Another newie looking for advice

[scotsmarc]

HI Folks,

I joined the site a couple of days ago and one of the mods suggested i post in here for some advice so here goes. 

I am looking to purchase my first scope. primarily i would like to  observe the sky and get to know what is out there and astrophotography. I own a decent DSLR (Canon 100d) and i would like to be able to use this with the scope. I have set a pretty low budget of £200 (this is flexible) to dip my toe in the water so to speak to see if this is something i want to go further into. What ideally would be suited to me is something that is relatively easy to set up - i can connect my DSLR to with minimal fuss and has decent optics (yes i know i want it all for very little outlay!   ) I am also want to have the telescope connected to Stellarium which will be running on my windows PC. I have spent a bit of time on the forum and on youtube browsing, but i would appreciate any direct help that can be offered.

Thanks again

Marc

[Syed Saif Alam]

Sooo hii again and best of luck for your first telescope but i would reccomend you to buy a descent newtonian like celestron astromaster 130eq(my preference) or you can go for maksutov by orion 100 mm tabletop scope or a dobsonian. You can also see skywatcher 130 or orion dobs like starblast series etc . And make sure you know everything u need to know before buying a scope like your veiwing targets like in this case are deep sky objects as you are intrested in astrophotography so yu need bigger aperture . Gather more light and youll get great pics and im sure ull get to have a full dip in the sea of universe not just a toe .

Clear skies .!

[ronin]

I doubt that you will mange it to the extent you may be hoping to.

Stellarium works with a goto mount, you have in effect one computer communicating with another computer.

For AP you also really need an EQ mount, that is required to take long exposures.

So the basics is that you need for Stelarium a goto EQ mount, they are well over £200.

Your most appropriate option would be a small motor driven EQ mount with dual motors, then simply attach the camera to that and use the camera and lens for tracked wide field shots. Check the used side for an EQ3-2 with dual motors, there may be one advertised on ABSUK.

I suggest the EQ3-2 as that can have a polar scope to aid polar alignment.

You will be limited to exposures of about 60 seconds and they will need to be wide(ish), the camera lens will not be as narrow as a scope.

For exposures of greater then 30 seconds you will need a remote timer.

[Blazar]

Hi,

Would recommend you first read the "what I can expect to see' thread to set expectations for the visual side of the hobby. 

Then obtain the 'Making every photon count" book by Steve Richards (if you want to do DSO imaging), as this will then help inform exactly what you need to look for in terms of equipment suited to Astrophotography (AP). It will probably be the best £20 you ever spend...and could save you a fortune in purchasing the right equipment.

Planetary images have slightly different requirements (and use CMOS / web cameras) and rely upon gathering 100's to 1000's of frames and stacking them, and usually with long focal length scopes (like SCT's), though not saying newts are poor you understand ;-)

Best of luck!

Regards

[Vox45]

Hi !

You can look at Forest Tanaka series of video on youtube you might learn a thing or two from him.

I recommend you start with this one "Astrophotography without a star tracker"

There quite a few more on his channel.