Help needed choosing a new telescope for imaging

[RobW]

On 26/07/2022 at 15:38, vlaiv said:

Yes, sorry, my bad

All correct except one thing - bin x3 will give you x3 improvement in SNR - not x2 which equates to x9 imaging time and not x4.

SNR improvement is related to imaging time by square root function, so x4 imaging time (or x4 number of subs) - gives you x2 SNR improvement, while x9 imaging time gives you x3 SNR improvement.

Since you are binning x3 (joining 9 pixels - which is equal to stacking x9 subs or imaging for x9 longer) - you get only x3 improvement in SNR - or rather, SNR improvement is equal to bin factor.

I know this fear exists with people - but that is just because people don't fully understand blur / resolution part of astronomical imaging. Resolution is not there to begin with.

If bin x3 is proper sampling and you wonder what you've lost over having 6000x4000 instead of 2000x1333 - answer is noting. If you want to have 6000x4000 image for say printing purposes or whatever - just take 2000x1333 image and upscale it to 6000x4000. Result will be the same as if you've shot 6000x4000 under original conditions.

 

 

This has been a very informative thread to read thanks!. Although I confess, as a newcomer. some aspects go over my head a bit at this stage. Any suggestions on good reading/research links or other sources so I can get a deeper understanding? Very keen to get a good grounding on fundamentals before I add to my existing scopes or cameras.

Edited November 24, 2022 by RobW

[vlaiv]

20 hours ago, RobW said:

 

This has been a very informative thread to read thanks!. Although I confess, as a newcomer. some aspects go over my head a bit at this stage. Any suggestions on good reading/research links or other sources so I can get a deeper understanding? Very keen to get a good grounding on fundamentals before I add to my existing scopes or cameras.

Not sure if I can recommend any particular book / source that contains all the information.

I picked up things and pieced them together from variety of sources.

Often recommended is "Making every photon count", but I'm not sure how much it goes into technical detail. In any case, if you have any questions, I'd be happy to help.

[RobW]

2 hours ago, vlaiv said:

Not sure if I can recommend any particular book / source that contains all the information.

I picked up things and pieced them together from variety of sources.

Often recommended is "Making every photon count", but I'm not sure how much it goes into technical detail. In any case, if you have any questions, I'd be happy to help.

Awesome - cheers. Loving this hobby. So much to learn!