Will this work?

[Darkstar_1]

I have a 127 mak goto, what i was thinking if i align the scope then remove the OTA and replace with my Nikon D50. Will i be able to image using the mounts tracking motors and goto?

[johnrt]

Yes you should be able to do some shortish exposures this way - but you will be limited as this is an Alt/Az mount I think and your exposures will eventually start to show field rotation. Well worth a go though.

[Darkstar_1]

Yes you should be able to do some shortish exposures this way - but you will be limited as this is an Alt/Az mount I think and your exposures will eventually start to show field rotation. Well worth a go though.

What exposure time would uyou suggest? I expect planetary would be shorter than DSO?

[Earl]

The best thing to do it to hook it up and try, start with a set of 30 seconds then 45 seconds etc work your way up and see how long you can go without getting Field rotation.

[Ant]

What exposure time would uyou suggest? I expect planetary would be shorter than DSO?

You cannot really do planetary imaging with just a dSLR? Even Jupiter will just appear as a bright star.

Earl's is good advice, go wide field Milky Way. Zoom out with the camera lens, stop it down a couple of stops (maybe to around F4) and then start firing off test shots (remembering to get focus right). Start at around 30s and increase till you see an issue. My guess that at wide field you'll not see a problem below a few minutes.

Cheers

Ant

[Darkstar_1]

Thanks for all the advice. much appreciated. Guess i should go play