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New Member - Please Be Gentle :)


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Greetings all, 

I am completely new to using a telescope, and using a telescope to take photos!

I am looking for some assistance from the wealth of knowledge here :)

Any help would be appreciated.....

The gear I have is as follows:

Sony A7S

Tele Vue 85

Adapters To Mount Camera To Telescope

Tele Vue Reducer

Tele Vue 4x Extender

My main question is as follows......

If someone was to try to capture the Andromeda Galaxy with the gear I have listed...what would you do?  How many images, how many darks, bias, flats....what order are they taken in etc etc.  

I would really appreciate it if someone could list sort of step by step what they would do

Thanks again!

P.S. I have been trying to google this for two weeks...I am seeing so many different vague suggestions....I am sorry if this is a redundant question. 

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welcome to sgl,

what mount do you have for the telescope?

if it's a simple tripod you'll have to take short exposures depending on the focal length of your scope and where in the sky it is.

there is a nice example by forrest tanaka on youtube, he took with camera and lens but the principle is basically the same.

here is the video link: 

i'm a beginner too, so others will give better advice.

Frank

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welcome to sgl,

what mount do you have for the telescope?

if it's a simple tripod you'll have to take short exposures depending on the focal length of your scope and where in the sky it is.

there is a nice example by forrest tanaka on youtube, he took with camera and lens but the principle is basically the same.

here is the video link: 

i'm a beginner too, so others will give better advice.

Frank

Thanks so much for the reply!

I have an EQ5 mount that tracks.  Not sure how accurate they are, or if it is more dependant on the polar alignment!

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the more precise your polar alignment the better, and it will allow longer exposure times.

i was able to get 20s exposures of andromeda but my alignment wasn't that good at the time.

Frank

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Your camera is a modern miracle. Off the charts in sensitivity and low noise. My understanding is you must start at ISO 2000 or above. This object has a bright core and dim detail. You may find you need to combine 2 sets of exposures. You could start with 10 second exposures and see how it goes. You've got a nice kit there. Let's see some results!

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Your camera is a modern miracle. Off the charts in sensitivity and low noise. My understanding is you must start at ISO 2000 or above. This object has a bright core and dim detail. You may find you need to combine 2 sets of exposures. You could start with 10 second exposures and see how it goes. You've got a nice kit there. Let's see some results!

Thanks so much!

And the A7S is truly amazing for low light shots.....I hope its sufficient and I don't require a CCD

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It can be modified to allow more Ha from emission nebs. From my reading it's main disadvantage to a CCD is that it's OSC. If you decide to pursue mono-NB with a CCD and don't want the A&, I am happy to accept donations! :evil:

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It can be modified to allow more Ha from emission nebs. From my reading it's main disadvantage to a CCD is that it's OSC. If you decide to pursue mono-NB with a CCD and don't want the A&, I am happy to accept donations! :evil:

LOL :) 

I don't want to mod or get rid of her as she's my main astro camera for Aurora and Milky Way...I have done those kind of shots but the telescopes and galaxies, nebulae etc scare me :)

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LOL :)

I don't want to mod or get rid of her as she's my main astro camera for Aurora and Milky Way...I have done those kind of shots but the telescopes and galaxies, nebulae etc scare me :)

If they scare you just use a camera lens instead.

Basically you can use any camera lens for AP, some are better than others for decent images.

Depends on how big an FOV you want as well.

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If they scare you just use a camera lens instead.

Basically you can use any camera lens for AP, some are better than others for decent images.

Depends on how big an FOV you want as well.

I have used a camera quite extensively for astrophotography.....

I want to get into the deep sky Nebulae and Galaxy stuff.

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I have used a camera quite extensively for astrophotography.....

I want to get into the deep sky Nebulae and Galaxy stuff.

If thats the case you should have no problem using a scope, afterall it's only another telephoto lens.

Going back to your original post, take as many light frames as possible, make the subs as long as tracking allows.

Not sure about exposure with an A7S, you may have to experiment.

If your not guiding I would think no more than a minute at most with your mount, may be less.

Take calibration frames after the lights, do as many as you can handle.

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Well, depends...a 40mm will frame M31 very nicely, almost too narrow FOV. A 300mm will frame the Rosette neb, North America and Pelican together. A 200mm is perfect for the entire Veil. It's easy to assume that a narrower FOV gives you more, but only partly true.

I see many experienced DSO imagers going to wide field, often with lenses.

To do it properly ( IMO ) it is costly. To use camera and lens one needs guiding, so a guide scope and guide cam, a dual dovetail rig. That's roughly $700. Then there's rings...Of course not included are camera, lens and any adapter (like putting a 6x7 lens on DSLR).

For me, as I plan to adapt a 6x7 to a Nikon D5100, I'm at $1,000 without lens (easily $100-$300+) plus a $250 adapter and I have the camera.

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To give an idea some targets with 200mm and 105mm Canon 60Da

M31 200mm Canon 60Da

m31test1024-21.jpg

NA Pelican Sigma 105mm

na105mm.jpg

Veil 200mm

veiltest.jpg

Heart and Soul 105mm

ic18052test.jpg

IC1396 200mm

ic1396.jpg

Wow! Those are fantastic!! What mount did you use for these? I am planning to do some wide field imaging now, and would like to know what kind of mount I would require for the same!

Cheers!

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Thanks for the nice comment.

Must admit I prefer to see the objects as a whole, even if the resolution is not to great.

The last year of AP for me was a huge experiment and I gambled on the shorter focal lengths, faster lenses/scope, with a widerfield.

It was like a eureka moment for me after dabbling with an ED80 and not being overly happy with the results.

Most of my images do not have enough data, the Veil was a right mess as I set the ISO to 3200 and by the time I noticed the clouds

rolled in, never did get another chance at it.

Anyway, this year, clouds permitting goner suck a lot more photons out of some of these targets. :grin:

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Wow! Those are fantastic!! What mount did you use for these? I am planning to do some wide field imaging now, and would like to know what kind of mount I would require for the same!

Cheers!

Mount is HEQ5 Pro with a Rowan belt mod, guiding with an Altair 60mm guidescope and Orion SSAG.

Here is the setup with the Canon 60Da and Sigma 105mm

Subs are 5minutes as a rule.

setup1.jpg

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If thats the case you should have no problem using a scope, afterall it's only another telephoto lens.

Going back to your original post, take as many light frames as possible, make the subs as long as tracking allows.

Not sure about exposure with an A7S, you may have to experiment.

If your not guiding I would think no more than a minute at most with your mount, may be less.

Take calibration frames after the lights, do as many as you can handle.

Well, depends...a 40mm will frame M31 very nicely, almost too narrow FOV. A 300mm will frame the Rosette neb, North America and Pelican together. A 200mm is perfect for the entire Veil. It's easy to assume that a narrower FOV gives you more, but only partly true.

I see many experienced DSO imagers going to wide field, often with lenses.

To do it properly ( IMO ) it is costly. To use camera and lens one needs guiding, so a guide scope and guide cam, a dual dovetail rig. That's roughly $700. Then there's rings...Of course not included are camera, lens and any adapter (like putting a 6x7 lens on DSLR).

For me, as I plan to adapt a 6x7 to a Nikon D5100, I'm at $1,000 without lens (easily $100-$300+) plus a $250 adapter and I have the camera.

To give an idea some targets with 200mm and 105mm Canon 60Da

M31 200mm Canon 60Da

m31test1024-21.jpg

NA Pelican Sigma 105mm

na105mm.jpg

Veil 200mm

veiltest.jpg

Heart and Soul 105mm

ic18052test.jpg

IC1396 200mm

ic1396.jpg

Thanks everyone for the assistance 

And amazing photos, truly spectacular.

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