celestron nexstar 127slt Mak and camera

[mikeforbes]

Hi, 

Brand new to astrophotography.  Just purchased a nexstar 127slt Mak scope, and a Svbony sv305 astro camera to get started.

Very narrow field of view with the combination of course.  I think I am good for planetary imaging for now, but if I wish to get into Galaxies and nebula, globs, etc I know I need a much greater field of view.

1.  Considering I have an alt/az goto mount that only allows for shorter exposures, does it make sense for me to upgrade to the zwo asi294mc on this scope for deep sky?

I have used Astronomy tools a lot to see that this zwo camera gives a much wider field of view on my telescope.

 

Thanks

Mike

[Craney]

Hi Mike,

There are a few hurdles to be overcome when trying to get a decent image of a deep sky object. (DSO).    I will try to highlight a few and tailor them to your situation.

You are right to acknowledge the fact that the Mak will have a small field of view.  It is not the most ideal of scopes for this particular job,  even using the large chip on the 294mc, because the Mak has a long focal length and a high focal ratio.   The images will be darker when compared to a 'faster' f-ratio telescope and subject to a lot more 'shake' due to vibrations in the system.

The good news is that it is possible to take lots of very small exposure images and stack them to give a result, providing you go for a bright enough object, and there are enough of them out there to get you started.  I think they call this 'Lucky Imaging' (?) or something like that.  

Now... the elephant in the room... as we say in the U.K.   That mount.  Being an Alt-Az  it will track the stars/objects and keep them in the field of view, but it will also rotate the field of view as the night elapses.  So processing the results will have to take this into account,  you might get a weird spirally circular pattern of detail when you stack them.  I have never used an Alt-Az mount for this purpose and so don't know how well it can be de-convoluted in the stacking program.

The sturdiness and precision of the mount / tripod in terms of tracking and stability are also factors to consider as well.  Not much point taking 10 second exposures of M13 if the whole image wobbles around every 2 seconds !!

Ok...I hope I have not put you off.  It is better to be aware that it is not going to be easy to avoid disappointment. Starting off tends to be one step forward, two steps backward.

There are some very experienced astronomers on this site who will help out and advise. I'm sure a few will chip in and explain things better than I have.

Another point to finish on.   The zwo294c  I think has a ROI (Region of Interest) capability and so can be used on planets and the Moon as well, so it is a good all round camera with a lot of capability.

Hope this helps..... and good luck.

Sean.

Edited July 3, 2020 by Craney

[mikeforbes]

Thank you very much Sean,

Good points, and appreciated here.  I think I will keep my setup for learning planetary, then upgrade to an 8" reflector later on.

Again, thank you very much!

[Paul M]

I have a 127SLT. I love the scope but not the mount. I've only have one imaging session with it but used my NEQ6 pro mount and Canon DSLR. 

I think you'll need to guide even for the shorter exposures you'll have to use to avoid field rotation.

I seem to remember the mount having an auxiliary socket which can be used for guiding but I haven't tried it myself. I'm planning on investigating controlling and guiding the SLT mount with Astroberry that I'm playing with at the moment. Hoping to turn it into a mobile imaging outfit. 

I don't know the camera you mention so can't offer much advice on using it.

 

[Craney]

Saw this thread and thought about  your equipment.   Quite a long thread !!!...might be somebody with similar goals to yourself in there somewhere.

Sean.

[SgtBunny]

On 04/07/2020 at 11:13, Paul M said:

I have a 127SLT. I love the scope but not the mount. I've only have one imaging session with it but used my NEQ6 pro mount and Canon DSLR. 

 

I think you'll need to guide even for the shorter exposures you'll have to use to avoid field rotation.

I seem to remember the mount having an auxiliary socket which can be used for guiding but I haven't tried it myself. I'm planning on investigating controlling and guiding the SLT mount with Astroberry that I'm playing with at the moment. Hoping to turn it into a mobile imaging outfit. 

I don't know the camera you mention so can't offer much advice on using it.

 

Have you had any luck with Astroberry and your 127SLT?  

I have the 127SLT and I am looking at Astroberry to help de-tether my captures.

[Paul M]

39 minutes ago, SgtBunny said:

Have you had any luck with Astroberry and your 127SLT?  

I have the 127SLT and I am looking at Astroberry to help de-tether my captures.

I gave up om Astroberry after much technical difficulty with system stability. I'm currently back on W10 with a mini PC using APT and controlling my NEQ6 Pro via ASCOM and EQMod.

I did have a go at controlling the SLT recently. Here is what I wrote about that venture:

With perseverance and a weather window I'm sure I'd get the SLT mount to do usable GoTo's vis PC control. Possibly even plate solve to center the target but tracking is too poor for imaging and it seems guiding is a non-starter.