Skywatcher 127 Synscan Goto

[Jon Sales]

I have the above scope and I'm going to try some AP through it with my Nikon D5100.

Might be able to get some 1-2 minute subs if I align it accurately enough.

This is only messing around until I can afford a proper setup.

Your thoughts please?

[Cornelius Varley]

Alt az or EQ ? The AZ goto mount would only give you about 30sec or less before field rotation would become apparent.

[Jon Sales]

It's the Alt Az mount.

[rowan46]

try it on the planets with a webcam or camera on video mode and you may get something you will be delighted to bore your friends with. But as has been suggested you need 30 secs or less on that kind of mount for deep space. i used to try that sort of thing on my old nexstar5 but anything more than 30 secs never worked out to my satisfaction. i got some half decent images on planets though

[Cornelius Varley]

As rowan said. The alt az mount would be ok for lunar/planetary imaging with either a webcam or DSLR video but for DSOs the exposure time needs to be short to avoid field rotation.

[jambouk]

You should be able to get 20 second subs of the orion nebula say, without too much rotation in the individual subs; stack a load of these and you will have some data.

But longer and you'll get field rotation as you are using an alt-az mount. Also, at 1500mm focal length you have a narrow field of view so will miss a lot of the nebula as your field of view is small.

There are some examples of what dso imaging can be done with this kit on the forum.

But planetary and lunar would be an easier target.

James

[jambouk]

Try looking through this thread:

http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/185409-imaging-with-the-skymax-127/?fromsearch=1

Get in touch with the guy who did these images for help/advice.

Good luck and show us your results.

James

[Russe]

You won't get exposures longer than 60s. And for that you'll need spot on alignment and an absolutely calm night. Most of the LX webcam shots I took ended up being no longer than 30s... But since the chip was so small, any movement was picked up straight away. With a DSLR you might get away with more...

[bogdog]

I have the above scope and I'm going to try some AP through it with my Nikon D5100.

Might be able to get some 1-2 minute subs if I align it accurately enough.

This is only messing around until I can afford a proper setup.

Your thoughts please?

i have the smaller sope the 102 @500mm goto alt/az

as others have said a eq mount tracking would be better for you

here is a cropped pic of orion i did with my setup last night....from inside the house!

it was howling a gale here last night and only got 20 min of clear sky

nikon 3100 8 pics of 20secs @iso 800 stacked....colourblind so processing is rubbish,

but this is what to expect to get

[Russe]

Well done!!

[Jon Sales]

Thanks for all the info and help.

Taken moon shots with it when I was living in Cyprus. Will do some planetary shots as well as playing around with the Orion Nebula etc and let you know how they turn out.

What software do you recommend for stacking. I have a Macbook Pro so may be limited. I do have CS6 and Lightroom 5 but don't know how to stack images using them.

Anything simpler?

[Russe]

sorry - not sure about Mac - on Windows you could use Pixinsight or DSS.

[Jon Sales]

I'll have to search some more online.

will post a link if I find a good one for any other mac users.

[jarlaxle2k5]

check pics and result that i achieved with the equipment in my signature (the link to my personal gallery is there as well )

I always tried 30sec max, never tried more with my az-alt.

Once you get into AP you will never get out......it is like crossing the horizon of events

[Jon Sales]

check pics and result that i achieved with the equipment in my signature (the link to my personal gallery is there as well )

I always tried 30sec max, never tried more with my az-alt.

Once you get into AP you will never get out......it is like crossing the horizon of events

Nice astrophotos.

As soon as this pesky weather pics up I'll see what I can achieve and post the results.