What do I buy?

[Starman1967]

Hi all,

I'm looking to buy a telescope and mount for live viewing and Astro photography.

I'm a total newb to the astronomy side of things. I do have some experience in photography but only a small amount.

I Have a Sony a6000 camera with a 18 - 50 MM. and 55 - 210mm zoom lens.

I have roughly about £600 to spend on a scope and mount and maybe £300 on accessories.

I'm preferring a goto set up.

I was looking at the celestron nexstar 5se which comes with a wedge built in but I've read up that this is not very sturdy for photography.

I would love advise on what's best for the my dollar.

[laudropb]

The mount is all important to astrophotography. Unfortunately to get a suitable one you have to spend quite a bit of money.

[BeanerSA]

Have you considered a SkyWatcher Star Adventurer. You could do AP with the camera gear you already own, and the same mount will support a small scope (80mm or so)?

[Starman1967]

I forgot to mention I need a tripod too. I was looking at this set up. Would this be sturdy enough? would it need a wedge? Is the scope any good? I'm looking at taking photos through the scope too so would need to buy fittings for my camera. It's all a bit over whelming really, I have no clue where to start.

[brantuk]

Hi Starman and welcome to SGL.

The 5SE is a good little Sct - great for imaging planets with it's long focal length - use a webcam for that and process your frames in Registax which is free to download:

http://www.astronomie.be/registax/html/download_v4.html

If you want some local practical help then why not pop along to our next meeting at East Mids Stargazers on 30th of Jan. Bring your scope along and we'll help you get going with it (assuming the weather is kind to us). I'll send you a link via PM.

(Just realised you don't have the scope yet lol come along anyway and get a view through our scopes and loads of help/advice).

[Starman1967]

I forgot to mention I need a tripod too. I was looking at this set up. Would this be sturdy enough? would it need a wedge? Is the scope any good? I'm looking at taking photos through the scope too so would need to buy fittings for my camera. It's all a bit over whelming really, I have no clue where to start.

http://www.rothervalleyoptics.co.uk/skywatcher-explorer-150p-eq3-pro-goto-telescope.html

[brantuk]

The 150P/EQ3-2 is a nice starter scope (it was my first) but if you're intending to do deep sky imaging then you will need a better mount/tripod than the EQ3-2 which is too unstable. You can take measures to stabilise it but it's more bother than worth to do so. And you'd be better off with a 150PDS which is optimised for imaging: http://www.firstlightoptics.com/reflectors/skywatcher-explorer-150p-ds-eq-5-pro-goto.html

The tripod is much more stable and the mount capable of up to 5mins subs - though the HEQ5 Pro is widely recognised as the basic minimum for LE astrophotography. http://www.firstlightoptics.com/skywatcher-mounts/skywatcher-heq5-pro-synscan.html

It all depends how serious you are about imaging and how deep your pocket is. But AP critically starts with the mount - so you need to get that right first. Hth

[Starman1967]

So I've been looking and if I leave my accessories and case for another month or so I could probably go fo this.

http://www.rothervalleyoptics.co.uk/skywatcher-explorer-200pds-heq5-pro-goto-telescope.html

Would I need any thing else other than a suitable camera mount to do AP. Also would I be able to fix the camera directly to the mount for long exposure night sky photos?

Could I do better for my money or is this as good as I could get?

After all that is this set up easy to use to or am I in for a challenge using it?

I'm appreciating your help by the way. Thanks.

[brantuk]

Just wrote a long reply then lost it with the slip of a finger - not the first time that happened lol - I've pm'd you Starman.