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Absolutely new to this, but excited to learn.

gringomaligno

By gringomaligno
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gringomaligno

gringomaligno

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I have gorgeous dark skies for miles from my house.  There was an old man out here with a huge telescope (use a rolling ladder to get to the eyepiece huge), and he used to show me the night sky, in all it's wonder... he is gone, but I still think of those nights.

I am looking to learn, and thus have been gleaning and poking around...  Here is what I am thinking, and please feel free to tell me what a bad idea it is, or the pitfalls, or the myriad things that I need to learn.

I'd like to have a good view of planets, and be able to get some wide field DSO... I'd like to learn astrophotography.  This is what I'm thinking...

I think I can afford, but want to know about the compatibility of...

a CGEM DX mount and tripod

the EON 110 APO scope

and a Mallincam Xtreme.

Is there a

I plan to use these mostly to project images in my house of live video, but also to take some forays into casual astrophotography.

I like the idea of controlling the telescope from my laptop, I'm not a purist, but I'm sure I also need a finder scope?  

Please be harsh and steer me clear of the rocks I've seen so many suffer through in this hobby.

Thanks much.

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Floater

Floater

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Not experienced enough to advise on equipment (especially AP!) but I do know you shouldn't tell people about those lovely dark skies. We will all come and move in next door!

Welcome and do have fun.

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alan687

alan687

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welcome to astronomy once you start your hooked. i started about 2 months ago so im still very new to it all but learned allot.

Firstly don't go buy a scope, this seems like a silly statement but i quickly learned its not, go and buy yourself a good pair of binoculars and just explore the sky learning stars and constellations as you go.

after you have learned the sky and can find your way around (say 1 -2 months) its time to consider a telescope.

stick to large eyepieces say 20mm or more until you feel comfortable finding objects and tracking them then go to something smaller.

The equipment you have listed is quite expensive gear to start with and would be a very steep learning curve for you, most people don't jump straight into ccd imaging as its the top end of the market.

My advice would be, Be careful you don't go and buy a lot of expensive gear and then struggle to use it or transport it, as i have found out that the simpler the gear the better as its grab and go with minimal setup, because you are more likely to grab a pair of binoculars and go out for a quick look rather than a hour of setting up to realize the clouds have come in and you have to pack it all up(Trust me that gets annoying quick)

Alan

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swag72

swag72

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Hi and welcome to SGL - Glad that you found us and I hope you enjoy your time here. Most will say that if you are interested in visual and imaging, then scratch that visual bug first!!! A nice 8" dob is superb for visual (So I hear and I'm solely an imager!). You are not going to get a scope that is ideal for both, so there will be compromises in either if you try to do that.

Perhaps get a dob for visual and a smaller ED80 scope for imaging. These scopes are bread and butter for imagers and will serve you well. The shorter focal length the scope the less issues it will give you for guiding and long exposures. Have a look for the book 'Making Every Photon Count' - It really is something of an imagers bible. Read it ....... twice ....... before even spending a penny on imaging kit.

Look forward to seeing you around :smiley:

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gringomaligno

gringomaligno

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Thanks for all the replies!  What a great community.  I should clarify... There are adequate visual scopes that I have access to, and I have a nice pair of binoculars and have been staring at the sky since I moved out here to the middle of nowhere 17 years ago.  I've never owned a television in that time.  I am new to buying and owning equipment, and don't have any plans to rush into it.  When I do buy, I would like to buy something adequate for astrophotography of planets and brighter DSOs.  So I'm pretty set on a decent equatorial mount, somewhere in the 800-1200 dollar range. I'd like to spend about that, or a little less on a scope, and the camera is up in  the air.  I really like the idea of projecting live video, and being to take pictures as well.  I realize that this comes with a sacrifice to image quality.  So I'm not set on any equipment... but after 2 weeks of reading and poking around (this is a daunting hobby to search for info on when you don't know the terminology), this equipment seemed to be somewhere around the sweet spot of what I want to do.  I have no idea how they would interact with each other though, and what else I could possibly need.  I'm sure the bits and bobs start to add up real quick, and I'd definitely like to keep the total investment under 5k.  Thanks for all the advice, and clear skies to the lot of you.

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Scorpius

Scorpius

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Greetings gringomaligno and welcome to SGL...

I'm way too inexperienced to offer advice on equipment but sounds like you've already got the most important piece of kit that money can't buy - Dark Skies!!!

Good luck in your astronomical endeavors and also in choosing the right gear for the job...

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Sandancer10

Sandancer10

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Hi and welcome to SGL. Sounds like you have the ideal spot for observing/Astro photography so kit up wisely.

The best advice I can think to give you is to decide where your main interest lies and research that side to make a decision on kit. If budget isn't an issue (and it doesn't sound like it is) try to future proof your setup as you will find you can quickly outgrow your kit.

For imaging you will need:

Planetary - basic tripod or alt/az mount, DSLR or webcam. You don't even need a scope.

DSO - Sturdy equatorial mount, usually at least the next one up to whatever comes as standard with your scope. Scope needs to be short focal length, say F5 for faster exposures. With good Polar alignment your DSLR should be able to track for 60 secs without guiding, which is another steep learning curve. The CCD can be either mono or OSC (one shot colour). The mono needs a filter wheel and RGB filters plus any extra HA Olll etc filters you decide to buy. I decided on the OSC for ease, but I will upgrade to mono maybe next year.

There is an awful lot to learn, but well worth it and this is a wonderful hobby.

Happy Stargazing.

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RobH

RobH

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Hello Gringo, and welcome.

I envy you your site!

Re. The kit, the mount is great, and you will always need a finder, so get one and align it well.

The scope/ camera combination will be good for viewing video in your home, but have a think about what you want to view. Nebulae and the larger objects will be good, but the planets and small galaxies would need something like a Schmidt cassegrain. Your mount will happily deal with an 8 inch or the excellent celestron 9.25. For wider views with the SCTs you'd need a focal reducer though, and this still wouldn't be as wide as the refractor. Remember, there isn't one scope for all targets, so think carefully and prioritise.

Longer focal length scopes require more accurate polar alignment, and are less forgiving of both tracking and alignment errors, so people are often warned off them, but I started with a 10 inch SCT and had no problems, probably because I never read that they were supposed to be tricky!!

Consider what you want, get the Steve Richards book, and take your time :-)

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hoops86

hoops86

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Hi Gringomalingo

I can offer some advice regarding video and remote setup and using a mallincam xtreme. Was in your shoes a year ago minus your budget and dark skies lol! Im still learning but love it! Video astronomy is the way forward! Live views of DSO's in full colour all from the comfort of your warm house :) Yes... its not going to give you amazing astro photography standard pics. But to get they amazing pics requires not only spending agessss post processing all the data. But also sitting doing nothing while your camera collects that data. With video... you spend that time observing! And it gives you the ability to share that view with others.

Me and many others regularly broadcast live views over the internet. Have a look here to see if anyone is broadcasting and for loads of other info on video astronomy http://astrovideoforum.proboards.com/page/channel_page my JustinTV name is glasgowskies. Also check out nightskiesnetwork. 

Heres a pic from the other night. Bottom left is the mallincam. 

post-31247-0-37153700-1406594820_thumb.p

Heres one to give an idea of how it looks indoors 

post-31247-0-46922100-1406594953_thumb.j

With your budget… you have so many options! But if video is your goal… then the mallincam xtreme is what you want! 

Hope this helps. Feel free to PM me if you have any questions :)

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