First time using an Astrophotography camera

[A_D05]

Hi everyone, 

I am thinking about buying a Celestron Nexstar 6se to use for astrophotography at a very beginner level. I am thinking about using a ZWO ASI224MC as it seems a good option. I have a few questions about how to setup/use it - here they are:

1.) Do you just screw it on where the eyepiece is usually at?

2.) Do you just have the cable going to a computer where you have stacking spect where that stacks the photos it takes?

3.) Does it automatically take photos of planets and DSO’s?

4.) Does it need any filters to get color on nebulae as those are they primary things I want to photograph

Thats all, as you can see I am a beginner to astrophotography and just want to know how to use the camera to take decent pictures.

Thanks all 

[johninderby]

Hi

Would suggest reading this thread as it will answer some of your questions.

The 6SE is an alt az mount which is fine for visual but not for astrophotography. Can be used for some lunar or planetary photography but not for DSOs. 

 

Edited October 25, 2020 by johninderby

[wimvb]

5 hours ago, A_D05 said:

Does it need any filters to get color on nebulae as those are they primary things I want to photograph

In my opinion, with that combination and your intended use, you're asking for trouble. As @johninderby already pointed out, the scope is not suited for deep sky astrophotography. The combination you suggest has a too small field of view ('crop') and a too small imaging scale, making it too slow. If you can stretch your budget, go for something like this in stead

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/pro-series/skywatcher-evostar-80ed-pro-heq5-pro.html

As pointed out in the thread that John linked to, if you already have a dslr, start with that. (But you will the need a so called flattener with this scope)

An alternative is this telescope

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/reflectors/skywatcher-explorer-130p-ds-ota.html

With one of these mounts

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/skywatcher-mounts/skywatcher-heq5-pro-synscan.html

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/skywatcher-mounts/skywatcher-eq5-pro-synscan-goto.html

Edited October 25, 2020 by wimvb

[PeterCPC]

Re: 4. You need an IR cut filter.

[happy-kat]

Hi

The SE mount moves in tiny left right up down movements which will track an object and keep it in the field of view, but the earth is rotating and this is what limits exposure length used when taking photos of deep space objects. Planets are imaged taking video so the frames are much faster.

I think you may be thinking of EAA which live stacks, I'm not familiar with that to know whether the live stacking (which appears to use short exposure lengths) is effective on an altaz mount.

There are members imaging with similar mounts, that they had already, but working within the mounts capabilities/limits but tend to use much shorter focal length lenses on DSOs. I'm not familiar with whether the wedge available for the mount, is it still, is successful in use.

Try to read some more about imaging before deciding what's right for you.

 

Edited October 25, 2020 by happy-kat

[A_D05]

@wimvb as you said earlier about the 80ed with the heq5 mount could I still use a ZWO ASI 224mc with it? And do I need another camera for the guide scope for tracking while imaging or no. Also, how would you setup the guide scope camera if needed

thanks,

andrew

[mark skelton]

2 hours ago, A_D05 said:

@wimvb as you said earlier about the 80ed with the heq5 mount could I still use a ZWO ASI 224mc with it? And do I need another camera for the guide scope for tracking while imaging or no. Also, how would you setup the guide scope camera if needed

thanks,

andrew

Hi A_D05, I too have a S.W. 80ED with HEQ 5PRO mount and https://www.firstlightoptics.com/guide-scopes/skywatcher-startravel-80-ota.html piggy backed on my scope with a touptek guide cam and PHD2 autoguiding software with little or no problems.

[wimvb]

9 hours ago, A_D05 said:

@wimvb as you said earlier about the 80ed with the heq5 mount could I still use a ZWO ASI 224mc with it? And do I need another camera for the guide scope for tracking while imaging or no. Also, how would you setup the guide scope camera if needed

thanks,

andrew

You will need a seperate guide camera.

A good introduction to astrophotography is this

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/books/making-every-photon-count-steve-richards.html

With the skywatcher ED80 or the skywatcher 130P-DS, you can use a scope for guiding. Our sponsor, FLO, offers complete guide bundles (guide scope & camera).

Also of interest is this link, where you can see how much of the night sky is captured by a combination of scope and camera.

http://astronomy.tools/calculators/field_of_view/?fov[]=3||266||1|1|0&fov[]=109||266||1|1|0&messier=51

[nephilim]

As mentioned above, I also highly recommend reading this.  https://www.firstlightoptics.com/books/making-every-photon-count-steve-richards.html    
It starts with the very basics, (equipment) goes into all the steps in between (sequence, framing, focus, capture etc) & onto the final product (The finished image) AP has a VERY steep learning curve & this book (in my opinion) will give you really good understanding as to whats involved.

Edited October 26, 2020 by nephilim