nephilim

Good point. An extra £50 is neither here nor there in this hobby so I'll be going for the 650.

Thanks for the reply mate, I'm not too concerned about a touch screen but speed would be a factor so I think its probably worth the extra £50.

I'm looking at getting a second hand DSLR for AP, either the EOS600 or 650. The 600 at around £50 cheaper is DIGIC 4 where as the 650 is DIGIC 5. Is there a big difference between the two? Canon advertise that DIGIC 5 has 75% noise reduction & much faster image processing over DIGIC 4 but I've read that this is only relevant to the JPEG & not the RAW image, so a pretty pointless comparison when it comes to AP. Thanks.

I luckily bought the Celestron 13.2Ah power tank before it recently jumped in price another £30 or so for whatever reason. It should power all my kit for a good 8hrs plus being lithium doesn't need as much looking after. Unfortunately its pretty expensive but then again what in this hobby isn't. Sorry not much help but just adding my two penneth

http://www.astrosurf.com/re/polar.html

It just sits over the end of the scope.

Great start. Darker skies are a game changer. within the last 2 weeks i've moved from Penrith (Bortle 6/7) to a tiny village within the North Peninnes AONB (Bortle 3) the village has 1 light & you need a torch to walk to the car. I popped out very late the other evening & saw M31 the second I stepped out. Moving here has brought back my interest in AP & i'll very soon have all the last few bits needed to start again.

I'd quite like to know the address of his practice to know where to avoid if I ever move to Hampshire 😬

I always use First Light Optics for my astro gear & have done for around 9yrs, they've always being reliable. https://www.firstlightoptics.com/

The most important piece of equipment before anything else should be the mount. Without a stable platform capable of tracking the night sky you wont be able to take long exposures. Before you decide to buy anything the first thing I recommend is research & the best way to start that is by buying this, it'll answer most questions you probably have plus a lot more https://www.firstlightoptics.com/books/making-every-photon-count-steve-richards.html

It depends on which camera your using. Message FLO & ask which type you'll need (Email). They're pretty quick to answer mate.

Its just what I was looking for.

Thats great mate, thanks very much.

Hi, I'm not sure if such a thing exists, but is there anywhere online where you can download image data to practice AP processing techniques? I've got Photoshop & several weeks spare time before I have everything I need for my future AP setup. I'm also on furlough so this would be an ideal time to spend gaining some processing skills so i'm not hit with everything at once, as in learning how to use my set up from scratch & all the software involved etc. I've just bought Steve Richards 'Dark Art or Magic' Bullet, I also have the spare time & the software but lacking in the data department. Tia Steve

Its also too much for mine & I dont fancy diving straight in with mosaics 😂 With no barlow its a nice fit, Jupiter will be small with a 2.5x but workable. M13 fits in very nicely with a 2.5x. The main purpose of this is just to get used to using all my gear for the first time. I'm saving up for my main imaging scope & camera at the moment but that wont be until around Jan/Feb so i'm wanting to use the time in between to learn how everything works, practising PA & using NINA, i'll also be using ASCOM & Stellarium to control my mount for the first time so i've alot to get my head round. I'm still on furlough until the new year so this is the perfect time to do it.

Thanks Kat, I'd totally forgotten about that & i'd only recently used that calculator for my main imaging scope & camera. I'll be using my guide cam (ZWO ASI 120MM-S) which is a dedicated planetary cam anyway. I'll check it out now 😃 Steve

+1 for Turn Left at Orion, helped me out no end when I was just starting out.

Thanks for the reply. Yes, ive just found the pdf for it & the 1.25" version does screw into the nosepiece 🙂

Hi, While i'm saving up for the main imaging scope & camera for my AP setup i'm looking at doing a bit of imaging using my guide set up, mainly so I can practise getting used to my kit & the various pieces of software i'll be using. I have the ZWO ASI 120MM-S & Skywatcher Evoguide 50ED which i'll be using to guide with in the end. Although I know this will be fine for lunar AP, i'm keen to try some basic narrowband imaging (Ha on M42 etc). My question is, will a 1.25" Ha screw in filter fit my camera? I'm very new when it comes to dedicated astro cameras so haven't much of a clue when it comes to using them & just want to spend some time using this one before I can buy the last 2 pieces of my setup. The filter I'm looking at is this https://www.firstlightoptics.com/narrowband/astronomik-h-alpha-12nm-narrowband-ccd-filter.html Tia Steve

The book I mentioned early 'Dark Art or Magic Bullet' has everything in it regarding processing but I'm happy to help with whatever I can even if I just photograph any page from the book that u need info on. Here's the link https://www.firstlightoptics.com/books/dark-art-or-magic-bullet-steve-richards.html here's a random page from the book

Just while I remember, be careful ordering from outside the EU (and this will also be the case when we foolishly leave😒) Astronomy gear carries a pretty high import tax, its something like 20% VAT plus import duty & then an admin charge from the courier. You'll normally be contacted by the courier (Royal Mail, DHL etc) , but it can happen when it gets delivered to your door (nasty shock) They can also overlook it by mistake but I wouldnt bank on it. It can end up costing more than from the EU or UK. If I were you i'd sell the Nikon & buy a Canon, Nikkon are rubbish when it comes to opening up their code to outside developers (bit like Apple) so there's not much astro stuff that'll work with it. Astronomisor do new & second hand modified cameras & also they'll modify your camera at a pretty good price & after the mod the red colour in nebula etc is really apparent. http://www.astronomiser.co.uk/ Cheers for the offer of help if I get stuck, i'm sure i'll be taking you up on it at some point. My mount wont work with EQMOD ( ive got the Explore Scientific EXOS 2 PMC 8 GOTO) I think thats only for Skywatcher & Celestron, but i've downloaded ASCOM Platform to my dedicated Astro laptop & my mount has a ASCOM driver which i'll use with Stellarium for control, DSS for stacking as i've used it before & i'm pretty familiar with it, Sharpcap for PA, ive used this before for planetary imaging a few years ago but they have miles more stuff on there now. I'll use NINA for the actual image capture (lights, darks, flats, bias) framing, focus, platesolving-with ASTAP, I'll also be using this instead of a 3 star align) I know the basics when it comes to processing but i'm really rusty. Ive just bought Steve Richards book 'Dark Art or Magic Bullet' as i'll be using Photoshop. He wrote 'Making Every Photon Count' which I still think is the best amateur astrophotography guide out there. Theres just so much to bloody learn 😬 I'm still on furlough at the moment though until at least early next year & recently single so i've loads of spare time to get it all hopefully working. I'll keep you up to date on how im doing.

Its been a pretty crap year I agree. I've been on furlough since March spent over 6 months with the real possibility of redundancy looming, thankfully 3 weeks ago I was informed my job was secure although we still dont know when we'll be back. A positive thats come out of all this though is it gave me a lot of time to think & thats what got me back into seriously starting up with AP again & so far i'm really pleased that I did as i've loads of time for research etc. Thanks for the offer of help with the processing part, i'm sure i'll be firing some questions at you at a later date 😁

Wow, thats stunning mate.

It really annoys me how these con artists can get away with this. Its these sort of rip off merchants that put people off astronomy. I see so many posts from people new to our hobby, buying their new 'scopes' and have been drawn in by the Hubble quality photos on the box or as part of their 'marketing' lies (probably actually stolen from NASA's website), understandably expecting the same views. They then come onto the forums thinking something is wrong with their equipment when all they've seen is the hint of a smudge when looking at say M31( IF they're lucky). Its these criminals (maybe a little strong but i'm in rant mode 🤬) that leave beginners so disappointed they never pick up a scope again 😡

Thanks for replying Vlaid. I need to remove the 200p from my signature as I sold it a while ago. I'm not too concerned with the image size (I'll take your advice though & buy the 3x) the main reason for trying this is so that I can start learning about how my new set up works using unfamiliar software (ASCOM, NINA, ASTAP, DSS, Sharpcap etc). Ive just started getting back into all this after 4/5yrs away & theres a lot of new things to learn & old things to relearn (Polar aligning, Plate Solving, Framing, focus, capture and so on). All the kit ive bought is brand new to me & i've a steep learning curve ahead, anything I can do to help that along will be time well spent. Ive around 3 months until I have everything I need to start DSO imaging (just the main scope & camera to buy) so starting out with some Lunar/ Planetary/ Widefield will set me off on the right path. Thanks again Steve