Starting over - what imaging set-up from the ground up?

[T_Tucks]

Hello all, 

I am new to astronomy, but have reached the conclusion that I want to move purely to the dark side. I currently have a Celestron CPC1100, and was contemplating going down the wedge route etc.. however I have now decided that rather than compromising, I'd rather sell up and start from scratch. 

I have been looking at a lot of different options, and would like to know others suggestions without prejudicing the responses by venturing by own initial preference. 

My skill is at level 0, my budget around £2500. I have a Nikon d610 DSLR, and would be prepared to use this initially with the intention of buying a CCD later (when I have more pocket money).

Thanks,

Tim

[PeterCPC]

It really depends what you want to image. The CPC1100 will be good for planetary imaging as it is not necessary to have an EQ mount for that.

If you want to get into DSO imaging you will need a good EQ mount and, I would suggest, a short tube refractor like an Evostar ED80 which will need guiding to be able to take long exposures. You could guide your CPC plus wedge but the guiding would be much more difficult due to the focal length of the scope. Also the field of view is too small for lots of DSOs.

Peter

[wuthton]

Your 1st purchase should be Every Photon Counts by Steve Richards and don't buy anything else until you've read through it twice.

The standard beginners setup is:

Heq5 mount

ED80 with reducer

Finder guider or ST80 guidescope

QHY5-II/QHY5L-II guidcam (there are many other options here)

With some patient searching of the classifieds (Astrobuysell, eBay) you should have plenty change from your budget.

[ollypenrice]

Don't use a DSLR at long focal lengths or slow F ratios. It won't sing. At fast F ratios it may sing in good voice but very fast F ratios are complicated. Those selling them may not tell you this. Your proposed move into CCD is the right mindset but starting with your present camera is not a bad idea.

You need a good autoguided mount able to carry the weight of your rig. If you want to try a long focal length then you need a lot more than that, you need an extremely accurate autoguided mount and that is another story. They don't come easy.

A small refractor is the easy way to start. A small Newt can top them in some ways but with an added level of complexity. Golden rule, keep the focal length down. Loads of targets await your attention at short FL.

Olly

http://ollypenrice.smugmug.com/Other/Best-of-Les-Granges/22435624_WLMPTM#!i=2266922474&k=Sc3kgzc

[steppenwolf]

I currently have a Celestron CPC1100, and was contemplating going down the wedge route etc.. however I have now decided that rather than compromising, I'd rather sell up and start from scratch.

Excellent, you have already made a good decision - the mount is without doubt the most important consideration when contemplating deep sky imaging and although there will always be budgetary compromises, you do need to concentrate on this component.

Many deep sky objects, with the exception of galaxies, are fairly large so a short focal length telescope yielding a wide field of view will help here and have the added bonus of minimising the work that the mount must do to track accurately. Think early on about autoguiding - you may think this doesn't apply to you but it does, regardless of the mount that you buy.

[Psychobilly]

Because I came to the party before Steve had written MEPC I bought all the wrong kit - my excuse was I never thought I would be able to do anything from My home site and would do a bit of "visual" from the local mountain tops - yeah I know I used to have some of those EP things at one point...  SO one Christmas Eve I went into the local Astro Shop and hour before they closed and came out with a CPC800...

I did however enjoy making it do things that it "shouldn't" ....

NGC281 Pacman Nebula by psmithuk, on Flickr

The CPC spent most of it's time just serving as a mount...

Doing things like this...

IC405-410 Flaming Star Nebula by psmithuk, on Flickr

Incidentally The other option  in stock for "immediate"  delivery was a Skymax180 on an EQ-6...

I should add most of my imaging was done in a gap between the tress  about 15 degrees either side of the Meridian so the Fork mount on a wedge actually helped me a lot - as no need to flip...... The fact that I was ok(ish) with Autocad and had contacts in the Laser cutting and fabrication industry meant that I could get things done for material cost - or a bottle provided I drew it all up for them...

Peter...

[T_Tucks]

Thanks all for the replies. 

Peter, I love that set up! I wish I could put something permanent down, but being in the Army I move far too often.