Good setup to start my AP journey

[MarkBass]

Hi all

Been really enjoying using my 8" Dob over recent weeks and learning the sky. I cant put off any longer that I want to begin imaging. I have a budget of between £500 and £700 for the scope and mount and then I will add the camera once I've got to grips with the new scope. I plan on keeping my dob so will be using that for visuals.

I want to image planet's and as much DSO as my garden allows but do plan on travelling with my new kit too.

I was going to go for an EQ5 mount with the added motors. I prefer to find the objects myself and just track them.

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/skywatcher-mounts/skywatcher-eq5-deluxe.html

I am then torn between either the Skywatcher Mak127mm or the Evostar 80Ed which would be the top end of my budget with the mount but gets great reviews.

I would welcome any help on the above two or any other considerations.

I'm looking at gear that will be more than an entry level set up so I can get some good results with the software recommended on here but appreciate I will have to upgrade in future.

Not decided on what camera route to go down yet but that will be next month's pay packet. I already have a decent laptop.

 

Thanks in advance

 

[ollypenrice]

Planetary and deep sky imaging are entirely different activities and make conflicting demands on the equipment. The biggest difference is that planets are tiny and bright whereas DSOs tend to be large and faint. So for the planets you need a very long focal length to get the planet's image up to a reasonable size and you can use ultra-short exposures because they are so bright. Fast frame (video) cameras are favourite here but you can use a DSLR in video mode. By capturing hundreds of frames and using software to reject the bad ones and retain and combine the good ones you can beat the instabilities in the seeing which are bound to affect imaging at very high resolution. Good fast frame cameras are cheap and their small chips are no disadvantage for planetary. Short exposures don't require precision tracking from the mount.

Because DSOs are large they need a short focal length to give sufficient field of view to fit them in. And because they are faint they need long exposures. The ideal cameras are, therefore, cooled to keep down noise in long exposures. Again, though, you can do reasonably well with a DSLR. There are now cooled CMOS cameras appearing at lower cost than CCD but they are still outside your present budget. You'll need a decent chip size for DSOs, of course, and a mount which tracks accurately and can accept an autoguider at a later stage. (If you stay with deep sky AP you will certainly want to start guiding. It changes everything.) While GoTo can be seen as a luxury in visual observing it is is rather more than that in DS imaging because we are often imaging things that we cannot see at all in any telescope. Also time is so precious that we want to waste none of it whatever.

What I would do in your shoes is look at the imaging sections for solar system and deep sky and note what people are actually using.

Olly

[RayD]

Absolutely spot on advice from Olly as always.  Can't add a thing to it that wouldn't just be opinion and add confusion.

[Demonperformer]

For DSO, the mount is key. With a decent mount (HEQ5), you could get a set of tube rings and use the dob OTA to get you started, although it is not necessarily the easiest scope to use for such objects. Of course it would be great for lunar/planetary, but the mount is a bit overkill if that is all you want.

If DSO is where you want to go, I would say your first purchase should be this book. It will give you a good idea of what you will want/need.

[Knight of Clear Skies]

Here's a left-field suggestion: this image of Jupiter was taken with an 8" dob and a (4k) smartphone (not by me I should add). So that might be a route into lunar and planetary imaging for you. Or if you have a laptop a webcam or dedicated planetary camera could be an option.

For the kind of budget you're talking about I'd tend to suggest that DSO imaging with camera lenses would give better results.

[MarkBass]

Thanks for all the replies. Plenty to digest.

Just to be clear my budget was just for the scope and mount I plan to add camera later and then look at autoguidng. I expect to be spending £1500 in total in the coming months.

I thought I had read that an EQ5 mount but be acceptable for AP but I guess I will have to look at the HEQ5.

I also thought the ED80 would be good for both planet's and DSO but am I right in saying then that I need different scopes due to the focal length.

I've ordered a copy of the book. Thanks

 

[Pompey Monkey]

A second hand HEQ5 gets my vote - it's good enough for bright DSO imaging with unguided shorter exposures up to about 2-3 minutes. It will also support your Dob, with the addition of tube rings, well enough for planetary imaging.

Add a finder guider and with careful setting up it is also good for 20 minute+ exposures which is plenty.

They can be found second-hand for £450 - £550 and, if you get lucky, you might find a bundle with a scope and other bits included too!  

e.g: https://www.astrobuysell.com/uk/propview.php?view=143494 (Note that I'm not affiliated with the seller in any way - this is just the result of a quick search)

Of course, if buying second hand, it's always good to find someone with experience to check over the goods before handing over any hard-won readies.

[Marvin Jenkins]

Recently bought the Sky Watcher NEQ5 pro with the go to kit. Very good value for money, very solid and stable. I am currently using a 130 newt but intend to get an sw 150 pds which the mount should be fine with. The general view is if DSO is where you want to go you should head down the HEQ5 route if you want anything bigger than the 150.