I purchased the Meade 8inch LX 200 in 1997 just as Hale-Bopp was giving us a visit.

First light along with the supplied 26mm eyepiece came a week after delivery, and on

that first night within a hour of setting up I had seen more deep-sky objects than I ever had 

seen in the three years I have been  interested in astronomy. With the Coordinate GO TO 

capability this scope opens the sky to the amateur and professional.

An object library of 64.359 should keep me busy for a few years.

21,815 Variable stars to magnitude 16.6   General Catalog of Variable Stars.

15,928 Stars from the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO).

12,921 Galaxies from the Uppsala General Catalog: The complete UGC catalog. 

7,840   Objects from the New General Catalog. (NGC).

5,386   Objects from the Index Catalog. (IC)

351      Alignment Stars

110      Messier Objects (M)

8          Planets, Mercury to Pluto

The main reason for choosing this scope was for astrophotography. The capabilities of 

the LX200 still amazes me to date. With the main work for the scope to be photography

the GO TO saves me so much valuable time as I'm not one for hunting down objects.

I would rather spend all night looking at four objects than looking for four objects.

Another excellent feature is High-Precision Pointing. I use this to help me focus as it will 

go to the nearest bright star. By having the ability to swap from a bright star to the object 

and back again that I'm aligning to photograph with the touch of one button saves a lot 

of messing around.

    For the first two years I used a Lumicon Off-axis Guider to

    do  manual guiding. I found this to be very demanding and had

    not a lot of success. With temperatures down to about -5c it can

    be very soul destroying. So in 1999 I bought the SBIG ST4 auto guider.

    The ST4 is a Charged-Coupled Devise (CCD) which is a 

    detector sensitive to light. Once you have learnt  how to use this 

    instrument it will give back the night sky once lost to

    spending hours looking down a reticule, giving more time to have

    a look around the sky with maybe a second scope and time to put

    the kettle on.

    More info on the ST4 can be found here

In conjunction with a Lumicon off-axis guider is the ST4 head. This setup for guiding I have found the most accurate  but most difficult for locating a guide star. It is well worth devoting time to finding a guide star as results will show.

The Lumicon guider has a focal reducer inside the body which allows me to photograph at f/6 1200mm and with a pick off prism in front of the lens the ST4 will be guiding at f/10 2000mm. You can also move the lens forward to photograph at f/5 1000mm with the pick off prism behind the lens now guiding at 1200mm.

The lens can be removed completely if you wish to image at f/10 2000mm a bright object such as a compact nebula. At f/10 you will have to increase the exposure by almost triple.

Objects like the Moon I prefer to be at f/6 1200mm, as this gives some dark background on a 35mm frame.

This off-axis guider will turn 360 degree without a shift in focus allowing for image composition and location

of the guide star.  Radial adjustment will help in lining a star on to the chip of the CCD. 

An extension tube will be needed with ST4 to achieve focus. I have found that sliding the tube up or down the off-axis viewing housing, rather than sliding the ST4 up and down the extension tube to achieve focus is easier. Once the focus was found for the first time I scratched a line on the tube to give me rough focus in the future.

Another way to use the ST4 is through a guide scope. The small

telescope on top of  the main scope is a 60mm refractor with a 700mm

focal length. Guide stars are a lot easier to find and focus with this setup.

Focusing the CCD with rack and pinion focuses is more smoother and

the CCD will not be rotated. By placing the cap on the end of the

refractor I can dark frame the CCD with out having to removed it from

focus which I find is a great bonus.

The down side is that flexure between the two scopes can become a

problem. To help overcome this I use Losmandy dovetail mount and

rings, these I have found to be far superior than anything else on the

market to support the guide scope. A small heater will be needed in this

British climate on the refractor as well as the main scope as dew will

soon gather on the lens.

Photographing at f/10 2000mm is not recommended with this setup as

I find that the flexure becomes apparent.

For many years I have tried many types of camera brackets on top of my scope with little success.

The main problem was that flexure between the camera and scope would be apparent on any long

exposures. I found that Losmandys camera bracket is very steady for piggyback photography.

On the photo to the right I have a Nikon F2 and a 135mm lens setup on the Losmandy bracket.

With these two items, I find that a 30 minute exposure shows no sign of flexure. A guide ring can

be put on to the dovetail plate if I wish to use a longer lens to help support it.

   Manual Single Lens Reflex (SLR) camera's are highly recommended for astrophotography.

   The Olympus OM1 was the first camera I bought. They are not made any more, but second-

   hand OM1's are readily available.

   This camera is light and well made. With its interchangeable focusing screens and mirror lock

   it's a very suitable camera for this hobby.

   I use a transparent screen (1-12 screen) with this camera when I'm on wide field work as this

   screen is very bright. It is also ideal at high focal ratio for planetary work. Knife-edge focusing

   is recommended on deep-sky objects when using this screen.

  For many years I found focusing one of the most difficult obstacles to get over. With the Nikon

  F2 the prism can be removed and a eyepiece put in it's place.  Focusing and composure with this

  configuration has become a lot more easier. The focusing screens are difficult to come across, but

  if you remove the outer housing of a F3 screen which are still available, and replace it with the old

  F2 screen housing it will fit. I have found the F3 "Red Dot D screen" to be the finest for 

  astrophotography.

    A 12v leisure battery, placed into it's own box.

    Three cigarette lighter sockets have been fixed

    and connected to the lid of his box. It makes

    carrying the battery a lot more easier on field trips.

    This box was made out of 12mm marine plywood

    and was sprayed with normal car paint.

    Brass nails, screws and furniture were used to

    protect it from the elements.