Nexstar 8SE

[USAF_slip]

I will soon have my Nexstar 8SE (1 more day!!!!) and I already have a Nikon D5000 that I have been using to shoot starry night sky shots (tweaking the WB, ISO, and F/Stop settings) but I want to know if I can merge these two fantastic optical devices to create stunning photos? I gather that the 8SE isn' the best platform for astrophotography but I'm not looking to publish a scientific paper, I just want to share the joy of the sky with distant family and friends! So...where should I start looking for and adapter, what is the "Wedge" and can you offer any other constructive advice? Thanks in advance and if someone can speed up time for me so I can rip into the sky it would be great !

[daz]

A wedge turns your fork-mount (alt azimuth only) into a equatorial mount to allow the scope to track the object as it prescribes the arc over the sky.

You'll need an adapter to replace the lens on the camera and allows it to attach to your telescope....

You'll also need to accurately align your telescope (search drift aligning on here) as I assume you will not be auto guiding...

[Grunthos]

I found the SE wedge to be a bit of a waste of time and money. Suggest you embrace the "limitations" of an alt-az mount and an SCT.

Still plenty of good stuff to do though...

Have fun

Sent from my GT-I9100

[USAF_slip]

So there goes the wedge from my list...but at least I can still take some basic shots with a camera adapter. Do either of you have any recommendations on where to look for the adapters. I searched the Google-machine however there are so many that I havent a clue what to look for! Thanks again guys and enjoy the last half of the week!

[BlueAstra]

You will probably need a focal reducer to give you a flat field over the camera sensor, like this one:

http://starizona.com/acb/ReducerCorrector-f63-P743C805.aspx

Also a dew shield:

AstroZap - Flexible Dew Shield for Celestron 8 " Non-GPS - Dew Shields - Accessories - Telescopes.net from Woodland Hills Telescopes: Sky and Telescope, Astronomy Telescope, Binoculars

A Tmount adapter for the Nikon:

Celestron - T-Mount for Nikon 35mm Camera - Telescopes.net from Woodland Hills Telescopes: Sky and Telescope, Astronomy Telescope, Binoculars

A SCT-2" adapter like this:

Lumicon - SCT Female to 2in Female Adapter Short - Telescopes.net from Woodland Hills Telescopes: Sky and Telescope, Astronomy Telescope, Binoculars

A T mount - 2" nosepiece like this:

2 inch Prime Focus Camera Adapter - Cost-effective & Reliable Telescope Filters=

Remove the diagonal and visual back from the 8se. Attach focal reducer to the exposed SCT thread and the SCT-2" adapter to the focal reducer. Attach the Tmount Nikon adapter to the camera and the 2" nosepiece to the T mount Nikon adapter. You may neeed a Tmount spacer to set the focal reducer - camera CCD to the correct distance (~105mm). Focus and off you go.

Things to consider later: dew heater strap, Off-axis guider, light pollution filter, camer computer control, camera self timer unit.