First Telescope

[BeneathTheStars]

Hello All, 

I'm fairly new to this hobby, been taking tentative steps over the past year but really enjoying it and want to make some more serious attempts at astrophotography. I have the HEQ5  mount and Canon 1200D and my interest is in deep sky imaging. 

I've been saving up to buy my first telescope and I'm leaning towards the Sky-Watcher 80ED.  My question is around not so much around which scope to buy but which add ons are required to get started and which are nice to haves.

I hear alot of talk on guiding but I'm not clear on whether this is essential to get started using the scope amd getting some decent results or whether this is something I would add on at a later date? If so how do I go about picking something that would work best with 80ED.  Same question applies for reducer/flattener - is this something I should be investing in as soon as I buy the scope or is it not essential? 

Thanks for your time and help,.

Claire  🌙⭐

[Dr Strange]

Start slow and build up to guiding. Astrophotography (AP) is a very complex part of the hobby. And doing too much too soon can be very frustrating and discouraging. As that is a full frame camera (if I remember right) you want a very wide image circle. In addition you will want a flattener. With that in mind the 80mm Esprit will come with everything you need except a camera or eyepiece to image or view with. It will be more expensive than the 80mm ED but when you factor in all the additional things you will need to get to use the 80 ED then it really shrinks that price difference. 

[BeneathTheStars]

Thanks for that ☺ I hadnt looked at the Esprit but I'll definitely go and have a look and compare. I think I'm coming to the conclusion myself to start tracked but unguided and, as you say, add autoguiding on once I've found my feet. Hoping that I could still achieve some decent results without autoguiding if my polar alignment is good 🤞

[Timebandit]

 

 

 

Hello. If your getting into AP then I suggest you get a copy of " Every Photon Counts" 

 

 

 

[Aramcheck]

Whichever scope you decide on, I'd get (or make) a Bahtinov mask to help with focusing. The Astro Photography Tool (APT) software is also very handy.

Cheers
Ivor