dobsonian questions and astrophotography questions

[jlc2121]

i have some questions im new to this ive always loved space and have read most every book on time travel, black holes, wormholes, galaxies ect... every since i was a kid. so recently i bought a 10 inch orion intelliscope and i looked through it quit a bit at the moon saturn and jupiter and wanting to move on to nebula and galaxies. so here are my questions.

#1 question best eyepieces brand and size for viewing nebula, and galaxies  through 10 inch dobsonian ?

#2 question i see these pictures people take of galaxies and nebula and wonder how they are able to see what they see with a camera and small little telescopes like the spacecat and redcat, or even a small refractors and if they can see as far as i should be able to see out of my 10 inch dobsonian because i got the 10 inch dob because well its big and i want to see alot and ive been seeing pictures and watching videos of people getting shots of nebula and galaxies and wondering if they can see as much and as far as a 10 inch dob or if ill be able to see what they see or as far as they see and as good

#3 a 10 inch dob should be able to see farther and more then a camera/small refractor setup right? i just see these beautiful pictures that these dslr cameras and a small refractor get and i know they clean them up and add color on photoshop and etc,, but there still getting up there far enough to get the shot. ive just been wondering if i should have gone with a camera and small refractor since they can see what my 10 inch dob can see if in fact they can thats my question 

#4 i want to know peoples dream astrophotography setup, camera and telescope

[NGC 1502]

Eyepieces - what do you already have and how much are you ok with spending for more ? This info would help because you could pay not so much or a fortune.

Images you may see taken by those skilled at astrophotography show far more than can be seen visually.  That’s not to say  you can’t see much visually because it’s a different way of doing astronomy - a first hand view and a direct experience.

Ed.

[Kyle Allen]

Don’t expect to see deep sky objects in vivid colour like in photographs. They are the result of hours of long exposures with a sensitive camera. By contrast, our eyes see in real time and most nebulae are too faint to trigger the colour sensitive cone cells in our eyes. 

Still, there are plenty of nebulae and galaxies within the reach of a ten inch scope. Dark skies really make a difference when it comes to diffuse objects - they can’t cut through light pollution like stars can. For certain types of nebulae, there are various filters that can help increase the contrast between them and the background sky. 

Right now, some good ones to start with are M27 (the Dumbbell Nebula) and M57 (the Ring Nebula), both in the Summer Triangle. You can also see M31 (Andromeda Galaxy) in the east. 

[Starwatcher2001]

Telescopes are all about collecting light. Big apertures like your dob are excellent for visual use, but even a smaller scope properly tracking, collecting light on a camera sensor over a period of minutes or hours, hugely outweighs the number of photons your eye can collect. It's an accumulative effect. Astrophotography requires tracking and precision that's just not available on a manual dob.

But, those fuzzy images you're seeing in your dob are star clusters, supernova remnents, stars in their death throes, entire galaxies, millions or billions of light-years away. The light from some of them has been travelling since before mankind evolved. You're not seeing the pictures in a book or on TV, or dare I even say captured by camera, you're seeing those things in real life with your own eyes. Appreciate and enjoy them for what they are.

As you get more experienced, you'll be able to tease out more detail and structure. Observing from a dark site, if you're not already, can make a huge difference. In time you may get seduced by the lure of astrophotography, but that is expensive in terms of money, time and patience.

Enjoy your journey my friend.

 

[Waddensky]

Excellent advice here. If you want to get an idea of what to expect visually, visit the Sketching forum.

[jlc2121]

thanks so much for the advice so far i have the 2 eyepieces that it came with a 25mm sirius plossl wich i like even though its a cheap one and a 10mm sirius plossl i hate it has and then i purchased a 14 mm ultra wide angle meade series 5000  82degree AFOV WP eyepiece and its ok i dont like how it doesnt have the eye relief flaps its just flat on top where you look through . as far as money goes i dont mind spending around a 100 to 150 each on good eyepieces if it will get me the visual im looking for so what eyepieces should i buy for galaxies and nebula and what filters for those nebula matched with what eyepiece?

also is 2 inch better the 11/2 inch as far as eyepieces go and what about buying a binoview and also what about a barlow? do they work?  what eyepiece would i use it with it and to see what?

i live in town in a small small city but on the outskirts with some streetlights not reall great seeing i can see the big dipper out of my 2 back windows i live in a loft up stairs and i have the view of the entire western sky. what if any galaxies or nebula are there in the western sky in arkanasas ? 

 

and i do plan on getting into astrophotography also not with my dob of course but i am a person who likes seeing things with my real eye in real time thats why i went with the 10 in intelliscope. i was debating on getting the 8se by celestron or my 10 in dob and i just wanted to see far and good so i got my dob but i just wonder how these cameras and small scopes reach these nebulas and galaxies i know the good photo comes from long exposers and photoshop but for the to even be able to reach that far is crazy? can my 10 inch dob see further then a good camera and a small refractor just curious?

 what are some good setups for astrophotography what camera and scope setup is good really good? also can you see further and see more with a 8 inch sct and a good camera or a small refractor and a good camera i see great photos come from both and why would one chose one setup over another?

 

sorry for all the questons i just have alot to ask and learn and i appreciate everyone replying and taking time out of there day for me thanks

 

[jlc2121]

thanks so much for the advice so far i have the 2 eyepieces that it came with a 25mm sirius plossl wich i like even though its a cheap one and a 10mm sirius plossl i hate it has and then i purchased a 14 mm ultra wide angle meade series 5000  82degree AFOV WP eyepiece and its ok i dont like how it doesnt have the eye relief flaps its just flat on top where you look through . as far as money goes i dont mind spending around a 100 to 150 each on good eyepieces if it will get me the visual im looking for so what eyepieces should i buy for galaxies and nebula and what filters for those nebula matched with what eyepiece? also i thought i clicked 2 inch when i bought my meade eyepiece and so i bought a 2 inch  o-111 filter from zhumell and havnt been able to use it because i havnt got a 2 inch eyepiece so im going to by 2 inch from now on i believe unless yall think otherwise.

also is 2 inch better the 11/2 inch as far as eyepieces go and what about buying a binoview and also what about a barlow? do they work?  what eyepiece would i use it with it and to see what?

i live in town in a small small city but on the outskirts with some streetlights not reall great seeing i can see the big dipper out of my 2 back windows i live in a loft up stairs and i have the view of the entire western sky. what if any galaxies or nebula are there in the western sky in arkanasas ? 

 

and i do plan on getting into astrophotography also not with my dob of course but i am a person who likes seeing things with my real eye in real time thats why i went with the 10 in intelliscope. i was debating on getting the 8se by celestron or my 10 in dob and i just wanted to see far and good so i got my dob but i just wonder how these cameras and small scopes reach these nebulas and galaxies i know the good photo comes from long exposers and photoshop but for the to even be able to reach that far is crazy? can my 10 inch dob see further then a good camera and a small refractor just curious?

 what are some good setups for astrophotography what camera and scope setup is good really good? also can you see further and see more with a 8 inch sct and a good camera or a small refractor and a good camera i see great photos come from both and why would one chose one setup over another?

 

sorry for all the questons i just have alot to ask and learn and i appreciate everyone replying and taking time out of there day for me thanks

 

[PaulM]

I enjoy the views through the the following 2" setup on my dob;

SkyWatcher 2" PanaView 38mm Eyepiece

ED Deluxe 2x two-inch Barlow Lens

Regarding astrophotography - you have the wrong setup to get the images you see on here and elsewhere. I recently bought a cheap 2nd hand DSLR and have managed to get images of the moon, Jupiter and Saturn and their moons and will need more practice at this. The 2" barlow has been required for me to get in close for these images. I will attempt this setup on the more brighter objects such as globular clusters but not sure what the results will be given I have no opportunity to do long exposures

 

[vlaiv]

11 hours ago, jlc2121 said:

and i do plan on getting into astrophotography also not with my dob of course but i am a person who likes seeing things with my real eye in real time thats why i went with the 10 in intelliscope. i was debating on getting the 8se by celestron or my 10 in dob and i just wanted to see far and good so i got my dob but i just wonder how these cameras and small scopes reach these nebulas and galaxies i know the good photo comes from long exposers and photoshop but for the to even be able to reach that far is crazy? can my 10 inch dob see further then a good camera and a small refractor just curious?

 what are some good setups for astrophotography what camera and scope setup is good really good? also can you see further and see more with a 8 inch sct and a good camera or a small refractor and a good camera i see great photos come from both and why would one chose one setup over another?

You are thinking about astrophotography in the wrong way. Let me explain just little bit about it and things will get clearer.

With telescopes it is all about collecting light - larger telescope collects more light. Difference between astrophotography and visual come from "how long is light collected". Eye/brain collects light only for about 1/30 of a second. This is the reason why we can watch movies (movies  = moving pictures = series of still images shown for about 1/30th of a second).

Astrophotography on the other hand takes hours and hours worth of images. Single images in astrophotography are at least few minutes long, but they end up summed in computers (this is called stacking). Camera will gather x30 more light in one second than human eye at eyepiece and astrophotography gathers light for thousands times longer.

This is why you can never see better detail and "deeper" at the scope - no matter how large it is than a photograph taken with even small telescope - if it was recorded for long time.

Now that we know what happens - it is obvious that camera will show you more even if you use very small scope. You will never see something like this at your eyepiece:

Yet, it was taken with very modest 80mm scope.

If you want to do astrophotography - there are plenty of concepts that you need to learn and understand. Telescope size is not very important concept in grand scheme of things.

You need to understand that most important part of your astrophotography gear is one that has nothing to do with light - the mount. Then you need to decide what sort of images you are going to take - wide field, high resolution, something in between. Will you concentrate on nebulae, or on galaxies or small planetaries  or star clusters. Do you want to do all of those with the same scope?

Best start in astrophotography is to get yourself a book that explains all of that. Often recommended one is "Making every photon count" by Steve Richards (member here on SGL). I have not read it personally, but have no doubt you'll learn from it what is needed to get you started on the right path.

My dream AP setup is rather expensive one. At the moment that would be Mesu200 / 16" F/8 RC scope / ASI6200 mono camera.

Your dream AP setup is likely to be something like: HEQ5 / Skywatcher 150PDS + suitable coma corrector / ASI294 pro (cooled) and nice little guide scope + ASI120 guide camera.