VigdisVZ

"What Could Possibly Go Wrong?"

There is more to F-number than meets the eye. Just something to have in the back of your mind. Well, I can recommend the 150PDS as a good allrounder. It provides roughly the same "power" (with 750mm fl) as a frac, but has a much larger light collection area for visual use. Not too bulky, cheap, and does an "ok" job visually... and remember you need a coma corrector unless you want fuzzy eggy stars in the corners. This also applies to the 200p. Here are a few of my early examples with a 150PDS coupled with a DSLR (no guide, no coma corrector, 30sec subs), the processing is still off on these, but learning all takes a while A HEQ-5 and a 150PDS is a pretty good starting combo once you know the limitations.

Yep, thats still an "EQ-5". Not a "HEQ-5". Like Stuart says, you will not get consistent data with a mount like the EQ-5 and will have to work uphill, risking frustration and burning yourself out, and dropping the hobby. +1 for the book Stuart mentions. FLO has it via the sponsor link at the top of the page.

Hi As you might already have guessed from reading posts here, there is no setup telescope that does everything. The EQ-5 is a bit weak for AP (thought it will work, but you will probably consider upgrading it pretty soon). The 200p is a good alrounder, but bulky on an underpowered mount when you start loading up with cameras and guidetubes. But it will work. The Equinox is a very good scope for photography and will probably be a bit less suited for visual due to smaller aperture. But it will work. So do you want a setup that does everything, but not super-good? If your main use is AP, I would recommend getting atleast an HEQ-5 (better yet a NEQ-6 but I realise there is a price difference). I also think that the 150PDS hits the sweet spot between visual and easy of photography. However: Personally I've been thinking about getting a 200p or 250p for visual use on my NEQ-6 but everytime I come up with the only answer: Get a dob for visual, and get a smaller frac (not unlike the equinox) for AP. Instead of trying to cut corners and fit everything into one scope, perhaps its better to get a setup thats really good for one thing? Instead of bad at both? Besides, if you decide to get a secondary scope will keep you occupied during those long hours the AP setup minds its own business collecting data. Also, I've heard lots of stories where people try to use a bulky reflector on an EQ-mount for visual and always end up with the focuser in an awkward position when going for different areas of the sky. My recommendation would in the end be to hold your horses a bit, and think long and hard to what you want to really do, and get a kit that you wont grow out of quickly. Also keep in mind that a scope that's good for capturing images of DSO, rarely does planetary very good. To sum up, the equipment you've listed isnt bad by any means, but I think you do your wallet a favor by figuring out what really matters, and put all the eggs in that basket.

If I was building a tank, I wouldn't settle for anything less than 60Ah lesiure battery. Even big jump starters like my 19Ah one will start to buckle after a while once you load up with laptops, CCD's, guiders, dew heaters etc. You also shouldn't run it completely dry as this will damage it, iirc. The question is, how portable do you want to be? I assume between the scope and mount, you already need to use a car...

Hi Use your weakest magnification eyepiece, and the core of M31 should be visible like a large fuzzy patch of sky. Other DSO you might try is the Double Cluster in perseus, galaxies M81+82, Hercules Globular Cluster M13 to name a few.

Thanks Patrik, I'm done with this particular image, but I might take you up on that for the next run. Not going to wear myself out over small amounts of data, but when I get better subs...

Essentially you would need an automated observatory for this, otherwise it's too time consuming. Also checking the plates for possible moving objects comets isn't something that computers are very good at, yet.

Looks like a good idea, but you sure you want to trust your phone to a company that also makes an app for stalking?

That last one is very beautiful. Lots of details. Thanks for sharing.

I'd say thats a solid first shot. Stretched it a bit further and downed the saturation.

I'd say your PA was pretty good, that image is very sharp. You used the 200p on HEQ5? You probably might want to tune back the processing a bit however, background is burned out, it's very sharp and some of the stars have gone green. Keep em coming!

Thanks Erik, not sure yet if I want to lug around a laptop to run PHD. But I guess that road is more future-proof than a Synguider/Nexguider. I'm also undecided if I want a comacorrector or get a new frac instead...

As you might have seen I've already bounced this one a few times in the forum (and on swedish Astronet) to get some feedback. And I don't think I'll do anything further with it, so here is the official version! Since I don't have a backyard obsy it's always a struggle quickly hit the road out to a darker site with my gear whenever there is a reasonable gap in the clouds. This time I also had to throw away half of the subs because focus crept off slightly mid sequence. In the end I got about 39x30sec subs at ISO800 (timer remote I bought last week was faulty),16 flats, 40 bias and 1 dark (I thought I took a sequence, but I took a single by mistake). This is the first time sucessfully using T-shirt flats. There is a slight gradient left, but that could possibly be LP from the airport. The yellow star color just jumped at me, but there wasn't really a hint of blue so I had to fiddle around to get the balance right, so color wise it might have slight hint of artistic freedom. I've learned a ton reprocessing this image over and over, can't wait to get my hands on a coma corrector, guide solution, working timer remote and who knows, maybe an astromodded DSLR. Thanks for looking.

Quick dirty iPhone 5S taken with the clubs 17.5" newton, at 111x magnification. Keep em coming!

As I've understood it, you reduce exposure time until the histogram is about 1/3 to 1/2 of the way from the left. Worked reasonably well for me two days ago when having the histogram peak about halfway. I used a white shirt stretched over the opening and a diffuse work lamp instead of pointing straight up at the sky.

Good lunar pics! You need to increase exposure lengths to many seconds to catch starlight. Focus should be about the same as the moon. And if your mount isnt tracking perfectly they will bounce around in the FOV and spread the light to where it wont be visible. This is why deep sky photo is so expensive, you need an EQ-mount that solidly tracks the sky without field rotation in order to give the sensor time to collect the data. You could try catching M31 and M45 and M42 to name a few with short (say 5 seconds give or take) with high ISO. You might get signal, but its unlikely that the setup will yield anything solid, as neither mount and scope is well suited for catching DSOs.

I have 3 main sites: For quick bino obsing I walk 10 minutes across the railway out into the fields towards the international Airport. Lots of LP, but good to have withing walking distance, but I have picked out good number of bright Messiers there. For quicker telescope sessions I drive about 15 minutes outside town to a golf course. Unfortunately they down plow the parking lot during winter but its good for spring/autumn. For allnighters the club has a dark site observatory. 45 minute drive but moderately dark.

Wow! Looks like you shoot and kill a tank with that. Waiting for firstlight report.

“When things go wrong, don't go with them.” ― Elvis Presley Another try with DSS data. I think I'm getting close to where I wanna be...

Trialing. I like some of the functions where you remote control camera, scope, focus and guide via ASCOM. Not there yet. Just giving the stacking a go. Right now I'm back playing with the old DSS data. Been eyeballing Pixinsight. Wont plunk down and wads of cash until i get consistent data however.

Thanks! I'm learning tons by processing and reprocessing. RIght now I would have liked to see a mix between the two. Sadly the 2nd version was much harder since I couldnt get a version out of Maxim with the background intact. And the first version from DSS wouldn't give me any blue whatsoever. Unsure what path I'll take next but please keep the feedback coming!

Newly processed version, much work done in Maxim DL instead of DSS. I lost the background a bit sadly since I have only tried Maxim for 2 days yet. Feedback still wanted! Hints or comparisons. Be brutal please.