Nerf_Caching

My setup is similar to yours but I'm using a Celestron Nexstar 5SE and a stock Canon 650d. This is 15 minutes on M4 using 30-second exposures. Try to photograph stuff due east or west for better tracking.

Hi. Don't expect too much of a view with galaxies or nebulae. This is a sketch of what I saw through a 4-inch Newtonian reflector. These are the Bode and Cigar galaxies. Often times Stellarium doesn't represent what you would see visually. Buy the book 'Turn Left at Orion' for a more accurate illustration.

I took this using my 72ED and it is indeed a fine scope for the money. It is quite small and light so I can put it on top of my star adventurer mount. The only pet peeve for me is the dovetail which should ideally be replaced with a longer one as declination balance cannot be properly achieved especially with a camera on the end.

Think of the RA axis as the azimuth axis on an alt-az mount but tilted on its side. This is what my rig looks like when my scope is pointed high in the sky. The mount is polar aligned with the RA axis facing North and stays this way. You have to move the scope using both the RA and Declination axis.

I had a go at processing your data. You need to take flats to get rid of the vignetting on the edge of the frame which makes processing easier. I had to crop quite a lot to overcome it. This is very good for a first try though! Do you live in a light-poIluted area? I might have a go at this galaxy myself if I get another clear night.

Download Stellarium maybe?

It's gonna be pretty difficult with a non-tracking mount the OP has though!

That's about what you would see through a telescope. I've seen M13 once and it was a fuzzy ball of light. Do you use star-hopping to find objects?

Good job on this picture! Did you use your smartphone?

Get the Explore Scientific 52-degree 3mm eyepiece if you can. I have the Orion equivalent of the Heritage 100 and it works a charm at 133x magnification while providing adequate eye relief for comfortable viewing. I've had people gasp at the view of the close-up lunar surface using that scope and eyepiece.

Just another sketch of a globular cluster through the eyepiece if that helps.

May I also suggest you purchase a nifty book called "Turn Left at Orion"? I bought a copy even though I've got some experience stargazing but it introduces a wealth of objects you can see with a home telescope and how to find them. There are also sketches similar to mine that give the beginner a rough approximation of what he or she should expect to see. What really strikes me is the lack of astronomical photos in the book as they will provide novices with false expectations so don't be fooled by the illustrations on star chart apps!

I sketched the Bode and Cigar galaxies as seen through my 4-inch reflecting telescope a while back. This is about what galaxies would look like in the eyepiece; small, faint puffs of light with little detail that require skill to observe. The brightness of the galaxies is exaggerated a little bit. Also, instead of looking directly at the subject, try and use your peripheral vision to indirectly look at a faint object. This technique is called averted vision. The rod cells located in your eye's periphery are more sensitive to faint light. You might not be able to see a faint galaxy or nebula the first time you try and observe it, but eventually on the second and third go you might just be able to make it out. As with your attempt at M51 (the Whirlpool Galaxy), it is actually quite faint and very tiny! I've never managed to observe it directly through an eyepiece but I did photograph it recently and you can see just how tiny it really is using another 420mm focal length scope(which basically means not too zoomed out or too zoomed in). Good luck!

A more portable option could be the Skywatcher Heritage 130 or 150p, with the latter being a newly-released model. Both feature collapsible tubes and cost under 200.

Is there the option for auto two star align? It works wonders on my Nexstar 5SE.

With dark frames. It was awkward taking dark frames especially on a sidewalk with people passing by who may have been wondering what I was photographing with the lens cap on!

Here is one hour and 4 minutes of data (30-second subs) from a Bortle 8 sky using an Astronomik CLS filter and stock Canon 650d. I used a Skywatcher Evostar 72ED refractor on top of a Star Adventurer unguided.

I'm not able to download registax on my pc for some reason so I used GIMP to process and sharpen it.

Here are my first attempts at planetary imaging using a Canon SL3's video function and stacking with PIPP and Autostakkert. I used a Celestron Nexstar 5SE and 2x Barlow. What do you think?

EQ 3 is good for basic astrophotography. 30-sec subs should be doable.

How do you plan to focus a star through your telescope then? Live view does make focusing less of a pain, unless you want to squint through the viewfinder!

Not a rubbish setup at all! The 130 pds is an amazing scope for the money. Same goes with the mount. If I can do astrophotography with a star adventurer then you can do just as well with an eq-5. What others were saying is that there are cheaper options for guidescopes that will do the job of autoguiding well.

Save for the eq-5 goto right off the bat. When you decide to try to take pictures, a goto eq mount will come in handy.

The one on the side I think. Make tiny adjustments using it to follow your object.

To follow an object across the sky, you only have to move the right ascension axis and nothing else, provided that you are properly polar aligned. There should be a knob somewhere to move the right ascension or declination axis. Use the right ascension knob only.