My quest to image the Orion Nebula
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By Stub Mandrel
Back from a break 🙂
A productive evening was the 22 November. I have a strange field of view at home, so along session means I get data on several targets, and at this time of year I often can't revisit for more data. This means these images need to be seen as 'works in progress' that will need more subs adding in the future. Also, I've used Jpegs because my broadband is playing up some of the subtleties are lost (he claimed!) 😞
All Baader narrowband filters, except the Plieades, ZWO RGB. 130P-DS, ASI1600MM-pro and HEQ5
The Tadpoles NGC1983 in Hubble Palette:
The California Nebula HSO, with the S from an evening a few weeks later. No Oiii under my skies. The FOV is a bit limiting with this setup:
Which do you prefer? Pacman in Hubble (SHO) and HSO, in contrast these are crops from a larger frame:
Finally, the Pleiades in RGB, knocked off at the end of along evening so just 75-second subs and not very deep:
All in all, a worthwhile evening, even if my Witch Head was a complete fail and these do need more data next year 🤞
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By JimV
Hello all,
TL;DR: are there any cheap ways, including secondhand, of mounting a 130P-DS for not-completely-terrible results?
I am looking to buy a telescope as a gift for a family member. I had in mind a budget of around £150-£200, and from looking at advice had almost settled on the Sky-Watcher Explorer 130P. But then I realised that there's a good chance that if they get into astronomy there's a good chance that my relative will want to do some photography, and would probably be interested in attaching their micro four thirds camera. I've learnt that the 130P is not great for this as you cannot get prime focus, so you need to look at the Sky-Watcher Explorer 130P-DS instead.
Great, I thought! It's a bit cheaper, but it isn't available in a kit with any form of mount. OK, I'll need to get one of those too...
Then I started looking at mounts. Oh my, those things crash through the top of my budget! Even the EQ2 mount on its own, when you can find it, is about £115.
https://www.bristolcameras.co.uk/p-skywatcher-eq-2-equatorial-mount-aluminium-tripod.htm
(Given that you can get the spherical version of the Sky-Watcher 130 on that mount for £155 from FLO, that seems to value the OTA part at somewhere around the £40 mark.)
So, I'm after advice on whether there is an affordable way of doing this.
I've read enough on this forum and other sites around the web to know that the main recommendation is that the heavier duty the better. Something like an EQ3 or upwards. And that for AP a lot of people seem to view an HEQ5 as a starting point. But since I can't stretch to that, I'm OK with leaving it as an upgrade path for my relative if that's the way they want to go (or option for future gifts!).
I know that for next-to-no budget I'm not going to be able to give something that will get the best out of the telescope. I know that getting motors and whatnot to do the guiding that will make DSO photography possible is way out of the realms of possibility. What I'm hoping for is some sort of option that gives acceptable results. Usable rather than unusable. Limiting the results rather than destroying them! Getting this set up so that they can do reasonable observation at first, and maybe give a try at attaching their m4/3 camera to try photographing the moon. If that whets their appetite then mount upgrades can be possible later.
Since I'm planning on a new OTA, I'd be happy with going secondhand for the mount.
I've been trawling ebay, and see the odd thing like this come up:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Telescope-On-Tripod-Stand-Model-900114-Spares-N-Repairs/124230022581?hash=item1cecafb5b5:g:Ay8AAOSwSz1e7OCu
To my untrained eye, it looks like there's an EQ2 mount on that, so I'm wondering whether that would do the trick. (Working on the, possibly faulty, assumption that if EQ2 is viewed by Sky-Watcher as being sturdy enough to supply as the kit mount for the 130 and 130P, it's probably up to scratch for observing with the 130P-DS too.)
Even that, at another £58 inc postage for the buy it now would be over my budget, but I'm wondering more generally whether trying to grab something like that to essentially discard the tube would even be feasible as an option if I can get one at the right price.
Or, of course, I'm open to any other ideas and suggestions that the forum might have.
Thanks in advance, and clear skies.
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By Stub Mandrel
34 2-minute subs, no darks. Exif says 6c so the sensor was probably somewhere between -15 and -20C!
Begging for a few more hours!
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By Stub Mandrel
This is my ISO1600 data from 2016 (31 60s subs) plus new ISO800 data (32 120s subs) from last night.
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By Victor Boesen
Please help!!
As said in the title I know that this question gets asked a lot of times. I want to know what to do.
My confirmation(don't know if that's what you call it in English) is in 59 days, and I need some help whether to wish me one thing or another.
What am i looking for?:
I want to get into "serious" astrophotography, however I still don't want to stop doing visual. I have a scope now that needs to get swapped out(bresser 150/1400, poor quality) but I don't have the money to have both a scope for astrophotography and visual. I was thinking about the star adventurer mount(I have a nikon d3300+kit lens and 50mm 1.8+a sturdy video-tripod) because of its easy setup and portability. Then I could put a skywatcher dobsonian on my list as well to get a better visual scope. I think that this would be a good way to start, but I am 14 years old and I don't have the money to buy equipment all the time. So the problem in my case would be that I wouldn't be able to afford a real mount and scope for astrophotography right after I get the star adventurer and a dobsonian unless I save up money for a long time and get broke right after buying the equipment.
This leads me into my next "solution". Then I was thinking about selling my visual scope and putting the eq5 pro on the list instead. Then I don't know whether to chose the 130p-ds, 150p-ds or the evostar 80ed to go with the eq5 pro. I am really blown away by the quality and images by the evostar 80ed, and I think that it's a really good beginner astrophotography scope. Or is it? It costs a lot more than the 130p/150p-ds does, and the reflectors would also be a better visual scope wouldn't they? of course I still want to have a visual and an imaging scope, but if I chose one of the reflectors then I guess I wouldn't need both right now, would I?
I want to make the right choice both mount and scope, and if the evostar 80ed+eq5 pro is the best choice then according to you, then I would just have to buy a dobsonian as well(which wouldn't be that big of a deal if just the evostar 80ed+eq5 pro is the best choice).
Hope that you want to spend some time reading this, and feel free to ask me about anything!
Victor Boesen
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