"rumors that the C14 is, in fact, a small scope"
"1) ASA DDM60pro?.. or?... AP 1100GTO"
Probably doesn't make that much difference. I recommend AP because of long experience but I can't really?judge?ASA.? It adds significant cost (maybe for future upgrade?) but the AP1100 hi-res encoder/tracking system is amazing.
"2) Corrector Plate Reflection Halo"
I don't buy it. It is difficult to imagine an optical path that would bring in a significant correlated reflection from the corrector.? The artifact in that image looks much more like a reflection from a reducer or corrector or filter or other element near the camera.? In any event, that star is impossibly bright and atypical of 99% of the target fields?for C-14.
"3) Celestron's EdgeHD Reducer..."
There are numerous reports of difficulty with the reducer.?If you plan to chronically reduce then also consider a classical SCT with the Celestron 0.63x reducer/corrector or Starizona 0.5x (see the Starizona site for ray traces of those options).
"4) Cooling"
For high-res (prime FL or Barlow)?get a cooling system (not so important for reduced imaging). There are several different ones.? I forget the name or web page but a member of this forum did a robust study of this issue (maybe he'll chime in here).
"5) OAG and Guide Stars..."
Part of that equation is the FOV and sensitivity of the guide camera (e.g. ZWO ASA120MM is very sensitive but small).? The key to OAG is pre-planning the rotation and offsets via "The Sky" (or similar).
Stan
