Budget DSO showcase

[jsigone]

Cheap canon 1000D with a 152mm mak-newt on a ASGT5 mount, guided through 50mm finder. Pretty budget compared to allot of other rigs, around $2.5k USD & allot of practice:D

Ha-HaR-GB IC 1396 with Canon by jsigone, on Flickr

NGC 7000 and IC 5070 first 2 panels by jsigone, on Flickr

HaRGB M8 Lagoon Nebula 185min Final by jsigone, on Flickr

[Auntystatic]

But budget for this thread has to be $1600 or under (at present exchange rates), v nice images though shows what can be achieved with the humble dslr.

[jsigone]

well the mount and camera are budget, I just splurged $1100 on the optics....I was after a FLAT image and between 650-800mm focal length. Any refractor that met those needs were about 3x the price.

anyhow sorry I didn't see the listed budget, I skimmed through the pics and avoided most of the jibber jabber for a few pages. The OP was looking for other using a EG5 mount with 8" newt or simular. I have a 6" F4.8 mak-newt on a CG5 with a $300 DSLR:icon_salut:

[Chris]

Pretty much every image I've seen with a Mak-Newt is superb, they are quite expensive optics but seem to be worth the extra money:)

[jsigone]

yes they are expensive in terms of what a 6-8" F4 newt + MPCC would cost. The F4 newt + MPCC is a great option but adds another piece of optics in the path to achieve the flatter field. Plus I'm not a big fan of the spikes, and coming from a 80ED I wanted similar star fields, just flatter in the corners for mosaics stitching. To each their own:D

[RikM]

yes they are expensive in terms of what a 6-8" F4 newt + MPCC would cost. The F4 newt + MPCC is a great option but adds another piece of optics in the path to achieve the flatter field. Plus I'm not a big fan of the spikes, and coming from a 80ED I wanted similar star fields, just flatter in the corners for mosaics stitching. To each their own:D

With a MakNewt the corrector is on the front rather than the back as for a Newt+MPCC so the same number of optical elements in the train. They are nice optical instruments as well as imaging but 3x the cost of anything else posted in this thread.

Your post reinforces something though, that it is the guiding and mount stability that is most important. If you had that fine scope on a ropey weak unguided mount could you achieve the same result? Probably not.

They are very fine images though.

[IainMcD]

Rik, you've got some really nice images with the same set up I have, only difference being my 1100D. Any tips? Have you hooked up the motors to your laptop somehow?

[RikM]

Thanks Iain

No, my EQ3-2 just has the standard dual axis motor drive, no autoguiding. I just took lots of shorter subs and picked targets in the right place in the sky, high up and away from light pollution. I use a SkyWatcher light pollution filter as well which helps reduce the orange.

Check the picture comments though because most of my more recent ones have been on an NEQ6 with a finderguider.

I do use APT on a laptop to control the camera though. This makes it much easier to get nice images.

[jsigone]

With a MakNewt the corrector is on the front rather than the back as for a Newt+MPCC so the same number of optical elements in the train. They are nice optical instruments as well as imaging but 3x the cost of anything else posted in this thread.

Your post reinforces something though, that it is the guiding and mount stability that is most important. If you had that fine scope on a ropey weak unguided mount could you achieve the same result? Probably not.

They are very fine images though.

Thanks for the comments about my images. Here's to conform to this threads budget, the Celestron 80ED was roughly 1/3 the cost of the mak-newt. But I was not guiding yet back then, a lil over a yr ago. I needed the guider for the heavier mak-newt though.

$400 80ED

$130 William Optics type II FF/.8x reducer

$300 used Celestron ASGT5

$300 Canon XS

$170 Astronomiks CLS-CCD LP filter

NGC6960 Veil Nebula, 60min total by jsigone, on Flickr 2.5min x 24 @ iso1600

Horse head n flame, 1min x75 by jsigone, on Flickr

IC 443 43x2min ISO 1600 Final by jsigone, on Flickr

Telescope Rig by jsigone, on Flickr

[RikM]

Wonderful set of images. Just the right sort of thing to show what outstanding results can be achieved with cheaper equipment if you set your mind to it. Small fast scope, shorter focal length and loads of short subs.

Well done indeed.

[IainMcD]

Thanks Iain

No, my EQ3-2 just has the standard dual axis motor drive, no autoguiding. I just took lots of shorter subs and picked targets in the right place in the sky, high up and away from light pollution. I use a SkyWatcher light pollution filter as well which helps reduce the orange.

Check the picture comments though because most of my more recent ones have been on an NEQ6 with a finderguider.

I do use APT on a laptop to control the camera though. This makes it much easier to get nice images.

I think I'll need a filter, quite a bit of light pollution here. With my camera, the longest I can take its a 30s sub, does APT allow you to set it longer?

[RikM]

I think I'll need a filter, quite a bit of light pollution here. With my camera, the longest I can take its a 30s sub, does APT allow you to set it longer?

Yes. You set your camera to 'bulb' in Manual mode and you can program any exposure you like. Unguided I typically use 90 sec. With my guided set up I use about 5 min.

[laser_jock99]

Just posted this on a seperate thread- M13 taken last night with a £70 Skywatcher ST80 telescope.

[RAC]

Thought i would add my budget shots. All done with an EQ5 guided with a webcam on a finder scope, 1000D, MPCC, some with a CLS-CCD, skywatcher 200p or a GSO f6 8" reflector. There is some early ones done with a canon 60d.

There is more here

Eagle Nebula M16 by meg rac, on Flickr

Lagoon M8 with modded 1000d by meg rac, on Flickr

M20 Trifid by meg rac, on Flickr

NGC 253 Sculptor Galaxy by meg rac, on Flickr

M17 Omega nebula by meg rac, on Flickr

Helix Nebula Pixinsight version by meg rac, on Flickr

Thor's helmet NGC2359 by meg rac, on Flickr

M42 Orion Nebula by meg rac, on Flickr

[IainMcD]

I'm digging this thread up again because I'm on a budget =]

80x15secs on M31.

Need more subs. Need longer subs. Slowly getting there!

[themos]

keep at it!

[Catweazel]

keep at it!

Indeed!

What happened to this thread...it was all going so well?