First Time Imaging - Travelscope 70 EQM-35 Pro

[Mycro]

Hello Guys!! I Have been following this forum for some years, and finally after 7 years here is my first post.

I Have bougth an EQM-35 pro mount, and here are my first two pictures using this mount, a Canon 2000d, and a Celestron Travelscope 70. I know it does not have the quality you are used to, but I'm verry happy with them.

 

M81 and M82 Was a Mix of 20x60s ISO 800 + 20x30s ISO 1600 + 9x120s ISO 800, with no darks or flats. It was my first time polar aligning and tracking, so I did not know how far I could go in terms of exposure. The last 9x120s were taken at the end of the night when I was trying to see if I could get to 120s. I Found out I still didn't have star trails so I took a few. In that day I Think with the alignment I Had I could go a little more.

As Far as M51, I Tried 60x120s ISO 1600 with 20 Flats and no darks (I Tried Dithering with APT). I Could See right away that the tracking was not as good as the other day, and about 2/3 of the way I found out I had dew in the scope lens.

Both were stacked with DSS and processed in GIMP.

Abouth the tracking/alignment, The first one that was tracking very well I used only Synscan Hand Controller to control the mount. The second one I Connected the mount directly to the computer (no hand controller), and I used Cartes du Ciel, and APT. Can there be a difference in tracking with these two methods, or I can discard that and assume my polar alignment was not so good at the second one? I Aligned using the polar scope, and bothe times I Thought It was spot on where It should be in the polar scope.

Second Question Is about the telescope. Obviously I want to upgrade the telescope, but on a very tight budget (as you can se by the time I spent before my first post here with a usable mount). I Had a Newtonian Konus 114/900 for years, but I can't focus the DSLR, that is why I Have to use the Celestron Travelscope 70. Do you think this mount can cope with a Skywatcher 150PDS as I tink I saw some good pictures on Astrobin with this combination, or do you theik is to heavy and I have to go to the 130PDS (I know some day I Will have to get a coma corrector)? Do tou have any other sugestions with a maximum price being the price of the 150PDS?

Thanks,

Nuno

 

[mcbarrett]

Very impressive.  

[Mycro]

Thanks Mcbarret,

One more question if someone can help. Having this picture been taken with the Travelscope and the Canon 2000d, witch is not a full frame, do you think the ISO should have been higher?

[Skinnypuppy71]

Hi Mycro...I think you've done a fantastic job with the kit you have...I myself am awaiting delivery of the eqm-35 mount along with William optics z73.....the canon eos 2000d..I'm not familiar with, but have used entry level dslr's in the past and I'm really not happy pushing the iso past that 1600 speed....if you have good noise reduction software....maybe 3200...but I'd be very reluctant to go beyond that for astro work.....but ateotd the proof is in the end product...so give it a try....it's not as if your waisting good film...just precious time.

[Kyle Allen]

Hi Mycro, those are great pictures. I especially like your image of M51 - it’s much better than what I’ve managed so far 👍

[MarkAR]

A very good start.

I wouldn't go higher than 1600, maybe try 800 or in between but have a go at progressively longer exposures.

The better your polar alignment is the better the tracking will be and the longer you can expose.

There will be a maximum useable exposure which will depend on how noisy your camera sensor is, have a close look at different length exposures to see how much background noise you have.

You should really be calibrating with darks as well.

[Mycro]

Thank you, lets see in the next oportunity if it was not luck. I Will definitly try to push the exposure to the limits. With 120s ISO 1600 the histogram showed the graph a bit less than in the first quarter (maby at 20% of the Histogram). Both times I Thought they were aligned the same. That is Wy I asket If I shoud notice a difference between the hand controller tracking and the ASCOM tracking.

 

Regarding one of my questions in the first post about the 130PDS / 150PDS for my mount, I Just read that the 130PDS doesn't focus with the DSLR. For that reason the 150PDS would be better. Will the EQM-35 Pro manage the weight?

 

 

[Kyle Allen]

Both the 130PDS and 150PDS will reach focus with a DSLR camera as they are optimised for imaging. The standard 130P is designed for visual use so the focal point is closer to the secondary mirror, meaning you might not be able to move the camera close enough to reach focus 🙂