Suitable scope for AP?

[Orange Haze]

While I know there is meant to be no such thing as a dumb question, apologies if this breaks that rule.

I am thinking (quite far) ahead to my next scope and starting to save some pennies. My eye is on a 12" Dob goto such as the Skyliner 300P Flextube. Can anyone tell me if it possible to take images with this kind of scope? Or is it a no no when it comes to Astro Photography?

Should I be eyeing up a Celestron scope instead?

As always, all advise appreciated.

[glowjet]

Although I am at present not an imager, from what I know the plain simple answer to your question is yes, but what type of AP do you want to cover ? if it is just photographing the Planets, Star Clusters etc, short exposures with a GOTO Dob should be obtainable, but when it comes to DSO, that is a different ketttle of fish as they say, where an accurately tracked system for long periods is the order of the day. I am not conversant with the capabilities of the GOTO Dob mounts, which again if I am correct, only move in At/Az which is totaly unsuitable for long exposure work. If I might suggest you may have a better response to your inquiry if it is addressed in the imaging section where this has no doubt been tried and tested, I also think perhaps a copy of Every Photon Counts would help you along the way and explain some of the pitfalls before you spend your money

John.

[Capricorn]

As a Dobsonian mount is basically an Alt/Az mount they are not suited to long duration exposures as are required for DSO imaging.

[Tinker1947]

Your be looking at a EQ Mount if its Planets, Nebulars, Star Clusters then a Refractor there shorter FL gives them a slightly wider FOV, DSO's like Galaxies a Reflector longer FL so it magnifies better the mount will be the expensive bit HEQ5 or a NEQ6 is the type of mount to go for with out going into getting to many naughts on the end of the £ Sign.

[swag72]

A very good starting point for AP is an HEQ5 mount and an ED80 scope. Add a camera of choice onto that, perhaps a DSLR or a cooled CCD astro camera and you have a very capable setup. Don't get me wrong, it can be done with other equipment, but in my experience AP is hard enough as it is, let alone battling with kit that while will get you results, will get a few battles along the way.

Have you seen the book Making Every Photon Count http://www.firstlightoptics.com/books/making-every-photon-count-steve-richards.html . This is an excellent book to give you so much information to help you make the right choices along the way. Well worth a read before you dip a toe into the difficult hobby that is AP.

I am sure that many will come along and give you advise as to how you can make it work - There are plenty of threads in the imaging section that point towards other kit. I am just basing this on my experience.

Hope that helps.

[Orange Haze]

Thanks guys. So basically if I want to image DSO's, which I do, then a Dob is not the best move. So I guess something like a Celestron 9.25" F10 would be more suitable. This matches the equipment the imagers use at my local club but good to know my options. But as eluded to, the costs sure do add up.....

[swag72]

Ideally you would want something much faster than f10 to get DSO's. If you are imaging at f10, your exposure times would have to be very long to get much data. f8 is considered the outside slowest for DSO's, whereas many are imaging at far quicker speeds than that. If you can reduce the 9.25 to something faster then that would make it far more ideal.

[Tinker1947]

Thanks guys. So basically if I want to image DSO's, which I do, then a Dob is not the best move. So I guess something like a Celestron 9.25" F10 would be more suitable. This matches the equipment the imagers use at my local club but good to know my options. But as eluded to, the costs sure do add up.....

The F10 is not really suited to long exposures.......

[Orange Haze]

Ideally you would want something much faster than f10 to get DSO's. If you are imaging at f10, your exposure times would have to be very long to get much data. f8 is considered the outside slowest for DSO's, whereas many are imaging at far quicker speeds than that. If you can reduce the 9.25 to something faster then that would make it far more ideal.

Thanks Sara. Lucky I'm not an impulse buyer. Won't be making the purchase until next March and by the sound of it I will need all the time in between to research the right decision. And save the £££'s of course.

[steppenwolf]

For starting off in deep sky imaging you need a substantial driven equatorial mount and a relatively short focal length refractor, ideally. The mount is the most important consideration and you can then look at the reflector v refractor argument but long focal lengths are not what you need!

Whatever you do, don't impulse buy when considering astrophotography!