Mounts and Astrophotography

[Shera]

I 'm after some advice. I am new to Astrophotography and I have so far only taken images of Jupiter and Saturn via an iPhone 6 and stacked them. I have a very basic set up but I have the chance to borrow my mother in law's fancy DSLR camera whenever I like and I would like to have a go capturing galaxies and the Milky Way. I couldn't find my telescope manual but the nearest I have found online is the Skywatcher Newtonian as follows

Optical Diameter    254mm 
Focal Length    1200mm 
F/Ratio    F/4.7 
Secondary Mirror Diameter    58mm 
Highest Practical Power    508x 
Faintest Steller Magnitude    14.7 
Finder Scope    8X50 
Focuser Diameter    2" with 1.25 adapter 
Eyepieces    2"-28mm 
Tube Weight    12 Kgs 
Tube Dimensions    
28.8cm x 112cm  it's big and heavy!!!! The mount is their basic EQ1 with aluminium tripod. 

I have seen that you can buy mounts that track the sky and I would love one of these but as I am still exploring whether this is a hobby I want to invest in are motor drives any good? I have found the Skywatch EQ1 motor drive online and I'm just wondering if this will allow me to track the sky and get reasonable images? Also do I attach the camera to look through the telescope via an adapter or find an adapter that allows me to sit the camera on the telescope somehow or onto the mount and take images that way rather than through the telescope? Thanks.

 

[happy-kat]

Hi

Firstly if you are just dipping your toes in then you have all you already need. The milky way is HUGE. Borrow that Dslr and the kit lens it came with. Make sure it is on a stable mount be it a camera tripod or cushion. Ideally use a remote release or the camera's self timer. Take several (say 20) wide field images of the milky way ideally from a dark location using RAW not jpeg. Next learn processing stack those images in DSS 3.3.4 and use an editor like GIMP (both free) and see what you get.

[happy-kat]

Depending on camera lens the focal length drives exposure time before star trails, let's take the kit lens at 20mm. 400/20 gives roughly 20 seconds before star trails would show with a static mount. Turn off in camera noise suppression. If it is a full frame camera then you can do 600/20 roughly 30 second exposures.

[Cornelius Varley]

46 minutes ago, Shera said:

I 'm after some advice. I am new to Astrophotography and I have so far only taken images of Jupiter and Saturn via an iPhone 6 and stacked them. I have a very basic set up but I have the chance to borrow my mother in law's fancy DSLR camera whenever I like and I would like to have a go capturing galaxies and the Milky Way. I couldn't find my telescope manual but the nearest I have found online is the Skywatcher Newtonian as follows

Optical Diameter    254mm 
Focal Length    1200mm 
F/Ratio    F/4.7 
Secondary Mirror Diameter    58mm 
Highest Practical Power    508x 
Faintest Steller Magnitude    14.7 
Finder Scope    8X50 
Focuser Diameter    2" with 1.25 adapter 
Eyepieces    2"-28mm 
Tube Weight    12 Kgs 
Tube Dimensions    
28.8cm x 112cm  it's big and heavy!!!! The mount is their basic EQ1 with aluminium tripod. 

I have seen that you can buy mounts that track the sky and I would love one of these but as I am still exploring whether this is a hobby I want to invest in are motor drives any good? I have found the Skywatch EQ1 motor drive online and I'm just wondering if this will allow me to track the sky and get reasonable images? Also do I attach the camera to look through the telescope via an adapter or find an adapter that allows me to sit the camera on the telescope somehow or onto the mount and take images that way rather than through the telescope? Thanks.

 

I'm confused about the equipment list. The telescope, you claim, is a Skywatcher 10" reflector mounted on an EQ1 mount. Are you sure ? The telescope should have a small label somewhere near the focuser with the specification printed on it.

[Davey-T]

Is it this ?

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/reflectors/skywatcher-explorer-250p-ds-ota.html

if so to call it undermounted would be a bit of an understatement, it's a wonder you use it visually.

Dave

[Shera]

29 minutes ago, Cornelius Varley said:

I'm confused about the equipment list. The telescope, you claim, is a Skywatcher 10" reflector mounted on an EQ1 mount. Are you sure ? The telescope should have a small label somewhere near the focuser with the specification printed on it.

Ok thanks I didn't know that. Looking all it says is D=130mm F=900mm Coated Optics. It means nothing to me, I just picked the telescope that most closely resembled mine in appearance on their website.

[Shera]

45 minutes ago, happy-kat said:

Hi

Firstly if you are just dipping your toes in then you have all you already need. The milky way is HUGE. Borrow that Dslr and the kit lens it came with. Make sure it is on a stable mount be it a camera tripod or cushion. Ideally use a remote release or the camera's self timer. Take several (say 20) wide field images of the milky way ideally from a dark location using RAW not jpeg. Next learn processing stack those images in DSS 3.3.4 and use an editor like GIMP (both free) and see what you get.

Thanks I will give that a go!

[Mr niall]

Sounds more like this one:

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/beginner-telescopes/skywatcher-explorer-130.html

Slightly different....

[Knight of Clear Skies]

As happy-kat said, a good starting point would be to have a go with the DSLR and kit lens. This was my first ever attempt at shooting the Milky Way.

I didn't even have a tripod, I simply laid the camera down on a patio. I have some tips here for getting started with a DSLR and kit lens that you might find useful.

Taking images with a long focal length (high-magnification) scope can be difficult, for deep sky objects most people use a heavy motorised mount and often a second guide scope and camera. However, even without a tracking motor it is possible to take decent images of the Moon and planets with a webcam, by letting the target drift across the field of view.

Hope that's some help, imaging is a learning curve but it can be a lot of fun.

[Cornelius Varley]

17 minutes ago, Shera said:

Ok thanks I didn't know that. Looking all it says is D=130mm F=900mm Coated Optics. It means nothing to me, I just picked the telescope that most closely resembled mine in appearance on their website.

The 130/900 is normally supplied with the slightly bigger EQ2. This is the generic manual for the EQ1 and EQ2 reflectors. .

[Shera]

13 minutes ago, Knight of Clear Skies said:

As happy-kat said, a good starting point would be to have a go with the DSLR and kit lens. This was my first ever attempt at shooting the Milky Way.

I didn't even have a tripod, I simply laid the camera down on a patio. I have some tips here for getting started with a DSLR and kit lens that you might find useful.

Taking images with a long focal length (high-magnification) scope can be difficult, for deep sky objects most people use a heavy motorised mount and often a second guide scope and camera. However, even without a tracking motor it is possible to take decent images of the Moon and planets with a webcam, by letting the target drift across the field of view.

Hope that's some help, imaging is a learning curve but it can be a lot of fun.

Thanks for all the information, I will have a good read! Just hoping for some clear skies!

[Shera]

2 minutes ago, Cornelius Varley said:

The 130/900 is normally supplied with the slightly bigger EQ2. This is the generic manual for the EQ1 and EQ2 reflectors. .

Thanks. What is the 130/900 referring to? I hate asking questions that probably seem obvious but I'm trying to learn!

[newbie alert]

25 minutes ago, Shera said:

1 minute ago, Shera said:

Thanks. What is the 130/900 referring to? I hate asking questions that probably seem obvious but I'm trying to learn!

Don't be afraid to ask..the only way to learn...

And others might have the same setup or have done in the past

[Gina]

130 is the aperture in mm (size of the mirror in a reflector telescope or the front lens of a refractor) and the 900 is the focal length also in mm.  Focal ratio, f, is the focal length divided by the aperture.  If you don't know what these mean I suggest using Google or other search engine as this will give you a lot of the basic information.  If you think you might be interested in astro-photograohy I thoroughly recommend the book "Making Every Photon Count" by Steve Richards (steppenwolf on here).  This is "The Bible" of astro-photography.  Best £20 I ever spent   Available direct from Steve or from Amazon.

[geordie85]

1 hour ago, Shera said:

Thanks. What is the 130/900 referring to? I hate asking questions that probably seem obvious but I'm trying to learn!

130mm is the size of your mirror and 900mm is the focal length. 

With this telescope you would need an absolute minimum of an eq5 mount which some believe is still umdermounted, but I started imaging with an eq5 and 200p telescope (a bit like yours but it's 200/ 1000 so bigger). It's not ideal but still can be done with proper balancing. 

To connect your camera to your scope you'll need a t-ring and maybe a t-adapter. I say maybe because my 200p came with one so yours may have too (it'll already be connected to the focuser)

[Shera]

1 hour ago, geordie85 said:

130mm is the size of your mirror and 900mm is the focal length. 

With this telescope you would need an absolute minimum of an eq5 mount which some believe is still umdermounted, but I started imaging with an eq5 and 200p telescope (a bit like yours but it's 200/ 1000 so bigger). It's not ideal but still can be done with proper balancing. 

To connect your camera to your scope you'll need a t-ring and maybe a t-adapter. I say maybe because my 200p came with one so yours may have too (it'll already be connected to the focuser)

Great thank you!

[Shera]

2 hours ago, Gina said:

130 is the aperture in mm (size of the mirror in a reflector telescope or the front lens of a refractor) and the 900 is the focal length also in mm.  Focal ratio, f, is the focal length divided by the aperture.  If you don't know what these mean I suggest using Google or other search engine as this will give you a lot of the basic information.  If you think you might be interested in astro-photograohy I thoroughly recommend the book "Making Every Photon Count" by Steve Richards (steppenwolf on here).  This is "The Bible" of astro-photography.  Best £20 I ever spent   Available direct from Steve or from Amazon.

Thanks Gina!