NightSky_Wanderer

Thanks thats really useful. Do you have any tips when using a ccd?

Thanks, I'm thinking i will stick to planetary imaging for now. Would you suggest anything other accessories for such imaging to help me improve?

So a ccd would be useless with my scope? What scope would you suggest? Thanks

I was thinking colour, but if you would recommend otherwise.

Hi, So i been doing some astrophotography with my Canon and would like to progress onto a CCD. I was just wondering if anyone would be able to advise on the best on for my budget, scope. Budget - £250 - £300 Scope - Skywatcher skymax 127 on the syncscan az goto mount. Hardware - Macbook Air running El Capitain Thank you Adz

Thanks James that makes a lot of sense. I imagined having to do a whole song and dance for polar alignment.

If I were to get the EQ mount are the motors easy to attach? I dont wanna end up breaking the mount. I also found on another thread about the kit to make the mount goto compatible AstroEQ its called. Also when browsing other threads on here I read about people having difficulty with polar alignment. Is it hard? and whats the purpose of it? Would i still do the 3 star alignment like i do at the mo? Sorry for all the silly questions.

Thanks for your replies so far. Cheers, I totaly forgot about looking on ebay. That might be the way. Looks good and a nice price too. I had looked at eq mounts after reading up on astrophotography but didn't really know what to go for.

Hi all, So I dropped my mount off with one of the guys from Altair Astro (he lives in the same village as me) something was up with the motors i think. This is the old scope. Anyway Im preparing for the worst, that I will need to get a new one. But Im in a bit of a dilemma.......... Do i replace it with the same one or upgrade ready for future scopes? I haven't had to much experience with the scope as i only got my first one 4 months ago and the mount started going wrong not long after (it was second hand). Although Im new at this i have taken my first steps towards photography (pics in a previous post). I also like the goto mounts. I would say Im looking to spend no more that £500 although i just brought a car so the cheaper the better. Any suggestion and advice would be great. Adam

Thanks for everyones feed back. i found out i can connect the camera directly to my mac for a live feed of what Im imaging which should make things easier. I plan to get back out there when i get my mount sorted out.

HI Sorry for not reply for the last few days but i managed to take a look inside the mount couldn't see anything stuck so i took a short video of what the gear is doing. Not sure where to upload to so you can have a look. Any suggestions? Thanks Adam

I will try that tomorrow. Thanks for the suggestion. Yes Thats the one....... I cant turn the mount left and right but i can move the scope up and down.

Hi, Well i noticed this the last couple of times when using my scope. When using the hand controller to point the scope the mount struggles to move and lets out a low whining sound. There has also been times that it has stopped working altogether, but other time when it works like normal. Now i have check the powertank and that is all charged, i have also checked to make sure the scope is properly balanced on the mount, which it is. I got the scope for christmas secondhand ,i believe the mount is a AZ GoTo Computerised Alt-Azimuth HD Go-To Mount. Does anyone know what is wrong? Is my mount dying on me? Thanks for any help and advice you can give. Adam

The camera i used was a Canon 500D with my SW Skymax 127 and yes they are single frame exposures. For the second picture i used a 2x Barlow lens. Thanks jambouk for the advice i will try that next time the skies are clear although look at the time it doesn't look like it will be dark till very late. When imaging planets do i need filters or anything to help with capturing detail?

Hi all, When out with the scope looking at the moon i thought i would try my hand at imaging. I knew enough to of purchased the adaptors and that i needed to shoot in manual mode. So below is a couple of the pictures unprocessed apart from converting from RAW to Jpeg. What do you think? And do you have any advice for next time? Thank you Adam