Posts Made By: Ivan Gastaldo

Nicely done Larry!
Gotta love this Nebula... 8)

Sweet shot Tyler!
Gotta love Ha! 8)

LMAO!
Thanks for a good laugh guys... 8)

Nice catch Paul!
Your processing keeps improving..., keep it up!

Nice catch Tom!
Thanks for sharing, and keep it up! 8)

Beautiful detail! 8O
Well done Tyler, keep'em coming!

LOL!
Larry, I got one of those too! (even though mine is "The Coconut Creek Nebula") 8)


Nice shot!

Indeed, great shot! 8)

Chris, you could always look for a used CG5-ASGT mount (GOTO) and a Celestron C8 SCT to mount on top, which would give you a larger aperture scope, while staying light & compact for the mount to handle. (you could later on throw a f/6.3 reducer/corrector in the mix, to turn the f/10 scope into an f/6.3, which would be like having two scopes in one...)
This combination "should" cost you around $1000-$1100... for what I've seen here.

Just my humble opinion... as I had a C8 previously, and loved the scope...

Of course, if you are sure that a refractor is what you want, then I would say go for the 100ed, as this is going to be your only scope, and you'll want to get as big as you can... 8)

Clear skies! 8)

Hello Paul, and welcome aboard! 8)

I'll give you a quick answer, as I'm sure others will elaborate more on this topic...

- Philips Webcams, like the Toucam Pro or the Vestas, are great for planetary imaging, but not for DSO imaging unless heavily modified.

- DSLRs are wonderful, and VERY WIDE FIELD due to their enormous chip. But they are NOT as sensitive as dedicated CCD cameras, unless modified. (Hutech does this modification, and also the Canon 20Da was modified with Astronomy in mind)

- Dedicated CCD cameras are great, but as you already noticed, their price range goes from $250 to $12000 or more... 8O
Remember that the objects that you are imaging are very far, and very small, in comparison to "NORMAL LIFE" stuff, so that's why you can get by with a CCD that is so small... (of course, if you want wide fields, and your wallet can handle it, WHY would you settle for that?) 8)
In order to take advantage of the wonderful "imaging scopes" out there, and the wide fields that some provide, you "should" get a camera that handle it, and that's why you'll see those MEGABUCKS cameras out there (besides other things, like extra sensitivity, low noise, water cooling, etc, etc)


Clear skies! 8)