Really low budget imaging - what you can do with £50 of equipment

[Tiago]

I take a look at the images some of you guys take and I can only be envious - partly due to the results, but mostly due to your equipment, I must say

Being somewhat of a cheapskate, with relatively little free time but abundant geekiness, I went ahead and tried to find out what I could do with what I had at home while waiting for my new refractor.

Despite the results being nowhere near as good as those obtained with better telescopes and cameras, it is good fun, and slightly addictive

So if anyone is interested in stepping into the dark side, know that you can test the waters on a fairly light budget.

These were all taken using a Celestron Firstscope 76mm, a 2nd hand Celestron Omni 2x Barlow, and a Microsoft LifeCam HD3000 I had lying around. Stacked in Registax and some mild tuning in Photoshop.

- Tiago

[nephilim]

Who cares if they're not as good as some of the images on here, if your pleased with them thats all that matters. AP is a very tricky pastime even with astronomicaly (excuse the pun ) deep pockets, so to get some good pics of the moon on a budget is a great success IMO. Well done mate & keep at it.

Steve

[Pete Presland]

nice work, like you say budget does not stop anybody from having a dabble!

[Stargazer08]

I'd be really pleased with those shots! I've just got my first scope (arrived on Thursday and I've been blessed with clear skies since!) so I'm experimenting with some quite 'dodgy' shots in comparison to the images on SGL, but I'm chuffed as punch! Practice makes perfect after all

[Pig]

Tiago

They are really good - apart from the last one it looks like a full stop

I think you have done really well - they are better than anything I could do (including the full stop)

Sent from my GT-P7510

[Tiago]

Thanks - the last one is at the very limit of the telescope and eyepieces I have - I cannot see it any better than that, really. I took a look at Saturn last night and it was little more than an ellipse-shaped blob.

[tommo b]

Nice job, Tiago. (And so begins the transition to the 'dark side'!)