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Imaging newbie


StaceStar

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Hi all just thought I would drop by and say hello.

I'm attempting to start to get into AP and have ordered myself an early Christmas present in the form of eq5 pro goto and SW80ed pro. I'll be pairing it up with my canon 1100d . With the weather in the UK being so awful I couldn't really justify spending any more...but I'm excited to learn and see what I can achieve with my setup. 

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 Thank you for the recommendations.  That book is also on my Xmas list . Have been scouring YouTube, seems like I've got a massive learning curve ahead.  I like to think of myself as a scientist so hopefully I will enjoy the process of investigating and learning! 

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7 hours ago, StaceStar said:

Hi all just thought I would drop by and say hello.

I'm attempting to start to get into AP and have ordered myself an early Christmas present in the form of eq5 pro goto and SW80ed pro. I'll be pairing it up with my canon 1100d . With the weather in the UK being so awful I couldn't really justify spending any more...but I'm excited to learn and see what I can achieve with my setup. 

Great stuff and welcome to the slippery slope of AP :icon_biggrin:

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40 minutes ago, StaceStar said:

haha thank you! yes i've heard its quite the money pit :)

Hi, and good luck with your new venture, it can be very rewarding. Regarding being a money pit, well yes, it can be, it's up to you. I didn't intend spending too much but it kind of sucks you in and the next thing you know you are buying EP's, filters, the PoleMaster, anti-dew heaters, getting the cameras modded, etc. etc. But it's worth it, you just have to know where to draw the line. Good luck!

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19 minutes ago, StaceStar said:

So I now have the kit... just desperately want some clear skies now! Any ideas on a good first target? :)

20171223_152059.jpg

What camera are you using? Right now Andromeda (M31) is still high as soon as it gets astronomically dark.  It passes meridian by 7pm so you won't have to worry about any meridian flips and the like.  The Orion nebula (M42) rises nice and early as well as the Pleiades (M45) which is even higher in the sky.  Also Bodes (M81) and the Cigar Galaxy (M82) get nice and high in the sky later into the evening. 

Hope this helps, good luck and clear skies!! 

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Sorry, just read you are using a Canon 1100d, ignore my 'what camera comment' ! You have probably seen this before, but check out this FOV calculator. Juts put in your scope and camera and pick a target. I find it a good tool to plan my imaging sessions and to see how the targets will fill the frame (or not in some cases!) 

https://astronomy.tools/calculators/field_of_view/

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Get Astrophotography on the Go by Joe Ashley. There is just so much value in this book... it's like an MBA in astrophotography.  Search Joe's work in google and you'll see what's possible to be done with a small, modest setup :)

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18 minutes ago, StaceStar said:

No auto guiding as of yet. I'm going to see what I can achieve with this then go from there :)

 

As I'm currently finding out the weather here at the moment is just too rubbish. I can't justify splashing more cash just yet ... :)

You cant go far, not becouse the mount is bad..dont get me wrong the mount is a dream for its price(!!!!) 

You can do it with the 9x50 fider which (hopefully) came with the 80pro and the cheapest qhyy(or however is it spelled) 5llc (85£) will do perfectly!

 

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This is a good setup to start with.

Things that you can upgrade in the future -not now- are:

1. Guiding: this you can use your finder scope, or buy one, i have ZWO 60mm that i use it on my ST80 which is another guide scope too, and with any i have QHY5L-II-mono as guiding camera, they are not very expensive, but i know you need time to afford them, think about it, the program is PHD, then you are on track.

2. Imaging camera: now with DSLR you will get some nice results no doubt, but if you want to go higher then think about an astro camera either color or mono, cooled or non cooled, because those are sensitive cameras, you DSLR could be sensitive but not same as those from what i read, even if you modify it it will come close, but then noise signal level could be an issue, but no rush here too.

3. Filters: once you decide to go mono camera then filters will be you next plan after it.

4. Processing: there are several programs for that,  some are free and some not, so you have to think how far you want to go.

Astrophotography sounds not easy as i thought, i also started this year, bought some items and i am still going, but i am trying to cover all important items as much or possible as i can so i can start having best i can have, i didn't shoot much as i wasn't in mood to go out regardless of good nights we have here, but i wanted to finish the equipment part fully first so then i don't talk later about what to get why i don't have it, and then i focus more on taking exposures and process them.

Good luck with your equipment and enjoy it as much as you can.

Clear skies!

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Thank you for all the advice.  Hopefully my mount isn't too bad :) I know it' not a heq5 or neq6 but I'm sure I will definitely get better pictures than I did with my alt az mount . I just need to get my polar alignment as good as I can... I'm not expecting to achieve exposures unguided longer than 60s. I don't think that's too unreasonable :)

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7 hours ago, TareqPhoto said:

have ZWO 60mm that i use it on my ST80 which is another guide scope too, and with any i have QHY5L-II-mono as guiding camera, they are not very expensive

He can go for even cheaper, the QHY5L-IIc and dont need a guide scope, the finder on the 80pro is 9x50, convertable to be an guidescope with an 3£ adapter :)

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