Help in starting astrophotography!!

[Harshn]

Hi all

I am very new to astrophtography. I have recently acquired a ASI224MC camera. Can anyone of you direct me to some good articles here or anywhere on the web explaining the basics of astrophotography/ basics of software photo processing etc etc.

Thank you very much!!

Harsh

[scotty38]

"Making every Photon count" will be recommended for sure so you may as well buy that book first.

[teoria_del_big_bang]

52 minutes ago, scotty38 said:

"Making every Photon count" will be recommended for sure so you may as well buy that book first.

+1 for that, I would get a copy and read thoroughly even before buying any more equipment.
It will not make you an expert by any means but will give you a really good insight into all the basics of AP and a good understanding of the things you will need to learn and what items you need to buy.
Of course there are new cameras and other gadgets on the market since the book was last published but the basics have not changed.

Other than that do lots of searching on Google there's so much out there and pretty much most of it good advice.

Ask plenty of questions on SGL also lots of help available here and also some good articles to read.
SGL Tutorials
 

Steve

[scotty38]

Yep agree with all of that too, whether you realise it or not you have opened up a massive rabbit hole and you're about to throw yourself head first into it. You cannot even imagine how deep the hole is but it's very. very interesting and rewarding so do not be afraid 🙂

[bottletopburly]

Nail down your wallet 🤣😂🤣

[scotty38]

2 minutes ago, bottletopburly said:

Nail down your wallet 🤣😂🤣

Notice I never mentioned that bit 🙂

[The Lazy Astronomer]

1 hour ago, Harshn said:

Hi all

I am very new to astrophtography. I have recently acquired a ASI224MC camera. Can anyone of you direct me to some good articles here or anywhere on the web explaining the basics of astrophotography/ basics of software photo processing etc etc.

Thank you very much!!

Harsh

Lets start with some questions for you first and this will enable more specific advice. 

What is your area of interest: Planets? Moon? Deep sky objects? If DSOs, are you more interested in large nebulae or smaller nebulae/galaxies?

If the answer is all of the above, be aware no one telescope and camera combination will do all of these things well. 

Do you have a telescope and mount already, if so, what are they? Do you have any other "normal" cameras (e.g. DSLR)? If you have to (or want to) buy new equipment, do you have an idea of the sort of budget you've got?

Whereabouts in the world are you located? (I'm assuming UK for now as this is primarily a UK based forum) and how's your light pollution?

And finally, do you have somewhere to image from home (e.g. a garden) and if so, what's the view of your sky like? Can you see polaris from it? If you can't image from home, how far and by what method would you have to travel to a suitable location?

P.s. @bottletopburly has just given you probably the best advice you'll ever get on astrophotography 😅

[Harshn]

Thank you everyone for guiding me here.

I will surely buy the book @scotty38

@teoria_del_big_bang  

its hard to resist but I am very new in astrophotography so I am ok for now but I get what you are saying @bottletopburly

@The Lazy Astronomer looks like quite an introspection for me here. Thank you 🙂

 

[teoria_del_big_bang]

23 hours ago, The Lazy Astronomer said:

What is your area of interest: Planets? Moon? Deep sky objects? If DSOs, are you more interested in large nebulae or smaller nebulae/galaxies?

If the answer is all of the above, be aware no one telescope and camera combination will do all of these things well. 

Yes this should be the first question you need to ask yourself. 
I am pretty new to all this and only bought my first scope for observing about 3 1/2 years ago but glad I asked for advice on SGL first.
I too always wanted to do some form of imaging but bought a second hand Dobsonian after advice on SGL and then used that to get into Astronomy and meanwhile read up on AP and also started to save my pennies, before spending anything on AP equipment..
I had some great fun with the Dob and it only served to get me more into Astronomy. I did take some images just with my mobile using the Dobsonian so did do dome form of imaging. mostly of the moon, and to be fair you can spend many a clear night mesmerised by the moon, although if you do get into AP seriously then the mood can become a little less loved 🙂 

Anyway back to the question you need to answer above, when I started I also assumed buy a scope and camera and then take all these wonderful images of the planets, DSO's the moon but it really does not work like that.
Yes you can buy an allrounder bit of kit that will take some sort of images of DSO's and some diddy pics of some of the planets and bits of the moon but really planetary imaging needs pretty much all different scope, camera and techniques to DSO imaging and the moon is really different again.
Also , keep in mind that this astro imaging is not easy, it gets a lot easier the more you do it but starting out can be a bit bewildering and I see many selling up after a few months as they still have not managed a decent image (be prepared for that, sometime it comes easy but not to all and nights suitable for imaging can be few and far between in UK so that also hampers your progression).

All that said when you even get a half decent image it is so rewarding when you sit back and think what you have achieved and that spurs you on.
But, I would suggest you do not even try to image planets and DSO's both need different skills and really different equipment so you may end up mastering neither.
By all means get a grip of one and then look into maybe getting a setup together for the other at a later stage.

For me I chose DSO's as there is so much to go at but that was just my decision.
Even with DSO's there is no perfect scope for that as some are so big you really need a widefield set up (or you need to use mosaics whereby you basically stitch several images together) , many are in a certain range of sizes they can be captured with same scope easily, and a fair few are really small they require a different scope again.

To get an idea for what you would see in your FOV (field of view) use This Tool which lets you select various targets and various scope and cameras to see how it fits in the FOV.

Steve

Edited September 16, 2021 by teoria_del_big_bang

[malc-c]

@The Lazy Astronomer asked for info on what interest you, can you provide us with that info as it can help others give you a more targeted suggestion or advice.

Astrophotography is so diverse.  At one end of the spectrum you have someone using their mobile phone to capture the image form the eyepiece on a £200 table top scope, up to a large £100K fully computerised scope with sensitive full frame cameras located in fully automated observatories....  Also one scope doesn't fit all options.  Taking exquisite images of Jupiter and its moons as if you were flying past on a spaceship requires different equipment than a set up capturing faint gaseous nebula DSO's.   

[powerlord]

youtube is your best bet. There are lots of good channels - just search around and watch a ton of them. Before you know it, all the basics will have sunk in.

you've got a great planetary camera there. You don't say what scope you've got ?

But seriously, unless you are of the generation which prefers very thinly sliced pulped trees with squiggles on them, you'll learn all the basics quickly online from places like astrobackyard and youtube quick enough. I was in same place 9 months ago.. flats, lights, bias, darks, integration, stacking, DSOs, lucky imaging, EDs and APOs - spend some time each day just enjoying watching videos and before you know it, all those sorts of buzzwords will be second nature.

Also - in a different direction to most folk - for equipment I'd say - buy second hand, and don't sweat whether its the right thing or not, or whether its the direction you want to go or not. Until you try, you won't know. anything you want to sell, there's a bouyant market, and you can prob get more or less what you paid for it second hand. so treat the early days a bit like a lending library.. i.e. buy a DSLR for 300 quid 2nd hand. use it for 2-3 months. maybe you like DSLRs and want to get a better one, maybe you don't and want to move into astro cameras - sell it for 300 quid, etc.

 

[Harshn]

Hey guys! @teoria_del_big_bang @powerlord  @malc-c @The Lazy Astronomer

Amazing support here. Thank you for such elaborate responses to a dumb generic question. 

So, I started my hobby of observing last year. I have a skywatcher 200p dobsonian. I started with the sw eyepieces which comes with the scope and then upgraded to BST 8 and 15mm eyepieces ( second hand 🙂 ). I also bought a Baader hyperion 5mm eyepiece. Recently I bought a televue 2.5x powermate ( second hand and a great 'deal'...waited few months to find a right price). I observe planets and moon ( never get tired of seeing them). With my upgraded armamentarium my viewings of jupiter and saturn became better and better. The view with BST 8mm with a 2.5x powermate was breathtaking for me. 

Whenever I see jupiter and saturn, I want to click pictures and cell phone pics don't give any justice to what I see through the eyepiece. This is the reason I want to try astrophotography.

I know this is far more complicated than observing but I want to give it a try. I know dobsonian mount is not suitable for this but I want to try first and then upgrade to EQ mount etc etc. I know the stargazer family will help me at every step :-). 

I am intersted in planets and moon so my focus would be to get better in this before venturing into DSO. 

Any suggestions for astroimaging with dobsonian ( I don't know I should even ask this dumb question) would be lovely. I have got a zwoASI224MC.

[malc-c]

Well you should be able to get some decent images of the moon with the camera and your 200P dob to get you started.  Connect the camera to a laptop via the USB cable and download SharpCap.  This will give you the option to record short clips of the Moon.  The current version of Sharpcap has a live stack feature, which I've not used myself as it's been a while since I did any video work.  Basically it treats each individual frame of the video as a separate image and stacks them to make one detailed image.  Your camera is also suited for planetary and DSO's, but that is going to be harder with a dobsonian  IMO.  Planetary work can be done on the same basis, but to get really decent planetary images you need magnification as well as aperture, and the dob falls slightly short in this area. 

Your biggest problem you will face at some point is the Earths motion, especially if you try increasing the magnification to get in closer to Jupiter for example.  Now there are wedges that can be used to tilt a Dob, and adding a drive to what then becomes the RA axis makes things a fair bit easier.  But if you really want to get into things seriously then at some point you'll need to move up and invest in an EQ mount.  Now this is where things get interesting and controversial.  For every post that recommends getting an HEQ5 or similar standard of mount there will be one that says it can be done on an EQ3.  With imaging the key factor is the mount as stability and accuracy are the two main criteria.   Yes you can image on an EQ3 with a 6" f5 scope... but it will struggle under some weather conditions, and will be subject to less precision as a larger mount.  An HEQ5 will still do the same with a 8" f5, cameras and guide scope in the same conditions, but put the 6" on the HEQ5 and you can effectively cure that stability issue.  Or if the 8" HEQ5 combo is housed in a sheltered spot (such and an observatory) then that removes the issue of wind impact.

Then there's the choice of scope.  Again that is going to bring lots of suggestions.  Basically no one scope fits all.  If you want to image DSO's you need a fast scope F4 to F6, and reasonable aperture.  In order to image planets you need a long focal length and ideally large aperture.  A 6" refractor that has a focal length of f9 or a 6" Mak at f10 will give you the magnification needed to get in close to those belts on Jupiter or Saturn's rings.   But some of the best images that are often featured in the glossy magazines are taken with some serious kit... 14" f20 scopes on EQ8 or larger mounts.  I guess its horses for courses... I could take an image of a church with a £200 basic camera and be happy with it, but someone who is seriously into photography who may have 10x or more the investment in his kit will a) take better resolution images, and b) see the shortfalls of the image taken with the cheap kit and naturally won't be happy.  However the chances are that the guy with the professional kit started with same cheap kit at some point and then progressed as his ability and expectations grew.  The same goes for imaging...

Anyway, that's my take on thing...