Another newbie setup thread advice

[Hawkpalmer]

Hi all,

So I'm a newbie at all this astronomy stuff but keen to learn.

My daughter also has a keen interest and will be joining me on this new hobby.

We/I am interested in astrophotography and would like some advice and help with a good reliable and effective setup please.

So I'm currently looking on the narket for a canon dslr (budget approx £200-£300) this will be for general photography and if possible astro??

Then once I get my head around all the technical features (iso/appature ect ect) we will get a telescope (budget again £200-£300 approx) but which one to purchase? Simple setup and portable (we live in London) also would it be best to get a motorised telescope with a database? In more interested in the planets/lunar and solar stuff but my daughter is interested in nebulae/galaxies ect which I think = more money??

Next question is can we/I do this stuff with live view or is it all via the viewer as id prefer to see the image on a screen?

Also have read something about waiting for the scope to cool down before viewing??

Before we purchase anything we would like to attend some local meetings so if anyone can point us in the right direction that would be great.

Are my/our expectations too high with what I have asked for in terms of budget and what we would like to get out of all this?? By that I mean if I get a budget/beginner telescope will all we be able to view is a faint blur of say Saturn or Jupiter for example?? Obviously don't mind purchasing extra bits of kit to improve a setup as we venture further along in this hobby.

Anyway any help/advice/links/books to read ect much appreciated.

Thanks

Richard

[KerryAnn23]

Hi, i'm what u call a newbie as well but many people on here advised me to get a set of binoculars first just to learn the sky and where to find objects, most were against just jumping in to buy a scope which is what i originally intended. My bins cost £70 for 15x70 and iv only had them 2 days and last night i happened upon Jupiter!!! Yes its really small but i made out 2 moons also so my thinking is that when i eventually buy a scope i can point myself the right way seen as tho i have seen it once. Also download stellarium, its free and helps with where to look, constellations, nebulaes and sattelites and plenty other stuff too. Im staying online for a little while so feel free to chat away, hope this helps a little x

[brantuk]

Jumping into dslr imaging with a starter scope isn't really a good move. The scope mount won't be anywhere near accurate enough to allow you to do long exposure photography which is what astro imaging is all about.

You're much better advised to get a webcam and adaptor for around £30 and have a go at snapping planets. It's all short exposure stuff and a basic tracking mount will enable you to track for long enough to get reasonable results.

After getting the frames - you'll then need to look into stacking and processing the pics - it's a bit of a dark art and very steep learning curve. Your budget is good for a reasonable dslr like the 1000D - but I doubt you'll get much astro use out of it for a long time to come - and a deep dig in the pockets for an adequate mount and scope. Hope that helps.

[Hawkpalmer]

Not really sure binos would be any good for us??

Thought a webcam would be the route we may need to go down. We download stellarium earlier tonight and my daughter liked that alot. I have a iPhone 3GS and have the skyview app which shows the stars/constellations and planets ect altho not sure how accurate it actually is, lool

So with a webcam set up does it take a long time to render (is that what it's called?) the pics onto a laptop or would that depend on software/webcam??

Are the motorised telescopes with the databases built in actually any good and if so what make/model do people recommend?

[brantuk]

Applications like Stellarium are accurate cos they stay in time with your system clock. The phone ones are very good too working in a similar way.

The pics from a webcam arrive just as they would normally from a webcam on your pc via USB. Then you use Registax (free) which orientates and stacks the individual frames, and something like Photoshop to bring up the colours and brightness (Gimp is a free one).

The databases on scopes are very good and a "Goto" one will slew to and track an object for you at the press of a button. Or you can just track in Right Ascension on an EQ mount with an RA motor only - so long as your polar alignment is reasonably accurate. There are many options.

Alt/Az "Goto" mounts will also work for planets (but not deep sky objects). Then you need to pick the scope - there's many types - a bit of research is needed there as well as a surf around retailer sites to see what they cost.

A good book will cover much of what's needed (scope/mount/camera) and I'd recomend a read of "Making Every Photon Count" which will tell you all you need to know before buying anything

[BertUK]

i bought a good dslr from here and it was exactly as described,i got the canon eos 450d for between £200 and £300

https://www.mpbphotographic.co.uk

[Hawkpalmer]

Applications like Stellarium are accurate cos they stay in time with your system clock. The phone ones are very good too working in a similar way.

The pics from a webcam arrive just as they would normally from a webcam on your pc via USB. Then you use Registax (free) which orientates and stacks the individual frames, and something like Photoshop to bring up the colours and brightness (Gimp is a free one).

The databases on scopes are very good and a "Goto" one will slew to and track an object for you at the press of a button. Or you can just track in Right Ascension on an EQ mount with an RA motor only - so long as your polar alignment is reasonably accurate. There are many options.

Alt/Az "Goto" mounts will also work for planets (but not deep sky objects). Then you need to pick the scope - there's many types - a bit of research is needed there as well as a surf around retailer sites to see what they cost.

A good book will cover much of what's needed (scope/mount/camera) and I'd recomend a read of "Making Every Photon Count" which will tell you all you need to know before buying anything

Thank you that's cleared things up a little bit for us.

Are there any particular makes/models of these motorised telescopes we should be avoiding or any make/models for £200-£300 you would recommend?

Also we went to our local high street book store to find the book you mentioned but they don't have it, lol will do a search online for it.

All th best

Richard

[Sharper]

Richard, you can get the book "Making Every Photon Count" from FLO here.

[JamesM]

Getting hold of this Steve Richards book "Making Every Photon Count" is essential before buying any kit. To be honest, your budget will facilitate imaging the Moon and planets via webcam and free online software to process the data but it is not sufficient for deep sky objects like galaxies, nebula etc. To do that you will need a few more 'toys' and more accurate equipment. Don't forget that widefield imaging of the night sky can be performed using a DSLR on a normal camera tripod.

Your budget will enable you to explore the night sky with a 8" dobsonian scope which will be great for you and your daughter to observe with in order to see a lot of objects for real. Imaging is a different discipline altogether and is accompanied by a steep learning curve that can create plenty of frustrations. I would buy the book first (FLO £19.95) because it will give you a very good overview of what is involved and will indeed save you money in the process.

Clear skies

James

[brantuk]

This is a maksutov design on alt/az goto. It has a long focal length for sharp contrasty views/images of planets - though it's only a 5" aperture. Observing the brighter dso's is possible and doubles stars and globulars will be easiest. Imaging would be with a webcam - long exposure dslr pics will have star trailing, so not viable:

First Light Optics - Skywatcher Skymax 102 SynScan AZ GOTO

This is a dobsonian (newtonian scope on a dob base). Great views of planets and many more dso's cos it has a greater aperture. But you won't be able to image with it cos there's no tracking motors and it's alt/az.

First Light Optics - Skywatcher Skyliner 200P Dobsonian

This one is the optical tube assembly (ota only). You'd need a mount e.g. equatorial EQ5 or CG5. You can get the mount s/h for around £100 depending on age/condition, tracking motors for it are £95'ish new but can be had for £65-£70 s/h.

With accurate polar alignment you'll have the opportunity to do unguided dslr imaging of dso's up to 90-120 secs. It'll cost around £400 all together but will be a very basic start to imaging as well as good all round observing of most popular objects.

First Light Optics - Skywatcher Explorer 150P DS OTA

Hope that helps give you a few items to be thinking about and illustrate what's possible at this budget level