How to get started?

[_leo_]

I'm interested in this part of astronomy as when I'm looking through an eyepiece for a long period of time I tend to strain my eyes and get a headache afterwards.

I've read and watched videos but I'm still a little unsure.

I have a SW heritage 130p. I know I will need a goto mount but will a camera fit onto the telescope and focus or do I need a focal reducer? What camera would be suitable for a beginner? The cheaper the better as I have to upgrade my mount too. I borrowed an svbony 105 camera to play with from a friend and I downloaded sharpcap. I managed to video Jupiter and albireo but it wouldn't livestack the targets. It was saying something couldn't align? Is this because it ain't the best camera? 

I really want to get into this and really need some dummy guide or a nudge in the right direction.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[OuttaControl]

Nice trick with Heritage is its thrust tube. You just do not open scope fully and you can achieve focus wherever you want, but, you need to check colimation at that point. You can use focal reducer in this case.

SV105 is frankly sh*t and useless. I have it and even logitech webcam c270 is better, marginally. It cannot align because sensitivity is not good enough to capture stars and has no align points. SV305 is only svbony woth mention. it would be best if you could get some used camera with sensors 224, 290, 291, 462... or go down DIY route with Raspberry Pi maybe. 

 

Jupiter is not god target to stack, go lucky imaging with jupiter, and postprocess. 

I started capturing using EQ2 with custom tracking stepper, and it worked(https://www.flickr.com/photos/187112419@N02/ not the latest image that is new serup) but got eq5 now with onstep. Well worth it. 

Edited October 28, 2021 by OuttaControl

[Mike JW]

Hi,

A few thoughts.

No need to get a focal reducer as your scope is F5.

Stacking in Sharpcap - I think you need to buy the SharpCap Pro version to do stacking. Personally I find sharpcap way to complicated for my EEVA observing - never had success with it but others do well with it.

Cheap! - you get what you pay for (whether for cameras, scopes, mounts)

Mono cameras are more sensitive than colour cameras.  Altair GPCAM2 290M Mono Guide Imaging EAA Camera would probably get you started. I tried one of these but did not get on with the Altair software or Sharpcap - I am not particularly software minded!

Hopefully you have looked through the EEVA section to see what folk are doing/scopes being used.

Jupiter/Albireo - OK you were trying things out but you get better views visually with your scope then messing about with a camera on those objects.

Mike

[_leo_]

1 hour ago, Mike JW said:

Jupiter/Albireo - OK you were trying things out but you get better views visually with your scope then messing about with a camera on those objects.

Mike

Yeah I found that out. They were the only objects I could see with all this cloud we are having!

 

[Pedro_Bento]

If you want to capture planets, you don't need a focal reducer. Maybe a barlow to increase magnification. 

About the camera, if you have a DSLR or even a good cell phone whith adapter, you can start capturing the moon. To capture planets I think, you can try also with the cell phone. But for better quality you need at least a Zwo 120 color or similar. Don't go mono so soon. Is good but not to a beguiner (not for me also 😁) It is more sensitive but you also need expensive filters and a lot of editing work to get color images. (just my opinion). 

Is even possible to capture the moon and some planets without a goto mount. But of course, if you can afford it would be mutch better, specially a equatorial mount if you also are interest to learn deep sky astrophotography. 

Good luck. Clear Skys!