moving into astrophotography

[nty]

Hi,

I have had a lifelong interest in astronomy, currently using a Tal 1 Mizar and a Meade Autostar 70mm.

I want to move up to the next level and Astrophotography is where I want to be.

I have a budget of £1500 and am interested in DSO as well as planetary.

I would like to be able to drive the scope remotely and capture images straight onto a laptop.

Please could you offer recommendations.

Regards

John

[johnrt]

Buy this book http://www.firstlightoptics.com/books/making-every-photon-count-steve-richards.html

[swag72]

Hi John and welcome to SGL. I'm glad that you asked the question before buying anything

Firstly, planetary and DSO's have very different requirements, even for imaging. I'll say a bit about DSO imaging, as I've never tried planetary.

The first bit of advice would be to purchase the book 'Making Every Photon Count' available from the book section of the FLO website. It's something of an imagers bible for DSO imaging. Read it ...... twice, then decide how best to spend your cash as by then you'll have an idea of what you need and why.

It sounds odd, but its all about the mount, mount, mount..... Did I say that the mount was important? With DSO imaging you want to be taking long exposures, I rarely go below 30 minutes per exposure and your mount needs to stay solid during this whole time. If it doesn't you'll not get round stars. So generally a good starting point is an HEQ5. Add to that an 80ED refractor - This is of a relatively short focal length and so places minimal stress on the mount. Again a good thing for those long subs you'll want. This type of set up is used by many imagers.

If you look around the imaging section, find some images that you aspire to and look at the kit used to take the image. It's usually in the thread, this will give you a good starting point.

You'll want to add a guiding set up at some time as well. You don't make any mention of a camera?

[davefrance]

Hi John and welcome to SGL. I'm glad that you asked the question before buying anything

Firstly, planetary and DSO's have very different requirements, even for imaging. I'll say a bit about DSO imaging, as I've never tried planetary.

The first bit of advice would be to purchase the book 'Making Every Photon Count' available from the book section of the FLO website. It's something of an imagers bible for DSO imaging. Read it ...... twice, then decide how best to spend your cash as by then you'll have an idea of what you need and why.

It sounds odd, but its all about the mount, mount, mount..... Did I say that the mount was important? With DSO imaging you want to be taking long exposures, I rarely go below 30 minutes per exposure and your mount needs to stay solid during this whole time. If it doesn't you'll not get round stars. So generally a good starting point is an HEQ5. Add to that an 80ED refractor - This is of a relatively short focal length and so places minimal stress on the mount. Again a good thing for those long subs you'll want. This type of set up is used by many imagers.

If you look around the imaging section, find some images that you aspire to and look at the kit used to take the image. It's usually in the thread, this will give you a good starting point.

You'll want to add a guiding set up at some time as well. You don't make any mention of a camera?

I have that scope/mount combination and can confirm very stable.

[x6gas]

Buy this book http://www.firstlightoptics.com/books/making-every-photon-count-steve-richards.html

And once you've bought and read (twice) that book, buy this one: The Deep-sky Imaging Primer by Charles Bracken  It's an excellent book and the next step on from Making Every Photon Count...

[nty]

Thanks everyone for the useful info. Lots for me to think about.

[Blazar]

in the meantime...why not go for some Afocal shots through the eyepiece of that TAL of yours...should get some nice shots of the moon...only takes a small compact camera. Imaging is a bit of a journey, but starting right (like purchasing and reading the books mentioned above) will make sure you spend wisely. I am about to start (well in 5 months) once I have my first automated moun, and its a daunting thought..but very exciting.

Good luck and clear skies.