pel

No...! I don't understand why so many people want Betelgeuse to blow. It is part of the most majestic constellation we have and would end up a lesser sight for the loss. No doubt after the event everyone would miss good old Betelgeuse and talk about how grand the constellation used to look...

There are plenty of other stars, can we pick on a different one for a change and give grand old Betelgeuse a rest. How about Rho Cassiopeia or Eta Carina ..

I love the constellation of Orion, but wouldn't it produce another SuperNova remnant similar to the Crab Nebula if Betleguese went boom? That would be a sight to see.

Looks good Matt, I'd be interested to see how it works as a guide cam and a Imaging cam (I didn't think the quality was that great on mine).

Please post your progress.

Hi Rob ,

I had a Celestron 130eq and had to return it because the mount literally started falling apart, so I'd go for the Skywatcher. I have a SW 200p/eq5 and that is brilliant.

Neither scope would be capable of Astrophotography with a DSLR due to the weight. You would be able to use it for AP with a webcam for planets or a long exposure modded webcam for DSO's.

Perry.

Thanks Themos

Oh ok, so it just tracks essentially?

Edit - I think I need to read up on guiding :-)

Hi gents ,

Just got the motors for my SW 200p. They are brilliant and I got some half decent pictures of Jupiter, Mars and Venus in average conditions.

I'll be getting the guiding interfaces soon and have already picked out a toilet roll :-)

I've got a question though. The motors don't move the scope very quickly, does it take a while to get from one target to another after selecting in PHD or am I not getting it?

Hi badgers, have you tried the Xbox live cam, I don't know how it would compare to a QC4000, but at only £5 on amazon it would be worth a go. There is some info on here for modding them and I think Gina has tried it for guiding.

Whatever you do do not rush the mod get everything you need and prepare carefully.

Sent from my GT-S5670 using Tapatalk

Cheers QM

I'm sure if I read through the procedure a few times I'll be alright. I do rush thing when I'm getting tired and bored though :-)

I do want to be able to use it for normal photography too. Thanks for all the help and advice.

I'm trying to exchange my Celestron 130eq and mount at the moment or at least get it fixed and sell it (the mount is falling apart).

Some suppliers still have the HEQ5 (£500), so that's still a possibility.

The 350d sounds like a good bet, thanks guys. I've got a G9 at the moment but it doesn't seem very good for astrophography.

I think I will have to stay up late one night and modify the 350d so the missus doesn't find out. Especially if I've traded in our perfectly good G9 for it. I have a long history of taking things apart and not being able to put them back together :-)

Well its less optimal then Stan's EQ3-2 setup weight-wise, but to be fair I'm very happy with my results so far.

I have everything controlled from the laptop, so I stay well away from the scope. Wind is the only issue, but nothing that can't be dealt with by simply taking more shots and throwing bad ones away.

Filling the tripod legs with sand probably made the largest difference, as did the mount strip-down and regrease/tighten.

I've only managed one test imaging session with the current weather on M45 which I think is a tricky object to get right.

Next clear night I'm going on a proper imaging session, probably on the rosette nebula or M31 with as many lights/darks/flats as I can.

You should have an easier time with the 130 for sure, its still f5 but will be less prone to balancing and wind problems.

I'm in no hurry now, I've got the kit, it seems to work and I've not spent a fortune.

Biggest upgrade for me would be dark skies : (

Yes less cloud would be good. last week I was checking the skies and they were clear and by the time I had got all my kit out it was cloudy, I had to laugh.

Sounds like you've got a great setup that works. I'll just buy a bit at a time and see how it goes, I wish I hadn't bought a scope just before Star gazing live was on, I can't get any good deals 2nd hand kit at the moment.

I'm not looking forward to doing the camera mod to remove the IR filter looks tricky. Are you going to give that a go?

Hi Badgers ,

How is the 150/EQ3-2 setup for astrophotography? Is it stable enough?

I too have got to practise my processing a lot.

I've been looking around for an HEQ5 for a while, I think if a decent one come up on ebay it will probably go for a nearly new price. If I manage to get one I will have the most stable Celestron 130eq on the planet until I can get the money for a new OTA too :-)

I wish I'd gotton into this hobby before I had children, I'd have my own Hubble space telescope by now :-)

Hi Pel

Know how you feel about budget and income I was in the same boat. I think you will really enjoy the 200p and eq5 as much as I have. It is a big telescope so you will need to keep it in the shed like I do. Imaging using short 1 minute subs works well if you take enough of them for the horse head a good dark sky is needed with no light pollution as that makes a monster difference.

60 one minute subs with 30 darks and flats shoud give you a reasonable results for a lot of targets but again choose a good night with a dark sky for best results. In an area with heavy light pollution a light pollution filter is highly recommend for sure.

Not sure if the 500heq5 has been stopped you will need to search around on the net. Second hand is allways worth considering as well though.

Practise you processing skills will take several months to get better at but my tutorials will save you time on this as there a combo of all the main methods that work best when processing your images. Try unguided first and get good at that then move onto the guiding set up later is my advice.

Wishing you all the best and clear skys.

QM

Hi QM, Thanks for the advice on the Horse head, I haven't got a lot of light polution, so it may be alright. I did want a HEQ5 originally so I will look around for a bargin, ebay is stupid at the moment though and a second hand one on there would probably be going for new prices.

I'm pretty good with software normally so hopefully the processing should come to me quickly.

Thanks QM, brilliant advice, yes hopefully get some clear skys towards the end of the week.

Well I think given the budget I was on back on 2010 yes I would but knowing what I know now my choice would be a Heq5 with a Sky watcher Quattro-8s OTA.

But its all down to money really the EQ5 mount with the 200p for the price is good but its not as good as an HEQ5 mount with a lighter scope like an ED80. Doing the conversion to my EQ5 mount cost me about 180 quid extra it works but its pushing the limits so my advice would be get it if your wallets not going to stretch to a Heq5 mount.

The mount matter the most for astrophotography as any one will tell you so if you intend to get into this in a meaningful way then an Heq5 is the mount to go for as it comes with the st4 port and all you need to get started with auto guiding set ups.

You can see what I can produce image wise in my gallery with the 200p and EQ5.

Current price for a 200p and eq5 is 390.00 plus the conversion minus a webcam and camera is going to about 570.00 price for an Heq5 is about 500.00 with ed80 pushing it up to over 700.00

So for 390.00 and dual axis motor drive kit 490.00 that give you scope and mount and tracking with which you can do all that I have done so far. But 490.00 is just short of a tenner for the Heq5. You can see there's not much in it so depends on how much you want to spend.

All I can say is I have been using my eq5 and 200p since Dec 2010 and its a great telescope and mount for the price.

Thanks for the response QM , I know I should really go for the HEQ5 and the ED80 or Quattro F4 would be my choice. I have a 1 year old and a 3 year old though and money is tight so I think I'm going to have to go down the same route that you did.

If I can produce images half as good as yours I will be very happy.

I'm after an image of the Horse head nebular, was that tricky?

Edit - Hasn't the £500 HEQ5 been discontinued anyway?

Quatermass, if you were buying the kit again would you still use the 200P/EQ5? I ask because I'm about to buy a 200P/EQ5 with a view to creating the same sort guiding/astrophotography setup.