an 826 (8" f/6) and the standard synchronous motor tracker. If polar aligned it is certainly good enough for exposures of 15 seconds or longer at prime focus. The trick is to tighten the clutch (3 screws on the disc at the opposite end of the shaft from the motor) till it doesn't slip and then let the motor take up the slack for a bit so it doesn't jerk during the exposure.

I have done M42 and Jupiter with no trace of blurring or trailing. I suspect if I worked harder at polar alignment I could get even longer exposures with it. Stacking should be possible even with short subs.

A celestron AVX could hold that scope easily. The focuser may not be strong enough to hold a dslr, but could be upgraded to a GSO or even a moonlite. A 6" F8 gives you a focal length of 1,220. F8 is kind of slow for DSO's, but it can be done if you can do exposures for 5-10 minutes in duration. This means you will need a mount capable of autoguiding, and a guide scope and autoguider camera. If you can get the older mount tracking then you could also use this scope to do video capture of Jupiter and Saturn.