Search the Community

Thought I'd ask the question, if given the opportunity what are people's experiences of doing AP at non native locations around the world such as on a short holiday? Ideally taking and using your own equipment. Places need to be reasonable to get to with amenities nearby or within driving distance and obviously safe (from people, nature etc). Can also include stargazing locations but I've specifically titled the thread for AP because of the requirement for a lot more time in the field to complete projects.

This is going to seem ridiculous to some but that’s ok. I got my very first telescope just last week and the weather has been absolutely horrible so I’ve only been able to use it twice so far, for about 20 minutes each time. I have a simple Celestron TS 70 on an AZ-GTi mount with some better EP’s and a good 90 degree diagonal and a neutral density filter. Keep in mind, I know next to nothing so far about AP so this is INCREDIBLY crude. Taken with an iPhone with an 8mm EP (IIRC) with horrific cloud cover and about 5 seconds to capture it before it was unseen again. Forget the quality, the point is it gave me confidence to keep going with this hobby for the long term. Thanks for reading.

Hi All I am starting this as a baseline to find out Cons and Pros for the difference, between standard focuser and all the way to the electronic top? up to max £3k. I mean : practical : i would like not to worry about rotating and focusing at all., so paying big bucks will give me this reassurance? - i guess? yes? - one focuser for all!!!! I have a short list for all: refractor /reflectors,/newtons Moonlight FT, ASA AAf3", RotoFoc 3, Nitecrawler 3, Optec TFT-53, Integra 85, Finger Lakes Atlas (FLI).. . Esatto (expensive - but complains) i am sure there is more good stuff out there... I am using moonlight 2" on my small triplet and FT 2" on the 2nd one. I was thinking to upgrade and open up to 3" electronic- Integra 85, or - just find out that ASA is still making their AAf3 My tele will be fast APO 100mm and on coming 10-14" barrel... i guess RASA doesn't need one? Please all experience welcome. Kindest Regards Greg

Hi guys! 🙂 My name is Andrew, I only just stumbled across these forums just now! Couldn’t have come across a better community to help me with some questions I have! So I’ve Come to the conclusion that I’m going to be buying a Celestron Nexstar 6SE telescope everything about it appeals to me. I currently own a much older manual celestron telescope and am ready for my first proper telescope! I do plenty of photography and own a DSLR and am aware that with this telescope that it comes with a software that will record video of what you’re gazing at and stack the images if I’m correct? because I’m familiar with normal photography and not so much with Astro photography I was wondering if anyone could help me out. For the stocking software, is that all the process completed within the telescope and no DSLR? Or is that recorded with the DSL are and then the software stacks? What kind of adapters would I need to be getting into AP? By the way I’m looking at mainly photographing the moon and hopefully get some awesome shots of the other planets too! 😄 not so much deep AP, as from my research I’ve gathered that this isn’t the greatest for it... anyways. Is it better to use a DSLR and an adapter on the eyepiece for imaging? Or the stacking and what would I need for best result stacking images, especially of planets like Saturn and Jupiter?! Are the individual eyepiece attachments you buy for the telescope, cameras in themselves? What is aci? I’ve got no clue! Haha a lot to learn! I thought I was on the right track looking by myself for equipment and I came across the 10MP celestron Neximage eyepiece or whatever it is? I’m not entirely sure? And also what is a T ring? Is that a Dslr adapter? Does the stacking software come with the telescope or with additional purchases?! Sorry for the bombardment of questions! Obviously I’m very excited to get going and am very keen on getting some equipment! Any answers are much appreciated! Have a great day! Andrew

Hi, As a newbie in AP I recently discovered that astro imaging isn't as simple as I imagined, it's not just "pointing and shooting". The main point is that I need a tracker that will follow the sky's movement. But after seeing the prices at which decent trackers are sold I decided to see if I could build one myself from spare parts at my workshop. Turns out that I can, using two planks of wood a hinge, an arduino, a stepper motor, etc. So I decided to get to it, I have built the connection between both planks of wood with the hinge, but have now discovered a problem. After some investigation, I realized it's quite commonly named the "Tangent Problem" (the rod forms a 90º angle with the bottom plank). So the solutions offered vary from curved rods to involute pieces of plastic and tilting the rod. I also saw another solution that was adjusting the speed at which the rod moves, and since I'm going to be using an arduino-driven stepper motor, I decided that this was the way to go. The problem is that I don't know in what ratio the speed has to increase over time to compensate the "Tangent problem". That's why I decided to pose my question here as I'm sure someone must have done it already. Sorry for my bad english, it isn't my first langnuage. Thanks in advance and clear skies, S

Hi, After several years in the photography world I decided to take a plunge into astrophotography, haven taken pictures of the moon, I now plan to capture DSO, unfortunately, I live in a bortle 6/7, and was planning to shoot orions nebula but found out it stays below the horizon for the summer. This is why I turn to the forum: are there any DSO that can be easily captured with a DSLR, a tripod and some software like sequator, and that is visible in summer too? Ideally if it can be near the zenith it would be best, due to the annoying sodium light streets. Also if you could post some images of DSO taken with a DSLR and a tripod ( and software of course)that would help me make an idea of what I should expect. The camera I plan on using is an old canon eos 550d, without any modifications. Thanks in advance, S

Hi to everyone, I used to do some astrophotography in the past with a Celestron AVX and DSLR but after few month had to give up for several reasons, including light pollution (I'm living in zone 3 east London), and also working shifts. Now I want to start again, and this time more serious. I've been searching around for a couple of months to choose all the gear and I'm quite happy with the list so far although it's a bit over the price I planned at first. I will get an William optics Z73 with his 50mm guide scope, a flattener/reducer 0.8, light pollution filter IDAS D2 and as camera I will use a Canon 600D modded and I will buy a ZWO 183MC Pro, after so much research, I'm very happy with the scale and framing I will get with this combo, but I'm starting to get confused with the mount. My first idea was to go for an HEQ5 Pro, as my previous experience with the AVX has been awful, then I realized that the FLO, sells that mount with belt modification and also some cleaning and tuning if required, I heard that it's a big improvement over the stock one and the price it's ok, but another important factor for me it's portability. Unfortunately, my garden doesn't allow me to do much so I will need to carry around on trolley, for a km walk, I'm a strong person and been doing plenty of time with the AVX, so my confusion came recently when the iOptron mounts entered my radar. I start comparing the heq5 pro with belt, with the iOptron cem25EC and the CEM40 without encoders, and I'm so unsure of which to buy, the cem25 seem to be the equivalent of heq5 at least speaking of payload, but in some threads I read people saying it's a bit fragile so kind of remove it from the equation although the weight it's interesting for my situation, then the cem40, seem to be quite similar on weight to the heq5 but with higher payload and that's interesting too as I will buy a C11 at some point. Now it will all come down to the accuracy of tracking I guess, how the heq5 and cem40 would compare on tracking and guiding? If the cem40 it's better, I would probably go with that since it holds more and would last longer as I don't plan to get anything bigger than a C11, but if the skywatcher it's better, I could decide to go for that, and when I move to a place with better garden then get a second mount with higher payload. Apologise for the long post and my english. Kind Regards, Giovanni.

Hey guys! It's me ,kronos Yesterday my 8" dob arrived and i had some lovely views with it! I also bought an astroessential t ring for my nikon Dslr. Im looking towards planetary imaging (not serious, just for the fun) what else do i need?(btw my cam is a nikon D7100)

Hello all, Disclaimer for all: I am still a newbie so good chance this is a bad question, but I was hoping for an explanation anyway. I've got a SkyWatcher 8" (1200mm FL) Dobsonian (manual, no GOTO). So far, I am mostly interested in visual and AP planets. I have recently started gradually upgrading my equipment. Got a ZWO ASI 224MC, and a TV Powermate 2.5x (hoping to get an HEQ5 mount soon too). Here is where the baffling happens. According to math, my scope's potential magnification is 400x (200mm aperture x2). Obviously that is supposed to be theoretical, true only for nights with perfect seeing, and in the past, using a typical 2x barlow and a 6mm plossl, I could touch that 400x (1200x2 /6 = 400) , and my mileage would vary according to seeing, so it verified the hypothesis. Along came my new equipment, the camera and the powermate. The maths for this produce a magnification of 491x (1200x2.5 / 6.1mm) which by far exceed the theoretical maximum. I was, however, able to produce the attached planetary pics, which I think are pretty decent for a manual dobsonian, considering I have still not fully mastered the art of stacking and processing, and the fact that they were taken from within the city (Thessaloniki, Greece). I have also noticed that visually, when using the Powermate and the 6mm eyepiece (500x zoom), it still looks as clear as, if not clearer than the common 2x barlow and 6mm eyepiece combo(400x). So I guess these are my questions: 1. When doing AP, is the maximum zoom we can use higher than for visual, because of stacking, or not? 2. Is there a chance that the TV Powermate can implicitly increase the theoretical max magnification, because of its superior quality? 3. Would adding a motorized mount, enhance the results I get, or have I pretty much reached the absolute max quality shots I can get with the specific OTA? Thanks a lot in advance, Alex

I understand the purpose of shooting dark frames, but what are 'flats' used for? Is there a general ratio of darks and/or flats to process with the collection of images when you stack them?

I have recently bought an HEQ5 Pro mount and was planning to get a SW Evostar 80ED to sit upon it so that I can learn the basics of astrophotography. I've read here and elsewhere that this really requires the SW .85x reducer/flattener to get any decent results, and that all seems to make sense to me. Unfortunately there are none of these flatteners to be had in the UK, so I have postponed my purchase. I do have a SW Explorer 150PL, which has been a lot of fun for the last few years and I plan to rest it on the HEQ5 as soon as those clouds move away, but I don't see it as a great tool for DSO AP (although I will be trying some lunar pictures). Is there and alternative to the 80ED that would be suitable for a beginner for DSO AP? I'm lucky that my budget can be reasonably flexible (in as much as I have considered the Equinox 80ED), but I don't want to throw money at something that would be wasted on a beginner. But my impatience to get started means I'd rather not have to wait a couple of months for SW to send some more flatteners to these shores. I have a Canon 550D DSLR and a Phillips ToUcam PRO II webcam. [Hmmm. Impatience - yes, I know that is not a good trait for AP.] TIA,

So i have had my fair share of visual astronomy with my 10 inch dob, But i am no looking forward into the realm of astrophotography. And i don't want to have into the jump into the deep end and by a $1,500 eq mount(yet) i was planning on getting a ed80 refactor and the camera i can get figured out. Is there any (good) budget mounts for dso? I was hoping to find a good mount for around $900. Even though i want Budget mount(or a budget mount compared to a $1500 mount) i do not want to get rid of feature that would keep me from pulling my hair out. Would it even be worth it? Thanks in advanced! I was referring to the http://www.telescope.com/Mounts-Tripods/Equatorial-Mounts-Tripods/Orion-Atlas-EQ-G-Computerized-GoTo-Telescope-Mount/pc/-1/c/2/sc/34/p/116277.uts Looking forward to be able to see nebulae in color(of course after i process it and such)

PHD2 has been popping up in various places on this forum, with many if,buts and maybe's. So last night while I was waiting for the clouds to clear, I downloaded and installed it. (I was a bit annoyed at the additional stuff that you needed to install, but hey, if it works it works.) So plugged everything in and started it up. Some of my WOW moments: - The equipment profiles that seem to be pre-tuned. (So plug and play!) - Auto tuning of your camera dialogue and the new darks works great, stars where bright and the background black ... out the box. - The new / updated graphing and the star profiles are very cool. (Still need to learn what all the new stuff means!) - Seems more stable and less resource intensive / laggy. Although when I woke up this morning, it had frozen and so had EQMOD. Was this because it got confused when the clouds rolled in? (The clouds rolled in at about 2am, so managed 3hrs data, all tight 5 min subs at 900 FL, with a 600D and a Finderguider 200FL.) Looking back at last night I have some question for the veterans. 99% of my nudges kept me within 0.5 target on the star profile. I had 1 in a hundred that pushed out, but always below 1. My Dec was buttery smooth, almost no movement at all a flat line, sometimes just below the line and other times just above. My RA was more hacksaw blade, with higher peaks (EQMOD) than what I got with PHD1. How should I tame the yo-yo effect so that it if a flatter line? (EQMOD is set to 0.5 RA and 0.9 DEC, min pulse is smallest at 20) (Avg size RA Oscillation between was 0.2 and 0.3, but some times up at 0.5) Anyway just a big thumbs up to the DEVs and really everybody should give a go, it is super cool.

I came across a very good article by Bernhard Hubl in the April copy of Astronomy with a lonk to his website. A good article and the website is a beaut too. Thought I would share it with you... http://astrophoton.com/index.html