messier objects

[Vince1963]

Hi anyone out there can tell me how many messier objects i'm likeley to see through a 8" dob here in the northern hemisphere, i'm hoping photograph as many as posible:icon_salut:

[Grunthos]

Couple of questions.

What latitude are you at?

Do you have dark skies or light polluted?

(From the minimal information you've posted you may be able to see most of them...)

[Tinker1947]

Your problem is gonna be finding some clear sky so you can look for them, there might be a couple that don't get high enough in the sky for you to see, but the rest will all show up in your 8" Dob...

[John]

In theory an 8" dob will be able to see all the Messier objects and many more besides. It's not a good choice to photograph then with though - you need a different set-up, including an equatorial mount, for that.

[Vince1963]

hi john i dont have a set up yet, i'm basically feeling my way round. i was looking at an 8" on a eq3, would this be better?

[Vince1963]

thanks tinker1947. for your help

[Vince1963]

thanks grunthos, I'm same latitude as you with good low light. cheers

[jfox61]

I have been advised from the guys on here that for astrophotography that a minimum of a HeQ5 would be the minimum spec mount for a stable photography platform.

Mind you my scope is a 10" newtonian so you may get away with an eq5, but I suspect an eq3 would not be able to cope.

I have an eq3-2 for a smaller scope and it wobbles quit a bit being aluminiun tube alloy.

[Vince1963]

hi jfox61, thanks.... looks like i'm going to have to do more research, I dont know how much a eq5 will cost me. Would i be able to connect a web cam to my pc instead or is the eq5 a no brainer? Cheers

[John]

An EQ3 is not suitable for an 8" newtonian. Even for visual use it's going to wobble and vibrate a lot. For imaging you would need an HEQ5 or preferably an EQ6.

For imaging (but not viewing) messier objects though a small apochromatic refractor is often preferred. That is what I meant by a different set-up. The requirements of visually observing deep sky objects and imaging them are very different.

[Brumtaffy]

There's a wonderful book 'Making Every Photon Count' by Steve Richards which is to be thoroughly recommended.

His take is that moving to guided imaging is the quantum leap. 'Follow' your target Going for a mount with a ST4 guiding port gives you more options. So HEQ5 or NEQ6 in the SW range gives you that plus the payload ability to carry a guidescope/camera and ephemera.

Of course plenty of other manufacturers/makes are available

[Vince1963]

thanks John, this is starting to sound expensive lol. I started with a budget of £400, thats not going to be enough is it?. one i had in mind was a skywatcher explorer 200p on a eq5, not eq3 as quoted earlyer (my mistake). Cheers

[Vince1963]

thanks brumtaffy, i'll see what my budget can get me thanks for your help