Just wanted to share this iPhone moon shot and ask a Canon question!

[sjpp]

Afternoon Guys,

Just wanted to share a shot I took the other evening just by holding my iPhone up to the 20mm eyepiece in my scope.

I have a Celestron PS1000 (It gets many mixed reviews but so far i've been pretty amazed with all of the planets/nebs I've observed) I was just wandering if anybody had any experience of attaching a Canon camera to this type of scope for deep sky imaging?

I have a motor drive on the way and have the hang of polar aligning so tracking should be fine..

What do I need to attach the camera, thoughts and recommendations of image quality achievable?

Thanks!

[cjdawson]

I don't have any experience with that exact scope, but should be able to give some pointers.

Firstly, the minimum amount of kit that you will need to be able to attach your camera to the scope is a T-Adapter which will plug into the eyepiece barrel, this then connects to a T-Ring which will then plug into the camera like a lens.

This is the T-thread adapter

http://www.rothervalleyoptics.co.uk/antares-125-t-thread-adaptor.html

And here is a t-ring

http://www.rothervalleyoptics.co.uk/rother-valley-optics-t-mounts.html

The reason that this is split into two parts, is that the T-Ring is dependent on the camera make.  So make sure to pick the right one.  Th T-Thread is a universal fitting that you'll find on most astronomy gear.

The above is the absolute minimum needed to get you up and running.  Later on, you may find that you want to alter the setup, or make life easier.

I'd highly recommend a Bationv mask, this combined with your electric focuser will really help you get that perfect focus.

A Coma corrector might be needed depending on the images that you take.  Some scopes need them to correct for problems, others don't.  So don't get one just in case - could be  a waste of money.

A flip mirror is another one of those nice to haves.  This gives you the ability to flip between the camera and an eyepiece.  Taking the time to get them Parfocal and again, you'll have no problems finding the tartget to image, centering the image and focussing, then flip to the camera, make the final tweaks, and you are set.

Just be aware that the more kit you put on the scope the more stress you put on the focusser.  This might be something worth considering before putting more than just the camera onto the scope - that should be ok without thinking about it.