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Hello from Sheffield Newbie


bunderson

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Hello all.

I have finally gotten round to buying my first telescope after about 15 years of saying "I'm gonna" and am on a very steep learning curve.

I have been a photographer for about 10 years and am quickly realising that more than half of what I know about this area doesn't apply to astrophotography at all!

My interest of watching the sky started when I was a teenager and was dragged along to a stargazing event in Cambridgeshire. After seeing Saturn for the first time I was completely blown away and have has a keen interest in all things space from then on.

Anyway I have purchased a Sky-Watcher Skymax 127 Maksutov-Cassegrain with mounts for my Nikon D700 (not been able to take a clear shot of anything yet) but am just about up to speed with aligning the scope using the Brightest Star method (although the goto function is never perfect and always have to use the spotter scope to align properly) but I suppose this comes with practise.

If anyone has any good guides on getting nice shots of the moon, planets and deep sky objects then let me know! I have many questions, especially about how to take photos of nebula and galaxies but I will use the forums' search function first as I'm sure they are questions that have been answered before.

Nice to be here and just waiting for a clear sky now!

Al.

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Hello and welcome to the SGL.

As your interest seems to be pointing in the direction of astrophotography, I would suggest you purchase the book "Making Every Photon Count." A truly excellent guide to astrophotography. First Light Optics sell it.

Clear skies,

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Welcome to SGL

Imaging DSOs, the planets and the Moon/Sun often take three different approaches. Steve's book, as already recommended, has lots of detail that covers DSO imaging and I'd definitely recommend reading that.

The planets are best imaged with a suitable webcam or similar high frame rate camera and the 127 Mak is an excellent scope for doing this. If you have a hunt through the planetary imaging section you'll find a number of people (including myself) posting images taken using this scope. It's also a good way to take close-up images of the Moon and sunspots (with a suitable filter).

Full disc images of the Moon and Sun can be created just by fitting the DSLR directly to the back of the scope with a T-ring. I've found that if my 450D is fitted to the visual back then I get images that take up almost the entire frame. Roger (Bizibilder) has a tutorial for solar imaging which is pretty similar to lunar imaging. I'll see if I can find a link. The main difference that will affect you is probably that you're using a Nikon camera and the processing workflow might have to change slightly.

James

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Welcome to SGL Al :)

The trick with imaging whatever you are doing is to have good polar alignment if you are using an EQ Synscan Go-To and to set the handset with the correct times etc if you are using EQ synscan or Alt/Az GO TO. Tracking will need to be better with higher focal length scopes as they will magnify any tracking errors. But sounds like you're up and running, so once you do a bit more it will become easier.

Good luck :)

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