Beginners EEA Equipment Recommendation

[DSOStew]

Hi Guys

My first post here so apologies for the newbie question. I’ve been interested in DSO astrophotography for a while but haven’t taken the plunge to buy equipment as it’s quite an investment! I was considering a SW HEQ5 and 80ED Pro as the main components and trying to learn about autoguiding (and extra equipment) and stacking, flats, darks etc. It seems like a lot to learn for what will be a difficult hobby to give the proper time to. The Unistellar Evscope looks very interesting to me as an all in one package although I can see it’s caused a few negative comments here, but it’s pointed me towards EEA which looks like the route for me.

 

I’ve looked around and there seems to be a fair bit of info on Cloudy Nights but perhaps not so much here. I’ve seen many comments about how a Evoscope performance can be gained by buying components separately and using something like SharpCap to show the image. So, my newbie question, is what telescope, mount and camera would you recommend for DSO EEA on a budget (say (£1000-£1500). A lot of people recommend the ASI224MC, which seems to give good results, but can anyone recommend a good scope and mount? There are so many different recommendations out there, I’m a little lost so any recommendations with captured DSO images would be great.

I appreciate there is still a learning curve with this but getting the right equipment would be a great start!

Thanks in advance

 

Stew

[Thalestris24]

Hi

Have a look further down in the 'EEVA Reports' section, see what equipment other people are using. Might give you some ideas/food for thought. You can then come back and ask. It's a bit quiet on sgl now as we're into the long days and short nights.

Louise

[SIDO]

I'm just beggining in eeva but I have already noticed the equipment needed can vary considerably depending on what size the intended targets are you interested in...Large dso or small galaxies or maybe even wide fields, how much light pollution do you have? You may need a light pollution filter and if its really bad you might want to design your rig to be portable so you and it can travel to darker skies.

Louise is correct that astronomical darkness is waning as locations in the northern hemisphere spin south and here in the US we northerners are just pulling out of the rainy season so slow it is and has been, but if you add some additional facts like LP info what targets your after some one is likely to chime in further.

Best of Luck and Clear Skies of course Stew...

                            Freddie.

Edited May 24, 2019 by SIDO

[Neil27]

If I understand the requirements of  EEA you don’t really need an EQ mount at all as the exposures are so short- an alt az mount is adequate I believe - so something like the AZgti or the Ioptron cube may suffice.

Obviously if you wish to progress to AP in the near future then future proofing your purchase by going the EQ route may be the best bet, an EQ5 is more than adequate for a 80mm refractor.

The rest is a camera, leads, software and possibly a laptop to capture the data and stack your subs.

I would think if you go the second hand route this is very doable for under £1000.

The key to EEA is shortish focal length to maximise the smallish sensor you will have.

I may have missed some points but as I understand EEA that would be my route to take. Good luck and if you have any more questions feel free, SGL are a great bunch of people.

HTH

[DSOStew]

Thanks for the advice guys, what a minefield, as there are so many different set ups.

I’ve noted some people having good results with an evo mount and 130 pds, which has got me thinking of moving away from a eq type mount. Being a newbie I’m now looking at the easiest way to get started. Is there any reason why something like a sw star discovery and 130 pds or ed72 and 224mc couldn’t do DSO. I guess this is moving more towards a cheap evscope but it is probably about where I am with my knowledge of astronomy!

BTW I should be able to get fairly dark skies where I am as I live quite rural, I just need my neighbour to turn his garden lights off...

Many thanks

Stew

 

[steppenwolf]

For my money, I'd prefer to go down a route that more easily allows for change and upgrade in the future so I'd be more interested in the SW HEQ5/80ED Pro with field flattener/focal reducer plus a suitable CCD/CMOS camera. This route gives you a medium capacity equatorial mount that will carry more than just the 80ED and will allow you to capture DSO images via a well proven route.

The 224MC camera has quite a small sensor meaning that larger deep sky objects will be somewhat cropped so you need to factor this into your purchasing equation very carefully.

An equatorial mount has a big advantage over an altazimuth mount like the Star Discovery in that you can take longer exposures with the former as it will track objects more accurately as they wheel across the sky in an arc.

Welcome to the slippery slope that is astrophotography!

[SIDO]

Most of the astronomy cameras in the 300 to 400 dollar range are small chip 1/3 sensor, of the two cameras I'm using in that price range I like the asi385mc it has a slightly larger sensor at 1/2 and an amp glow reduction circut wich works well the 1/2 sensor provides a bit more field of view.

You can plug in all your scope and camera info here;

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

This will allow you to view some target's online with your chosen camera scope combo and get the jist of matching scopes to cameras, don't forget to add in a .5 focal reducer when calculating as the reducer is commonly used to speed up the f ratio and double the field of view....

Just select the imaging tab, the target, the scopes focal length and aperture, the cameras resolution this is the number of pixels width by pixels height, the pixel size - for the asi224 the pixels are 3.75 by 3.75 microns the same size as the asi385's are so the asi385 is the same camera with a larger chip (though more diagonal) and better amp glow control, then select focal reducer or barlow and your good to go. You can also download additional target's through the search feature and this I use often.

 

Hope this helps.

                           Freddie.

Edited May 26, 2019 by SIDO