What telescope to acquire?

I'm looking to get into astrophotography. I could use some advice.

I have a Newtonian reflector. I built it when I was a teenager, from Edmund Scientific parts. I ground and polished the 6-inch mirror myself. It worked fine for planets, but I wanted a rich-field view. So I later replaced the mirror. However, it is not equipped for astrophotography. It doesn't have a camera mount or a star drive. And it weighs a ton; so it's a real bear to travel with to seek clear skies.

I'm thinking of buying a Celestron model. I looked at their web site and there are lots of options. Rather than go full on research, I thought I'd take a shortcut and ask some experienced photographers for their suggestions. I would be looking for something like a 6-inch mirror, but could be talked into 8.

I am at your mercy!

What kind of mount are you looking at purchasing?

I have an equatorial mount on my Newtonian. Back when I built it, that was the only available mount. This was years ago, of course. However, I'm not dogmatic about it. The more important concern is if I travel to a different latitude and of course minimizing vibrations.

If you're interested in astrophotography, the mount is going to be as important as the telescope. Consider the best mount you can afford, and then choosing a scope will be more simple. Look at stated payload capacity and divide by two to get the ideal weight of your imaging setup. Another consideration is will you need portability?

When you say that the mount is important, do you mean the type or the quality? I will be looking for portability. I go camping up north in July where the sky is still pristine.

I would recommend the Skywatcher EQ6-R Pro, the new model will let you hook it straight to a laptop and get rid of the hand control but still has a hand control. It is a very stable mount and will hold a scope up to about 30 pounds easily. Weights about 60 pounds.

Then what do you want to image? Planetary Lunar DSO (I do solar and will touch on that last as it is specialized area)

The best "All around" would be a Celestron Edge 8" SCT, it is the most bang for the bucks, the larges SCT's (10", 12", 14") get really heavy. A SCT will do lunar planetary and DSO.

For Solar with a SCT you really only get whitelight i.e. sunspots which at this time there aren't any. You need to get into H-alpha. A dedicated solar scope like the Lunt LS60 60mm H-alpha is about $3,500 or you could go with a Quark (about $1,200 just for the filter) and a refractor like the Lunt 102mm Achro or a Celestron XLT120.

Then for a camera, for Lunar and Planetary and Solar I recommend a ZWO ASI174mm cooled, the run about a grand. For DSO you can use a DSLR but you are better off with one of the ZWO ASI CMOS DSO cameras.

One thing to remember that astro imaging is the proverbial rabbit hole. It will suck you in and it is not cheap.

Thanks for the valuable information, Jeff. I'm not sure yet if my finances will allow me to make the jump, but I will keep your advice in mind.

I recently completed an astrophoto course with Rose City Astronomers, it was a 4-week series that ended up running online instead of in-person.

Many if not most people start by adding a tracking mount to their collection of photo gear. For me, that was a Skywatcher Star Adventurer, on top of my 3-series tripod with leveling half-ball. iOptron has a competitive mount.

This can be used for Milky Way nightscapes, and perhaps more, depending on your lenses. I’m not there yet, this will be my first camping season with the mount, and who knows what the actual opportunities will be with pandemic shutdowns of many of the dark-sky locations I’d hoped to visit.

There was lots of coverage in the course of moderately sized refractor telescopes for AP. I’m not ready for that yet.

I just read an excellent review of the mount Jeff mentioned above. That mount would support a DSLR and super-telephoto today, and a good sized telescope AP rig later.

One other impression - the RCA members presenting in this course have spent a lot of money! If you’re ready to write the check, you could easily jump from thousands to low tens of thousands of US dollars. To a person, they all recommended to start small, and to learn every lesson along the way as you grow in skill and grow your gear.

SO much to learn and practice in building towards deep space captures.

Perhaps there’s an astro club in your area...

Jeff USN Photog 72-76 wrote in post #19048982
... One thing to remember that _________ imaging is the proverbial rabbit hole. It will suck you in and it is not cheap.

Fill in the blank?

Pax2You wrote in post #19047514
If you're interested in astrophotography, the mount is going to be as important as the telescope. Consider the best mount you can afford, and then choosing a scope will be more simple. Look at stated payload capacity and divide by two to get the ideal weight of your imaging setup. Another consideration is will you need portability?

I'm also considering a scope for astrophotography, and have been doing some reading on the subject.
I agree with Pax2You...the mount is just as important as the telescope.

The mount - and the tracking device - are not created equal. Some do a better job than others. The gears and belts within may
wear out over time. Some less expensive mounts use a lot of plastic. And features will vary on different mounts.

For example, Celestron offers these equatorial mounts (that I recall offhand)...VX, CGX, CGX-L, CGEM, CGEM II.
After you determine what scope you want, look for a correct size mount. Then go online and read reviews.

Often you will see telescopes sold as a single unit - OTA, mount, and tripod. But you can buy these separate. Just make sure the
mount/tripod can support the OTA, and that the mounting rails are compatible. Don't forget the tripod, just as in photography,
a good tripod must safely secure the load and dampen vibrations well.

I like Jeff's suggestion on the EQ-R and the Celestron Edge 8. Both are on my radar screen.

I have the EQ6-R as well as 3 orion mounts, two are alt-az all have go-to

I got the Edge 8 last year and love it, big enough to get a lot of light without being too heavy. here is the setup and a shot of the moon I did with it

Jeff, looks like a very nice setup. Great detail on the moon.

Do you use a dslr, or a dedicated astrophotography camera?

I think those little pads under the tripod feet are the optional Celestron products, correct?