Prime focus astrophotography without motorized mount

[Fahad Tahir]

Hi everyone.

A newbie at astrophotography here.

I bought a Skywatcher 200p with eq5 mount a month ago, and recently ordered a used dslr (550d) camera for primefocus astrophotography.

Now my mount is not motorized (manual) and tbh I don't want to spend anymore money on equipment.

Using the 500 rule I calculated that I could only take exposures of 0.5 seconds or even less. Is it worth doing astrophotography for some of the brighter DSOs such as Andromeda, at such short exposures (and stacking). What can I expect to see?

Or is it possible to manually "track" objects using my eq5 and get some software to compensate for any blurring?

Any help appreciated, because I'm thinking of cancelling my DSLR order if it's not worth it.

Thanks

[happy-kat]

Hi

What's the aspect of your observing location as celestial object movement is less noticeable to the east and west at lower elevations say 50 degrees and under. You *might* find you get something between 1-2 seconds there.

The 550d does crop video to which is better for the Moon and planets.

Whether something is worth doing is a personal decision as it's highly subjective

[Fahad Tahir]

4 hours ago, happy-kat said:

Hi

What's the aspect of your observing location as celestial object movement is less noticeable to the east and west at lower elevations say 50 degrees and under. You *might* find you get something between 1-2 seconds there.

The 550d does crop video to which is better for the Moon and planets.

Whether something is worth doing is a personal decision as it's highly subjective

I'm based in Swindon, UK.

Andromeda will definitely be my first target which is due east currently.

 

Thanks.

Edited July 3, 2020 by Fahad Tahir

[happy-kat]

You could try searching to see if you can find any images taken with your telescope and a dslr on a static mount. Just to see if that helps with expectations.

Andromeda is massive you might want to check the imaging field of view calculator under the astronomy tools on this website.

[Tommohawk]

Not sure if you have Stellarium, but you might like to download this - its excellent and free (others are available!) Then in the tools area set up you scope and sensor, and you can get an idea of the view you will have your setup. Also if you then unclick the "centre on selected object" button, you can see how much your target will move in real time over a given time period. 

[Fahad Tahir]

2 hours ago, Tommohawk said:

Not sure if you have Stellarium, but you might like to download this - its excellent and free (others are available!) Then in the tools area set up you scope and sensor, and you can get an idea of the view you will have your setup. Also if you then unclick the "centre on selected object" button, you can see how much your target will move in real time over a given time period. 

Perfect. I'll give it a go right now. Thanks

[Fahad Tahir]

I tried taking short "exposures" from my phone of the stellarium screen while not centering on object. It suggests I can do around 0.3 s maximum.

Can't I take a 100 frames at 1600 ISO and stack them together ?

[Scooot]

It won’t be easy, the problem is you have to keep nudging the mount to keep the target centred so you’ll have some wobble when you take the pics.

[Scooot]

I took a few images with my canon 450 with my Dob but it was standing on an EQ Platform which allowed me longer exposure times. Here’s one, I can’t remember the exposure but I think it was 10 seconds, not very good.

 

You’ll be able to get some good moon images though.

 

[CloudMagnet]

Really the minimum you need is the dual axis motor drives. This is what I currently use to guide the EQ5 mount. Far from ideal so don't expect perfection and a fair amount of effort to get it working.

Can be bought from FLO for £121, a lot cheaper than a GOTO mount but astrophotography does come with costs attached. There isnt a good cheap way to do it i'm afraid. Targets such as the moon and planets can be done through without any tracking but you would only be able to take single frames at a time rather than stacking hundreds together.