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Hi, I'm Aylish and I'm new here! I have a Jessops 800-80 Astronomical Telescope and have no idea how the hell to use that thing! Like seriously, I've taken it out once since last Christmas! I have a wide knowledge of astronomy, as in space, not how to see things. However, I really want to start astrophotography and so, here I am! Any tips/pointers would be much appriciated. :)

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Hi and welcome! You've come to the right place.

I'll recommend two books:

1) Turn Left at Orion, its super for getting know the best objects in the sky and what to expect from them.

2) Making Every Photon Count, it's a complete tutorial on how to do astrophotograpy (be warned, the book is cheap, the hobby is not).

Please join the discussion in the forums, you'll be up and running with your scope in no time.

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Welcome aboard! Be sure to ask lots of questions before buying any imaging equipment. It's very easy to purchase the wrong thing. Each specific area of imaging requires a different type of hardware. We are always here to help, never too discourage.

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Welcome to SGL

Before you consider AP another vote for Steve's book Every Photon Counts.

use the scope first, start with the Moon and Jupiter and move on to brighter messier objects such as M31 and M42.

then follow Steve's advice and be prepared to spend, spend, spend and make sure you have patience. :icon_salut:

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Hi Aylish and welcome to the forum. I would agree with the recommendations of Carl and Rich above regarding further reading material as you need a comprehensive overview of imaging before you can decide on how far to go and the required budget. With the equipment you currently have, I would certainly give observing a bit of a go first and to help you find objects, you will first need to know where they are and to that end you might want to download a free software planetarium program called "Stellarium" which you can read more about here. Lots of great features to kewp you busy when the clouds come in and it can be configured to produce an identical sky to your precise viewing location. If you combine this resource with the "Turn Left At Orion" book then you will be off to a flying start providing the weather plays along too!

Clear skies for now and enjoy the forum

James

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Hi and welcom to the forum/ If and when you decide that empty pockets and a maxed credit card are

for you we will welcome you to the darkside! Astrophotography.

Gets lots of advice or the bills will be even bigger!

velvet

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Welcome Aylish...

First things first...Budget...you'll need to consider the costs of your new interest. The Jessops is a very cheap scope and whilst i would say you get what you pay for with it, it is certainly not going to really be up to the job of photographing anything other the Moon or perhaps some eyepiece projection of the Sun (if you get clear days where you live)

For astrophotography you will need a driven scope, it does not have to be one that breaks the bank by a long shot, but it does want to be reasonably decent. The forum has a wealth of knowledge in the members and they can assist in guiding you through this process.

i am not saying that your scope is not up to the task at all, just that if you expect to see images like you see I the gallery here or in books/on the net, then you will be disappointed and my concern is that this may put you off, and I would not want that. it's better to expect little and exceed this expectation than it is to expect a lot and get little in return.

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