Upgrading advice!

[Azure]

I've been dabbling in astronomy as a hobby for almost a year now, and am now thinking about upgrading my equipment to get closer to my original aim in astronomy - to one day be able to decently take pictures of DSOs!

So I have a few questions;

What scope should I upgrade to? I have a Celestron Astromaster 130-EQ, and want to upgrade to at least a 200mm scope. For imaging, what size/type scope should I look at?

What mount to get? I know a motorized component is needed, and a good mount is paramount (excuse the pun), so which mount should I be looking at? Is there a good scope/mount combo?

What camera? My dad has a fancy SLR type camera lying around somewhere (I need to find it), but are there any cameras in particular you reccommend?

What other equipment will I need? (adapter for camera to telescope etc.)

At the moment I don't have a specified budget, (probably around 500 + or -), so let me know what to look at and I'll see where to set my budget-ish

I know it's alot to ask, but I know you guys are terrifically helpful when it comes to needing advice! Thanks in advance!

- AZ

[Ganymede12]

I hate to point out the obvious but look at the scopes size and F/ratio. You could find a scope that looks like what you want then create a thread asking what views you'll get from it. That's what I did (though I haven't upgraded yet).

[MartinB]

£500 isn't a big budget for astroimaging if purchased new but it's enough, especially if you are willing to go second hand. Forget 200mm aperture, you are probably better going for a small doublet refractor around the 70-80mm range. Decent ones are fairly plentiful on the second hand market. The shorter focal length will make it easier for you to work unguided and will place much lower demands on your mount than a larger scope.

An EQ3 or a second hand Vixen Super Polaris or Great Polaris will see you sorted with an adequate mount.

CCD cameras are way out of your budget. Borrowing your Dad's DSLR is probably the way to go. You will need a T adaptor to connect the camera to a nose piece for your scope.

This should see you on your way.

[Prador]

Buy Steve Richards book "Making Every Photon Count"

At £20 its an absolute bargain and a good read even if you dont want to make the leap into astrophotography immediately.

It is well written in a comprehensive but easy to understand manner and in my humble opinion a must for the beginner and more adept imager.

I am just taking baby steps towards putting a camera on a scope but this book has been a big help.

[dmahon]

So I have a few questions;

What scope should I upgrade to? I have a Celestron Astromaster 130-EQ, and want to upgrade to at least a 200mm scope. For imaging, what size/type scope should I look at?

80ED refractor

What mount to get? I know a motorized component is needed, and a good mount is paramount (excuse the pun), so which mount should I be looking at? Is there a good scope/mount combo?

HEQ5 / NEQ6

What camera? My dad has a fancy SLR type camera lying around somewhere (I need to find it), but are there any cameras in particular you reccommend?

Canon dSLR 450 or newer

SXVR-H9 / Atik 314L+ MONO plus a filterwheel/filters

What other equipment will I need? (adapter for camera to telescope etc.)

Guidescope/guidecam

Focal reducer/flattener

[Prador]

That list of kit will blow most budgets but can be done cheaper. I have not searched for specific results but somewhere on here there is a chap who obtains excellent results with a modest set-up (using an EQ-5 I believe).

Also, read this and all related posts/stickys in the Imaging sub-section.

http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/11305-dso-imaging-on-a-budget/

An absolute wealth of useful info if you really want to try imaging.

[badgerchap]

80ED refractor

HEQ5 / NEQ6

Canon dSLR 450 or newer

SXVR-H9 / Atik 314L+ MONO plus a filterwheel/filters

Guidescope/guidecam

Focal reducer/flattener

If this lot could be got for £500, I'd have 3!

[JamesM]

I would certainly agree with getting hold of "Making Every Photon Count" before making any purchase. It's important to do the research first in order to get a proper overview of you are letting yourself in for and to choose where you want to place yourself within that. Often with any question that attempts to look at what you need to get started, the answers naturally focus on equipment - the data collection side. This however is only one side of the equation, processing being the other and although there is are a lot of free software out there (thank goodness) there are equally one or two essential pieces of software that will need to be paid for. Doing the research first will give you the necessary overview first and which will later help you construct a realistic budget. In my opinion imaging starts with the mount and that means a HEQ5 because of its payload capacity, that tracking accuracy can be improved via an autoguider, it's compatibility with free software called EQMOD that will help you create mosaics of the moon etc. If you look at anyone's pictures that you like and admire, check out their kit list in the imaging section and see what they are using. Can it be done on the cheap, possibly but it will require a lot of input from you that will prove onerous and inconsistent over time and turn what should be fun into frustration. The majority of people have the same kit not by chance but because it is proven to work and the book above will take you will on your way to getting to understanding how to get the same consistent results.

James

[Azure]

Ooh, I will defo be checking out that book!

Out of curiosity, why is a small refractor better than a large reflector for imaging? I'm a complete newbie to DSO imaging, so excuse the numerous questions

Thanks for the help, any more will be appreciated!

[Azure]

Also, would a canon eos 1100d be a good choice for DSO photography?

And for a mount, is there a tracking goto mount that is cheaper than the HEQ5, but will offer decent results? I was just looking at the Skywatcher EQ3 PRO Syscan Goto, it's much cheaper than the HEQ5, but does that mean it's also much worse?

[badgerchap]

I think you might struggle with an EQ3 on load capacity, may be worth a look at EQ5 which I think is somewhere between the EQ3 and HEQ5. Others will doubtlessly correct me on this!

[sgazer]

I would also suggest that book.

Most of your money should go on the mount, a HEQ5 being a good starting point - non-goto or goto, second hand 400-500 quid. If your dad has a DSLR, that will save you 250 quid or so. Next up is the scope. Aperture is good for visual, but not necessarily for imaging where fast focal ratio is best, around f5 or less. Focal length (and hence aperture) just changes the field of view (like a zoom). The bigger the scope, the higher the cost and weight and places more strain on your mount and makes tracking more difficult. A 150pds Newt is fast (f5), compact and light and would be my recommendation. You'll need an adapter for your DSLR to 2" focuser.

If a HEQ5 and scope is pushing the budget too much, get the HEQ5 and put the DSLR on it with a lens and get some nice widefield shots.

An EQ5 mount would also be ok for wide field imaging, but weight capacity will limit what scope you can put on there to just small scopes.

EQ3 might only be useful with a camera and lens.

[Pete Presland]

have you considered buying a cheap webcam to use on your current scope for planetary imaging while you save for your dso set up?

i also agree a minimum of an eq5 is required for a mount. an ed80 and a eq5 with motors

all the photo's on here by "quatermass" are taken using an eq5 mount with a ed80 or 200mm reflector

http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/145889-sombrero-and-m101-with-evostar-ed80/

http://astrocasto.blogspot.co.uk/

[Ganymede12]

MartinB has suggested an 80-70mm refractor, which happens to be the size of my scope! (70mm objective lens and a 700 mm focal length) This being the case It might be good for you to see some of the images I have taken trough it!

Images taken with a Sky-Watcher Mercury 707 on an AZ2 mount with a Fujifilm finepix Z5 held to the eyepiece.

Solar images taken with the same equipment plus a custom Baader astrosolar safety film solar filter.

I hop these pictures have given you a good idea of the pictures that can be taken through a 70mm refractor, but the views are far better than the pictures!

[badgerchap]

I also have a small refractor - really only just started imaging (and have now faced an equipment hiccup so imaging on hold), but here are a couple of pictures I gt with a dslr:

Not the best, I'm sure you'll agree, but it's a start, and I'm so excited about learning how to improve my images over the coming months and years

[Azure]

Thanks again, some really usefl stuff there

How about the Celestron CG-5 GT GOTO mount? It's alot cheaper, priced at just over £500, and seems to be not too dissimiliar to the HEQ5, but correct me if I'm wrong?

Those refractor images look really good! But would it be possible for me to buy a new mount, for example the HEQ5, and then attach my current scope to it and have a go at astrophotography with that setup? (I'll have a camera attached with the required adapter and all) Because I don't think I'll be able to buy a new scope and mount at the same time - I didn't anticipate how pricey mounts were!

[badgerchap]

Those refractor images look really good! But would it be possible for me to buy a new mount, for example the HEQ5, and then attach my current scope to it and have a go at astrophotography with that setup?

I'm not sure about the CG-5, never used one, but as for using your current scope on a decent mount for AP I personally can't see why not. You may need a few bits n pieces to get things running perfectly, like a coma corrector (check with other before buying this - I'm not 100%). A 130mm Newtonian certainly isn't the largest scope to ever sit on an HEQ5, but as far as I gather it's much better to have mount overkill than going for something unstable. The 130 isn't that fast a scope so a decent mount will be important to allow long exposure times for fainter objects.

Plus, if you get the HEQ5, then you can always add a larger scope at a later date, when you have a bit more of a hang of things?

[badgerchap]

all the photo's on here by "quatermass" are taken using an eq5 mount with a ed80 or 200mm reflector

http://stargazerslou...h-evostar-ed80/

http://astrocasto.blogspot.co.uk/

Have to say I think Quatermass is the exception, rather than the rule though - I'm on an EQ5 and if I can get half as good as him, I'll be delighted!

[Azure]

You're idea of investing in a decent mount seems like a good one - like you say, I can always upgrade the scope at a later point.

Apparently my scope is F/5 - surely that's not that slow for a scope?

And those pictures by Quartermass look brilliant! Had a look on the blog too, can't imagine getting pictures of that quality But it shows that DSO photography is possible with a large newt?

[badgerchap]

Oh OK f/5 sounds about good. Dunno why but I thought it was longer than that!

TBH you seem to be on a similar philosophy to me - i.e. it might be harder with a cheaper setup, but not impossible, so it's definitely worth a go?

There are a few others on here doing EQ5 work too, although I can't remember any names, but their images definitely lend some encouragement!

[Uhwaz]

I run SW200 on EQ5 same as Quatermass ... thing is ... If i knew when, I was buying my scope what I know now, I would save up for NEQ6

with budget 500, try your Dads DSLR on current set up and save up for NEQ6 or forget about 200mm scopes

Any bigger gust of wind and your subs are ruined ... I usually end up scraping 50% subs cos of wind.

Your scope will do just fine IMO for starting with AP if you get better mount

[Azure]

I run SW200 on EQ5 same as Quatermass ... thing is ... If i knew when, I was buying my scope what I know now, I would save up for NEQ6

with budget 500, try your Dads DSLR on current set up and save up for NEQ6 or forget about 200mm scopes

Any bigger gust of wind and your subs are ruined ... I usually end up scraping 50% subs cos of wind.

Your scope will do just fine IMO for starting with AP if you get better mount

Yea, it seems that it would be wise to invest in a solid mount before a larger scope. But the NEQ6 is alot more expensive than the HEQ5, and I don't know how much of a difference it will make - would having a 200 newt on a HEQ5 be really inconvenient? Is it worth getting the NEQ6?

[badgerchap]

Yea, it seems that it would be wise to invest in a solid mount before a larger scope. But the NEQ6 is alot more expensive than the HEQ5, and I don't know how much of a difference it will make - would having a 200 newt on a HEQ5 be really inconvenient? Is it worth getting the NEQ6?

Quatermass and others have it on the EQ5, not the HEQ5. The latter would certainly be sufficient for a 200P

[badgerchap]

i.e. max payload for the EQ5 is given as 9kg, whilst it is 15kg for the HEQ5

[Azure]

Ohhh okay! I see now Is the EQ5 just a downsized version of the HEQ5?