Garfield Posted July 24, 2012 Share Posted July 24, 2012 Hi,My name is Dave and i'm new to this, i have had my telescope since this time last year but only done a few observation sessions over the winter from my back garden.I have a Celestron 130eq but i am now looking at something larger and also looking into astrophotography so any advice on what i should get would be really helpful (I will do a some research on here and the web)Best things i have seen so far are Jupiter and its moons, and the Ring nebula, i thought this was pretty impressive from a big city. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesF Posted July 24, 2012 Share Posted July 24, 2012 Welcome to SGL.If you're thinking about astro-imaging I'm sure I won't be the only one to tell you that the place to start is with the book "Making Every Photon Count", available from FLO (see the link at the top of the page) amongst others. I'd add that you really need to think about how much you're willing to spend and what's really viable from your location. "Birmingham" covers a lot of sins and whilst some of it is probably not too bad I imagine there are also areas of hideously bad light pollution. If you have to travel to get to a decent imaging site then you may need to factor the necessary portability and requirements for power into your decisions.James Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jason.p Posted July 24, 2012 Share Posted July 24, 2012 Welcome Dave, you've come to the right place for answers to all your questions.Look forward to seeing some of your pics in the not too distant future Good luckJason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToxoLight Posted July 24, 2012 Share Posted July 24, 2012 Hi Dave and welcome to the lounge, loads of advice in hear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marki Posted July 24, 2012 Share Posted July 24, 2012 HI and welcome to the Lounge Dave! It really is amazing what you can see from the city! Next time try hunting the globular M13 - should get that quite easily, and its fab! And for ultimate wow - have you managed to find Saturn yet? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
telesto Posted July 24, 2012 Share Posted July 24, 2012 Hi Dave, welcome to sglClive Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesM Posted July 24, 2012 Share Posted July 24, 2012 HI Dave and welcome to the forum. I would reinforce James's recommendation of Steve Richards' "Making Every Photon Count". Being modestly priced at £19.95, it will probably save you some money in helping you avoid buying the wrong kit and in addition will provide you with the necessary overview to help you determine a proper budget. Imaging starts with a mount and if you are likely to be mobile with your "rig" (whole setup) then a mount that can facilitate autoguiding (Skywatcher HEQ5) will be the minimum you need. Autoguiding allows you to track a nearby star to the main object that you wish to image and it does so by sending micro second adjustments to the mounts motors thereby also ensuring that the main imaging scope on the same mount is held accurately on its own target. Some people image from their observatory (e.g a roll on/off shed) which allows tracking accuracy to be achieved in other ways as this setup allows for more permanent alignment. When budgeting for imaging kit, it is natural for the consideration to focus on the data collecting side (scope & camera etc) but of course data collection is only half the story, data processing being the other. Thankfully there is a lot of free software out there to help you extract and use as much of your collected data as possible but equally there are one or two really useful software packages which sadly are not free and so will need to be included in your original budget. If you want some idea what sort of kit imagers are using, it might be worth a wander around the imaging sections on this forum to check out members' kit in their signatures which will help you build up a picture of what most people are using. Many people have tried to go against what the majority use and although it is still possible to achieve fairly good results, consistent performing kit will produce consistent results which will ultimately enable you to experience imaging as being more about fun than frustration and certainly something you will want to repeat. Hope that helps.Clear skiesJames Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevrees Posted July 24, 2012 Share Posted July 24, 2012 Hi and welcome Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charon Posted July 25, 2012 Share Posted July 25, 2012 Welcome to the forum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pixelsaurus Posted July 25, 2012 Share Posted July 25, 2012 Welcome to SGL Dave. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
todd8137 Posted July 25, 2012 Share Posted July 25, 2012 Hi and welcome fromme Pat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tinker1947 Posted July 25, 2012 Share Posted July 25, 2012 Welcome to SGL, Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oily Posted July 25, 2012 Share Posted July 25, 2012 Welcome to SGL Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garfield Posted July 25, 2012 Author Share Posted July 25, 2012 Thank you for the welcomes and the advice given, i will start hunting around so i can gauge a budget for this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glowjet Posted July 25, 2012 Share Posted July 25, 2012 Hi Dave and welcome to SGL John. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michigander Posted July 25, 2012 Share Posted July 25, 2012 Welcome to SGL, Dave!Dana Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alan potts Posted July 25, 2012 Share Posted July 25, 2012 A big Bulgarian welcome to SGL Dave, this is a great site, I hope you enjoy it.Alan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizibilder Posted July 25, 2012 Share Posted July 25, 2012 Hello Dave and welcome to SGL!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sologuitarist61 Posted July 25, 2012 Share Posted July 25, 2012 Hello and welcome to SGL Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarksCPC Posted July 25, 2012 Share Posted July 25, 2012 Hi and welcome to SGL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PorkyB Posted July 26, 2012 Share Posted July 26, 2012 Hi Dave and welcome. Do have a look at the "Community / Social Groups / West Midlands" forum here to see what your neighbours are up to.http://stargazerslounge.com/forum/156-west-midlands/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sloz1664 Posted July 26, 2012 Share Posted July 26, 2012 Hi Dave and a warm welcome to the Lounge.Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gingergeek Posted July 26, 2012 Share Posted July 26, 2012 Hi there and welcome to SGL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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