Is Classic EQ mount for astrophotography

[AstroNtinos]

Hi there, I’m quite new to astronomy and I want to buy my first telescope. I mostly need it for visual but also for astrophotography a bit. I started a topic (Help me find a good scope) . The guys in the other topic told me to buy a Dobsonian. But recently i wanted  to do astrophotography but as we know Dobsonian is not suitable for deep sky imaging. And as we know equatorial mounts are suitable for DSOs. But after reading some Articles i Think GoTo mounts arę suitable for deep sky. And a telescope with an EQ GoTo mount is far out of my budget. Now my question is is a Classic EQ mount (not motorized) at least suitable for deep sky imaging. 

Edited November 26, 2020 by AstroNtinos

[Marvin Jenkins]

If by Classic EQ you mean non Goto manual adjustment then I would say you have no more Astro photography potential than a Dob.

You can take short single pictures of DSO with most setups, however the amazing pictures you see posted on this site and others are created by taking many pictures of the same object for long periods of time and then combining them into a single stacked image.

without accurate tracking you simply cannot do this. Furthermore a single photo on a fixed mount would be very short in duration where as accurate tracking mounts can give exposures in excess of five minutes.

To put it into perspective I have an EQ5 with the motor pack and SynScan Goto. I have an absolute maximum exposure length of 1 minute with perfect polar alignment which is not a given.

Even though I am doing AP now if I had to start again I would get a decent Dob and really learn and enjoy the sky, then have a dabble at AP after some time.

Marvin

[AstroNtinos]

7 minutes ago, Marvin Jenkins said:

If by Classic EQ you mean non Goto manual adjustment then I would say you have no more Astro photography potential than a Dob.

You can take short single pictures of DSO with most setups, however the amazing pictures you see posted on this site and others are created by taking many pictures of the same object for long periods of time and then combining them into a single stacked image.

without accurate tracking you simply cannot do this. Furthermore a single photo on a fixed mount would be very short in duration where as accurate tracking mounts can give exposures in excess of five minutes.

To put it into perspective I have an EQ5 with the motor pack and SynScan Goto. I have an absolute maximum exposure length of 1 minute with perfect polar alignment which is not a given.

Even though I am doing AP now if I had to start again I would get a decent Dob and really learn and enjoy the sky, then have a dabble at AP after some time.

Marvin

So a classic EQ mount is not suitable for DSO imaging.

[happy-kat]

You do not need goto (it is useful but not essential and without it you would need to find objects manually) but for long exposures you do want tracking a motorised EQ mount that you can polar align.

The Earth is rotating and if a mount does not keep track with this rotation then in a photograph the stars become long lines. The bigger the telescope the quicker the star trails will show.

Using a camera on a static tripod with a short lens then exposure length might be 20 seconds before star trails show, using a 150mm telescope on a static mount it might be half a second before star trails show. Different deep space targets present different demands, nebula versus globular clusters.

The Moon and planets are more possible on a static mount as we tend to take fast video to capture them.

None equatorial mounts that track present their own limitation which is limited by how long before field rotation shows. This is because they move in tiny left right up down movements rather that in an arc like a motorised EQ mount.

Think about what you want to do and where best fits you.

 

 

 

 

[M40]

This is something that I am trying to understand, so if I make an error hopefully someone will correct me. On a manual mount, your astrophotography would be limited to the time it takes for the object to drift across your field of view. 

Using a manual mount, you can either take single pictures, or a film of the object as it crosses your field of view. The picture or pictures can then be processed in some magical way that I have yet to try. I managed to get some very pleasing pictures of the moon just taking single snaps using a dslr.

Also, have you thought of part upgrading which would be primarily to buy a mount that can be upgraded to a goto type mount in the future. This will be a more expensive route than just buying the goto mount but at least it's an option.

Food for thought. Enjoy 

 

[AstroNtinos]

30 minutes ago, happy-kat said:

You do not need goto (it is useful but not essential and without it you would need to find objects manually) but for long exposures you do want tracking a motorised EQ mount that you can polar align.

The Earth is rotating and if a mount does not keep track with this rotation then in a photograph the stars become long lines. The bigger the telescope the quicker the star trails will show.

Using a camera on a static tripod with a short lens then exposure length might be 20 seconds before star trails show, using a 150mm telescope on a static mount it might be half a second before star trails show. Different deep space targets present different demands, nebula versus globular clusters.

The Moon and planets are more possible on a static mount as we tend to take fast video to capture them.

None equatorial mounts that track present their own limitation which is limited by how long before field rotation shows. This is because they move in tiny left right up down movements rather that in an arc like a motorised EQ mount.

Think about what you want to do and where best fits you.

 

 

 

 

I am in mind getting a SkyWatcher 150/750 on an EQ3-2 but is this an ideal telescope for astrophotography

Edited November 26, 2020 by AstroNtinos

[happy-kat]

You might like to read this thread

https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/279039-the-eq3-dso-challenge/

The better the mount the less images that are thrown away from bad stars. Bad stars can be from lots of reasons but common ones are from wind, tracking and stability.

[Marvin Jenkins]

9 hours ago, AstroNtinos said:

I am in mind getting a SkyWatcher 150/750 on an EQ3-2 but is this an ideal telescope for astrophotography

I am going to say that with the above kit you have not met the minimum for AP. The scope is fine, no complaints but without accurate polar alignment and at minimum a tracking motor you will get very little for your money. 

Still a fantastic setup for star gazing though which should not be over looked.

When I started I got a 130 newt on eq2. The newt was great the mount and tripod NOT. I upgraded to a NEQ5 with the upgrade kit and SynScan Goto.

I read many a thread on here that said AP starts at the SW ‘H’EQ5, not my little NEQ5. However, I have passable stacked pictures of galaxies and nebula. They won’t win awards but if you are serious that AP is your direction then I feel you need to get to the kit mentioned above.

I use my NEQ5 with a SW 150PDS and the most base DSLR Nikon. I would say at this point that you go the Canon route. I love Nikon but in Astro, Canon are far more supported by software and there are far more Canon users to trouble shoot your problems. If you want to see any of my pics with the 150 on the NEQ5 then PM me.

Marv