Venturing into astrophotography

[jackp93]

Morning all

 

I’ll start with a bit of background info. I’m still very much learning astronomy however I am thoroughly enjoying it and wanted to turn my hand at a bit of astrophotography. I feel certainly at this stage I’m not going to be doing loads and loads of it, however if I was to get one semi decent photo per every couple of sessions I would be over the moon (no pun intended). I’m also looking at upgrading to either a 10” or 12” dob so storage space is going to be a bit of a premium as such I’ve narrowed down my options to two. I’m more inclined to go for the first just for financial reasons and storage space however what kind of photos can I expect from both setups and what are people’s opinions on both.

 

Option 1

sky watcher star adventurer pro https://www.firstlightoptics.com/skywatcher-star-adventurer/skywatcher-star-adventurer-astronomy-bundle.html

William optics zenithstar 61 apo https://www.firstlightoptics.com/william-optics/william-optics-zenithstar-61-apo-refractor.html

nikon d5100 camera (already own)

Vanguard pro alto 2 tripod (already own)

if I get into it, the star adventurer can take an auto guider so this could be a later upgrade.

 

Option 2

Sky watcher evostar and heq5 bundle https://www.firstlightoptics.com/pro-series/skywatcher-evostar-80ed-pro-heq5-pro.html

nikon d5100 (already own)

this can also take an auto guided so could be a later upgrade as well.

 

Thanks in advance 

Jack

[happy-kat]

Hi

There is a massive running thread on the star adventurer with photos so plenty for you to see there. Option 1 is smaller and looking at your storage comment probably the sensible option. You might even find the lenses you already own get you started without the optistar while you research whether it is light enough for the mount.

[happy-kat]

Link here to star adventurer thread