C9.25 OTA and current mount or C9.25 NexStar Evolution + equatorial wedge?

Affiliation
American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO)
Fri, 09/18/2020 - 07:07

Would you recommend a Celestron C9.25 OTA with a SkyWatcher EQ6-R Pro mount or the same size OTA on an Nexstar Evolution alt-az mount on an equatorial wedge?

Affiliation
Vereniging Voor Sterrenkunde, Werkgroep Veranderlijke Sterren (Belgium) (VVS)
C9.25 and EQ6

Hi,

I would opt for the C9.25 OTA and the Skywatcher EQ6-R Pro. With this combo you can change the OTA to another one in case of need. In the past I had a 8inch OTA on a EQ6 mount and could do phototmetry without autoguiding at f/8.

Josch

Affiliation
American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO)
I already have an EQ6-R.  I

I already have an EQ6-R.  I was thinking of getting the second mount to

  1. Have a spare just in case
  2. Folk mounts on an equatorial wedge don't have to worry about a meridian flip.
Affiliation
American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO)
Celestron Evolution is a

Celestron Evolution is a single fork ALT-AZ and C9.25 is a large OTA. If it has to be ALT/AZ I'd opt for double fork options (which I'm also considering for my C9.25)

Affiliation
American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO)
I heard that the EQ6-R would

I heard that the EQ6-R would have to be tweeked a bit to get it to handle a C9.25 and I don't want to buy another mount for it.  So I opted for a classic C8 for photometry that I purchased for $300.  My mount can handle it since it weighs less than my current scope.  The primary mirror for the C8 is 33% wider and with almost double the focal length after adding a f/6.3 focal reducer so I won't have to worry about undersampling with my ST8XE.

Maybe in the future, when I can afford it, I might upgrade to both a bigger scope and mirror.  Perhaps when I get a permament pier, equatorial wedge, and observatory, I'll buy the fork mounted 11" and skip the C9.25".