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Showing results for tags 'astrophography'.
Found 9 results
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Hi Guys! My first post :) I’ve decided to take the plunge and begin the hobby..or addiction of Astrophotography! About 8 years ago I purchased a 2nd hand EQ6-pro, I’ve only ever really used it for visual through a 6 inch Newtonian. All I could see was grey fuzz or the moon!lol so I got bored and put it away in a cupboard! For a few years now I’ve been taking wide field Astro photos using my DSLR and 14/24mm prime lenses which has given me the bug again! I want to start taking images of galaxies and nebulae and all that good stuff which I simply can’t get with with my wide lenses. My plan was to get a small refractor like a WO Z61 or Z73, field flattener and mount my 6D DSLR to it, Plus use a small auto guiding package. Run everything off a laptop My question really is...is my mount up to imaging? Things have come on a long way in mount technology I guess since I last looked at buying one so I’m wondering, imaging wise if I’m best selling on the old EQ6 pro and buying something more up to date? OR If my old mount is able to work and work well is there anything I can do to it to improve it?..Strip and Regrease ...Belt Mod...?? ive never had it apart before, nor do I really know how it was used before I bought it so it might need a good going over it might not...is there any way to tell for potential issues? Im happy to do any work myself I’m pretty handy with mechanics looking for advice really wether to stick with this mount or look for something new. if new, max budget is around £800 any advice greatly appreciated :) Ant -
I am thinking on astrophotography with a reinforced/DIY upgraded 16" travel Dob, 3-5minutes subs. Seen that the Tom O' dual axis platform does exactly that but got two problems with that: #1, price: costs more than a GEM capable to carry a 16" Newtonian (CEM60). I know there are stronger, more expensive mounts out there - anyway, 2000$+ is beyond my budget. #2, fixed latitude. The scope is a travel Dob which I intend to fly e.g. to Namibia - unfortunately I don't live South enough to be on its Northerly counterpart. Neither I want to pay TWICE the $2k+ price tag. #3, polar alignment: no polar finder, better PoleMaster no deal. In 2020 the maximum time I want to waste with PA is 5 minutes. I have two trackers meant to be used with small telepoto/standard lemses: both came with polar finders. Any recommendations? I am also open for DIY, however need a decent low-latitude design first.
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So I picked up a classic... a 1970's - 80's edmund optics f6 150mm newtonian... ... like this one but mine has a different mount. It was cheap. Very good condition. The focuser is pants. The mechanics of the secondary holder is (IMHO) brilliant and apparently the primary is 1/10th wave. But its f6 and I trhink I'd rather swap it out for a faster synta f5 mirror. . The thing is its a one shot job bc to make the f5 mirror work I will have to saw off a good few cm from the barrel of the scope. So the question is: Is a high quality f6 mirror better than a faster synta f5 mirror for wide deep space astrophotograhy? All comments gratefully received. -
Hello, I have been doing a lot of research on this and I am reading a lot of contradictory information. I have an Orion Sirius Mount, with an ED80 and T3i for imaging, and ST80 with ASI120MM for guiding. I am trying to get prepared for the colder weather currently. Now, I have read that everything should be fine, I can keep my whole setup in my garage in freezing temperatures and I won't have much cooldown time when getting set up. I don't use the hand controller anymore, and I have read that the display stops working on it in cold weather anyways. I also have an AC adapter for my camera so I don't have to worry about short battery life. I read that the lube in the Sirius will harden in freezing temperatures and could cause damage to the gears. I was going to take apart my mount and re-lube everything before winter just to be safe, but is that necessary? Also, what lube should I use if that is recommended? Thank you in advance!
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Hello all, I have just joined and have been looking around, and putting in various searches to find the answer to my question(s). I have already found some valuable information, but i can't find a specific answer to a question i have relating to exposure times. I have shot the milky way several times before, from a tripod and a wide angle lens. I am aware of and understand the "500 rule" and that worked fine for me at first when i was shooting with my Canon 6D Mark II. When i moved over to the Sony A7III i noticed significant trailing using the same rule and that led me to the NPF rule (Via the photopills app incase people dot know). I am heading back to Tenerife once again in about 6 weeks time and want to buy a star tracker so i can get some really detailed images. I have done a fair bit of research and in principle, the whole thing doesn't seem to be too daunting or difficult. I have purchased the Polar Scope Align Pro app so i can align Polaris as accurately as possible, i will practise putting the unit together and familiarising myself with the different parts etc, but it is the exposure times that i do not understand. My best glass is the Carl Ziess 50mm F/1.4 Planar, the 18mm F/2.8 Batis, the Sigma 35mm F/1.4 Art & the IRIX 15mm F/2.4 Blackstone. I currently do not own, nor have i ever used a tracker, and I cannot find any information relating to which aperture, ISO and Shutter length any of these focal lengths should or could be shot at. Is there anything similar to the 500 rule or NPF rule that relates to using a tracker with varied focal lengths? or is it just a case of stepping the lens down for sharpness and then trial and error? Thanks in advance, Matt.
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Hi there! I hope you can help, I'll be in the Bay Area for a bunch of days and I thought to try some astrophotography. Could you please suggests some location options to do some astrophotography in California, ideally not further than 2-2.5h from Menlo Park? Thank you! Tom -
It was freezing cold last night; far too cold for an extended observing session. However, with Orion in the perfect position over the dells, I decided to try a little AP. Canon EOS 1300D (unmodified) 18-55mm kit lens F3.5 30 seconds ISO 160
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For Deep-Sky AP of mostly galaxies (and nebulae), what'll give me the best results– a medium-weight 130 P-DS or a very lightweight wide-field WO Z61? I know the "best" telescope is one that doesn't just collect dust all day long, but I just can't figure it out. Supporting said telescope will be the SW HEQ5 PRO Synscan (with the Rowan Astronomy belt attached), which will be supported further by a autoguiding system, possibly a very lightweight CF 32mm refractor with a ZWO ASI 120mm Mini (Can't find the -S model in Japan). On the telescope'll be the Canon EOS 600D, quite a heavy beast IMO. Instead of leaving it here, I'll say (just blurt out) everything I know about these seemingly-equal telescopes. The 130 P-DS, clocking in at F/5, will produce fantastic photos of Nebulae and Galaxies alike, although its aperture will slightly limit the galaxies it'll see. It seems this telescope does particularly well when it comes to imaging M81 or M51, and Nebulae like the Rosette. Its price-performance ratio is basically unbeatable, as it's only 250$ over here in Japan and it cranks out fantastic images. The only addition I'll need will be a F/5 SW-issued Coma Corrector; however, I don't need to worry as I'll be getting one from me mum in a few week's time. The William Optics Z61, which has a slightly higher F number of 5.9. It sports 2 lenses with FPL-53 elements in them, allowing for extremely high contrast images of nebulae like the Rosette, Orion, all that lot. I've previously asked a similar question, and I've been convinced by the answer that "I won't really be able to take images of galaxies other than M31, Andromeda, and M33, Triangulum. So why do I even have this as an option when I could just go with the cheaper 130 P-DS? Well because it's a wide field APO. Everything it supports, whether it be the design to the focuser, is just amazing, so much so I can't emphasise the emotion enough. On Astrobin, I've checked out what kind of images these telescopes produce, and I encountered a problem– pretty much everyone was using everything but the 600D. They all used the fancy Mono-cooled CCDs like the ZWO ASI 1600MM Pro. Clear skies, Leon.
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Hi, included some images of April 12th. One image of Vallis Alpes, witht he large craters Arsitoteles and Eudoxus. Rima Hyginus, with lower in the image Triesnecker and Rimae Triesneckes to the right of it. The Apennines. A large mountain range. This is a two panel mosaic. and last byt not least a high res image of the lunar terminator from the Large crater Ptolemaeus all the way to the South pole. All images made using CFF CC300 f/20 and asi 174MM at prime focus. An Astronomik proplanet 807 filter was used to stabilize seeing. Enjoy the images, and feel free to share your toughts, comments etc. All images are also visible on my Astrobin page.
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