Total Newbie Wants to Try Astrophotography

[Steve789]

I was given a cheap reflector scope (Jessops TA1100-102) for Christmas last year but didn't start using it until recently. It's the recent brightness of Jupiter that has reignited my enthsiasm for astronomy, lost since my teen years.

I've managed to see some banding on Jupiter and what looked like 5 of its moons (how can I be sure I'm not counting distant stars as moons?).

I think I also found Orion's nebulae the other night which was awesome as I didn't expect to find it so easily!

I've decided I'm hooked and have invested in some Plossl eyepeices. Next I want to start capturing some images of what I see. I've got the use of a Canon 40D and a laptop and have been trying to find a T-ring and T-mount adapter that will allow me to do this. Am I correct in thinking this is all I need to mount my camera? I assume I need a T-mount adapter that will fit over my 1.25" eyepieces.

Any links to sites that sell what I need would be much appreciated as its hard to search for when you're not entirely certain what you need.

[pvaz]

My advice is to start with the 40D, a tripod and a regular camera lens. You can calculate the speed using the following formula:

375/Focal Lenght = time in seconds

Take a lot of shots in raw then use Deep Sky Stacker to combine them. There are a lot of tutorials online.

If you keep it around that you'll get nice shots without star trails.

To use a scope you'll need an Equatorial mount with motors. It will then track the objects as they appear to move due to the Earth rotation. Without one all you'll get is startrails.

Imaging planets is a lot cheaper. All you need is a modified webcam. The Philips SPC900 is the preferred one and again there are a lot of online tutorials on this.

If you're serious about it, get the book "Making Every Photon Count" it will explain the whole process and what gear you'll need. Beware that astrophotography becomes a money pit once you get serious about it. It's quite common for most imagers to amount a few grand in gear.

I'm just a noob that did a lot of reading. This is one of my 1st pictures, taken with a 60D and my wide field lens:

[E621Keith]

Hi Steve welcome to SGL.

Exactly as Paulo said, scope based astrophotography required a good equatorial mount. The minimum requirement considered by most people is the HEQ5 which would set you back £750.

Astrophotography with a camera lens is much easier. You can start with star trail, then barn door trackers, the light weight equatorial mounts. They will work as long as you keep your exposure and focal lengths reasonably short. A 50mm f1.8 is a good lens to start with.