Skywatcher EQ2 130/900 accessories

[Invicta1]

Hi, We are fairly new to astronomy and would like advice on what equipment is best suited for us and our telescope. We have bought a basic Skywatcher telescope EQ2 130/900 and are keen to take photo's of what we see through the lens. We have tried holding a camera and iphone to the lens we have had small success but this is too shaky and quite difficult to take pictures. We would like to buy a good camera with an attachment and a motor drive for the EQ2 mount. Also is it possible to attach a telescope digital eyepiece with USB so that we can observe what the telescope is pointing at on a lap top ? My daughter is taking astronomy for her GCSE in the new term and one of her projects will be to take pictures of the moon in 3 different phases. Would a moon filter be useful and what would be the best lens to observe other planets to photograph. 

Many thanks for any help offered.

Regards

Richard

[Cornelius Varley]

Hello and welcome to SGL . The cameras sold as USB digital eyepieces are only suitable for taking photos of the brighter objects in the night sky ie planets and the moon and are not suitable for deep sky objects. A motor drive will be required to keep the target object drifting out of view.  If you have a compact digital camera you can purchase a suitable bracket such as this one http://www.firstlightoptics.com/adaptors/baader-microstage-clickstop-digital-camera-adapter.html which will hold the camera at the correct distance from the eyepiece and stop the camera shaking. I took this photo using this method with a Samsung WB700 digital compact photographing through the telescope's eyepiece.

You might also be able to do some basic deep sky imaging using a digital compact using the same method . Set the camera to manual mode and take a series of images a few seconds long. The images can then be processed through a program called DeepSkyStacker http://deepskystacker.wikispaces.com/ which will combine all the images together.

[happy-kat]

You can also DIY a camera to eye piece adaptor there are several threads showing different ideas members have done. This type of imaging is called afocal.

You can also use a webcam directly instead of using an eye piece first and this is good for the moon and planets. You take a video and then use free software to get an image from it software called Registax.

[Twiggles]

Welcome to SGL! I also have the 130/900 on the EQ2 mount, but bought the 130m version which comes with the motor. It is easy enough to purchase seperately and our site sponsor holds it in stock:

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/skywatcher-mounts/skywatcher-ra-motor-drive-for-eq2.html

As Peter has said above, you can use camera brackets to hold a digital camera to the eyepiece and take pictures, which will work reasonably well for bright objects such as the moon and planets. Another option is to use either a modified webcam or a specialised camera such as the orion starshoot to take video images of the target object. Again, this will only work well for planets or the moon and will normally require the use of a barlow lens. After you have taken the video you use dedicated software such as regisax or autostakkert to process the video. These work by taking your video then laying each single frame on top of the other to bring out finer detail. I have modified a cheap xbox webcam and managed to get some images in this way, as well as use it to show sections of the moon or Jupiter and its four galilean moons to groups of friends and neighbours. Deep space objects are too dim to image with this method though.

A moon filter can be useful if you are directly viewing the moon since it is so bright, the filter just reduces the amount of light going in to the eyepiece. For your daughters astronomy GCSE, does it have to be an electronic image or are hand drawn sketches acceptable as well? If so then the moon filter would be useful in this case to reduce eyestrain during the extended periods while sketching the moon sections. The filter would not be required for imaging since the camera shutter would operate very quickly, or if going the webcam/planetary camera route you can change settings on the video capture software to compensate.

I have purchased a Celestron XCel 7mm eyepiece for planetary viewing on my Skywatcher. I find it gives great views of the planets, but remember that if you wish to increase magnification on the planets you need to have very clear skies with little turbulence, what is known as 'good seeing'.

Keep asking questions, once you decide to try imaging the learning curve can increase quite quickly!

[Invicta1]

Thanks for the info very helpful.