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Midlife Crisis

skyscraper

By skyscraper
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skyscraper

skyscraper

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Hello, and thank you all for enabling my midlife crisis by helping with my astronomy and astrophotography questions. 

A little about me and my astro stuff. I was given a Meade 114EQ-ASTR reflector telescope for Christmas about 3 years ago. It was a nice gesture by my wife who knew I wanted to get back into stargazing after a 20-something year hiatus as life got in the way of such pursuits. I am however very disappointed in this telescope's capabilities. Its small aperture (114mm) limits my viewing to lunar and planetary objects. I really wanted to get into astrophotography, and she just this past weekend gave me as a father's day gift my first laptop with astrophotography in mind. Would love to get a bigger scope obviously, but budget prevents. Telescopes are like boats in that way.

Rather than buy a new telescope, I'd like to make the most of my resources. I have something of a learning curve when it comes to astrophotography. I downloaded image stacking software, and will begin my learning journey.

I ask that you all bear with a middle aged architect in his ignorance as I ask the most basic of questions. I have a fair grasp of astronomy in general, have always studied it as a hobby (although not a fan of the Cosmos reboot with Neil deGrasse Tyson, loved the original), my ignorance is more in the observations and imaging.

Thanks for your patience.

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D4N

D4N

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Welcome, don't worry too much about the aperture if your planning on doing imaging. Aperture is king in visual as your eyes can only detect the light that is gathered at any given moment. A camera can keep its shutter open for a long time enabling it to collect far more light.

Try starting out with a webcam for lunar and planetary imaging.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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swag72

swag72

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Hi and welcome to SGL from another imager! Glad that you found us, there's a wealth of knowledge on here. If you are thinking you may have a interest in the future with imaging DSO's then the book already mentioned is a good place to start. If planetary and lunar is your thing then you can start off with a webcam and people manage good pics with this.

Look forward to seeing you around :smiley:

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todd8137

todd8137

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Hi and welcome from me your jumping in at the deep,end with astro imaging it's not cheap so prepare you wife and your wallet ,joking a side post in the imaging section on the basics of what you will need

Pat

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glowjet

glowjet

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Hi Skyscraper and welcome to SGL, I admire your enthusiasm to get into AP, it is not the aperture of the scope that you may find is the problem, but the stability of the mount and the ability to accurately track your chosen target. You have a steep learning curve ahead of you and much can be gained from the forums imaging sections, enjoy our Astronomy :)

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JamesM

JamesM

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Hi and welcome to the forum. I would agree with the recommendation of Steve Richards' book as in my view makes for essential reading in order to successfully climb that 'curve'. There are many experienced imagers on this forum so you will never be short of decent answers to your questions as they arise. Just pop a question in the appropriate section and sit back and relax!  :grin:

Clear skies and hope you enjoy the forum.

James

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