Astrophotography help!

[Amberr_bamba]

Hello, I have a Celestron 114az telescope and I am looking to get into astrophotography and I have done some research which has left me overwhelmed please could someone advise me of where to start with this as in what is the next piece of equipment I need to buy or any recommendations of websites or people that could help me. Thank you!

[Elp]

First you need to decide:

1. What do you want to image,

2. At what quality level,

3. With what budget.

[Stuart1971]

1 hour ago, Amberr_bamba said:

Hello, I have a Celestron 114az telescope and I am looking to get into astrophotography and I have done some research which has left me overwhelmed please could someone advise me of where to start with this as in what is the next piece of equipment I need to buy or any recommendations of websites or people that could help me. Thank you!

First of all welcome..

With the scope you have, astrophotography will be nigh on impossible as it’s not a motorised mount, so it can’t track the night sky, so you would be limited with extremely short exposures, of just a second or 2, or even less really, before the image would be trailed.

Before even considering astrophotography you need a motorised mount of some description before anything else…as it all starts with the mount…

The scope you have is ok for some basic viewing of planets and the moon, but that is about it I’m afraid…

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news…

[Elp]

DSO AP is possible on a modest outlay, and also with total simplicity with a ZWO Seestar or Dwarflabs Dwarf (soon to be) version 3. You can also image the milky way in dark skies with singular images, even via mobile phones.

But please see my first queries.

[Stuart1971]

1 minute ago, Elp said:

DSO AP is possible on a modest outlay, and also with total simplicity with a ZWO Seestar or Dwarflabs Dwarf (soon to be) version 3. You can also image the milky way in dark skies with singular images, even via mobile phones.

But please see my first queries.

I think he was asking about imaging with the scope he has just purchased…Which is just not going to work…..🤷🏼‍♂️

[woldsman]

I think your only option with that scope and mount is eye piece projection - attaching your mobile phone to the eye piece and using manual settings on the phone. You could take short exposures. The Moon would be a good starter target. He scope may have an adapter for a mobile phone. If not, you’ll need to buy one. Suggest researching the topics of eye piece projection and imaging with a mobile. 

[Elp]

Possibly, but present some options which they've asked. I've imaged through some beginner scopes on eq1 mounts, the quality wasnt brilliant but I was happy with the images I took through the eyepiece, hence my question about quality.

Trevor Jones' Astrobackyard is an approachable YT channel, and some of his videos he goes through all the equipment he uses. You don't need to go into the deep end (hence my question about budget) but it'll give you some foresight into what's needed, and the quality you'll get out of it.

Also note, good AP images need good post process software skills, you can get decent images through an eyepiece (mostly solar system objects) with minimal mobile phone software post process edits too.

Edited July 21 by Elp

[W0nderste]

@Amberr_bamba

It is possible to image the solar system with your scope, but as stated above, almost impossible to do deep space objects like galaxies and nebulas without a tracking mount.

for solar system objects like the moon and Jupiter you need to take short videos using a mobile phone or dedicated planetary camera.  Align your chosen object (moon for example) on the left side of your field of view. Let the telescope settle and take a video as the object passes through your field of view.  You will end up with maybe a 10-20 sec video.  Without changing focus you can nudge your scope to get the moon back in your field of view and take one or two more videos (if required)

then download the following programs (free) PIPP, Autostakkert, Registax.

first PIPP will centre the target of each frame of the video.

Autostakkert will stack the best percentage of all the captured frames.

Registax is used to bring out the detail of the stacked image

Back to the camera.  You can use a mobile phone mount (I recommend the celestron NexYZ) which fits over your eyepiece.  Or replace the eyepiece with a dedicated planetary camera.  A ZWO ASI120 is a good starting point but there are plenty of other choices.  The camera is connected to a laptop via a USB lead and the images are captured on the PC.  You will get better results with the planetary camera as the designed for this purpose, so have small pixels and high frame rates, therefore take a lot of frames in a given 10-20 sec video.

any further questions, don't hesitate to ask.  And as an example I got the following image with a £25 76mm first scope and a mobile phone

 

[RT65CB-SWL]

Hi @Amberr_bamba and welcome to SGL. 

Lunar imaging and solar imaging [with approved equipment and safety measures in situ], is possible with your current ‘scope, as you expose for fractions of a second or a few seconds. Planets are possible too!

@W0nderste has presented a list of the popular free apps that will get started on your journey and assuming you are using a MS-Windows PC or laptop.

For the other stuff, ie galaxies, nebulae and other DSO’s, etc., be prepared for some big expenses, etc.

Also do a lot of reading and online research as it can be time consuming and intensive. Though I do not own a copy, the book ‘Make Every Photon Count’ would be a good start. I do have ‘Digital SLR Astrophotography’ though.

I would recommend that you join a local astronomy club/society and find out what the members are using and ask questions, if you have not already done so.

[Mikel56]

Thanks for asking that question.

This helps too -

“then download the following programs (free) PIPP, Autostakkert, Registax.

first PIPP will centre the target of each frame of the video.

Autostakkert will stack the best percentage of all the captured frames.

Registax is used to bring out the detail of the stacked image”

So far I can only take single frame photographs of the moon and Jupiter. I use a celestron 9.25 with a Celestron NexYZ holder for my iPhone. I also have similar photographs from a Swift 831 which has an aperture of 77mm, less than your 114mm. I only use the iPhone software. Jupiter is a bit more difficult due to the fact my mount does not track. Increasing the necessary exposure time I get a “rectangular” Jupiter so , yes, you need to be able to track.

I’m about to take a jump in to the photography side but it’s mostly about the mount and they aren’t cheap !

M

Edited July 22 by Cornelius Varley
text colour corrected

[Norris Adams]

Hi Amberr - Bewildering isn't it!

I started with a non-tracking scope similar to yours (4 1/2 inch) and managed to get some lunar shots using my mobile phone (see attached).

The first image shows a view of Mare Nubium in the North West quadrant with Sinus Iridium (the ‘Bay of Rainbows’) encircled by the Jura mountains in the bottom right of the pic. The vivid white crater at top centre is Copernicus and the darker one, bottom centre, is Plato.

The second image shows the Mare Humorum (‘Sea of Vapours)’ in the South West quarter of the moon. The large crater right of centre is called Gassendi  It measures about 110 km in diameter and was once identified as a possible landing site for the Apollo program.

I couldn't stop there though - I eventually splashed out on a modest tracking scope (Skywatcher 150Pi) and an inexpensive camera (Altair GP Cam 327) and ended up with images like the last two. It wasn't the best camera to start with in that it was tricky to use (small Field of View), but it kept me very happy for a couple of years!

Be careful - once the bug bites...!

Norris

Edited July 22 by Cornelius Varley
background colour to text removed

[Amberr_bamba]

Thank you so much for everyone's help!

13 hours ago, Elp said:

First you need to decide:

1. What do you want to image,

2. At what quality level,

3. With what budget.

@Elp With Imaging I wanted to start off simple with the planets just to start off and get used to it and then I was hoping to move on to deeper sky objects once I was familiar with everything. With the quality level I'm not looking for some extravagant image but still something detailed if that makes sense. In terms of budget I'm not too sure what my budget is but I definitely know I won't be able to buy top of the end equipment. I am looking second hand for things that will produce good images. I was looking for cameras too and I was thinking a Canon 450D because I've seen pretty good reviews on them but maybe If anyone else knows anything about that camera or they have recommendations they could let me know?

 

@Stuart1971 Thank you for your reply!! I looked into some of the things you listed and my budget is definitely not big enough for some of those items. However, the ASI178mm and the Skywatcher Evoguide 50ED are 100% something I will try to buy because they are within my range of budget. In terms of the mounts, I think I will have to look at getting a second hand one as all of them are quite expensive. Thank you for your feedback I appreciate it!!! 

 

@W0nderste That is a beautiful photo of the moon! I looked at the A ZWO ASI120 and if I look second hand I'll definitely be able to buy it!! For your suggestions of programs I should download I can't thank you enough. I do have deep sky stacker but I could never figure out how to use it. I will definitely give those programs a try and thank you for telling me how to get the best results with what I have!! 

 

@Norris AdamsWow!!! Those photos are absolutely stunning!!! I had a look into the telescope Skywatcher 150Pi that you suggested and I would say that brand new it would probably be a bit too expensive but I could definitely look to get a second hand one. For the camera that you suggested Altair GP Cam 327, I also looked at pricings for that and it's not too bad!! I can't wait until I'm able to get photos like yours!! Thank you so much!!!!

 

I appreciate everyone's help and suggestions. I will be sure to do some more research on cameras, telescopes, mounts etc as well as reading more into astrophotography. Thank you so much!!!

Edited July 22 by Cornelius Varley
text colour corrected

[M40]

15 minutes ago, Amberr_bamba said:

I was thinking a Canon 450D

Just as a comparison, I started with a used canon 100D. I went for this model simply because it is very light. It remains unmodified and has given me some great pictures over the years. For the 100D you will need to add an intervalometer to your shopping list, they are not expensive. Mine is a canon rs60e3 about £15. It's a remote button that simply plugs into your camera and allows you to remotely take the picture so no vibration on the tripod. I do not know so it's worth checking if the 450D has an internal intervalometer. Likewise you will need a T ring adapter to fit your camera to your telescope, again not expensive, about £20-30, but when you get a camera ask FLO or on here as there are many different types. All the best.

[Elp]

It looks like your scope is on an altitude azimuth mount (up/down, left/right), so finding planets (outer gas giants can be more of a challenge) and the moon should be straightforward, I usually line up azimuth by eye for planets which are naked eye visible, then move the scope up and down until a planet is in view, usually only takes a minute or so.

The issue you'll have, and it's not major, is that the target will drift across your camera/eyepiece view, smaller the sensor, or more zoomed in your view (eyepiece or with a magnifying Barlow lens) the more you have to nudge the scope to bring the target back to the "start" of the FOV for it to drift across again. This is where tracking mounts are a huge benefit, but not essential. As solar system objects are fairly bright, the signal is strong and only atmospheric seeing will cause issues during your session (moisture in the air, when you see a target live it will look like it's wobbling, coming in and out of focus which sometimes can cause issues when you're trying to find optimum focus). As the signal is strong your exposures will be very short (microseconds to milliseconds (Milli more so for solar imaging via filters)) so any shortcomings with hardware can usually be overcome.

Regarding dslr, unless you're likely to use it a lot for daytime, I'd suggest looking at planetary cameras instead, they're not expensive but youll likely need a computer outside with you, I personally use a ZWO asiair because I didn't want a computer in the equation but note this controller can only use zwo astro cameras and automation equipment and some Canon, Nikon and Sony bodies, many other manufacturer eq mounts are supported however. The planetary camera can be powered via USB with a computer, will be light so not so much stress on the focuser and your mount and due to the small sensor size will have fast frames per second capture which is what you want for solar system imaging (planetary/lucky imaging), with larger sensors you can define a region of interest (ROI) in the capture software to make the fov smaller so the software can capture higher FPS. If starting out however, I'd suggest getting a cheap smartphone bracket to connect around/above an eyepiece (10mm or less power will do, the lower the power the higher the magnification and you'll likely reach a limit of your scopes max mag if you go too high, seeing will also become more of an issue), with the smartphone in this config (eyepiece projection) you can record uncompressed video (because video records in 25/50 FPS PAL territories, 30/60 FPS NTSC territories by default, cameras now can record higher like 120 FPS though quality can suffer on small smartphone sensors and low light will be an issue), run the video through Autostakkert or registax to refine your data further. If you're in it for the long term, forget about the smartphone method and just get an astro camera, I still use my 224mc for planetary and it's very cheap now. I've also used a 485mc which I used for DSO imaging too and got great results, the 585mc is the latest version and the 585 also comes in a cooled variant for lower noise DSO imaging. Other than zwo CMOS type cameras there are lots of other options out there, QHY, touptec, SVbony, player one, altair astro, explore scientific, many more, you have to compare what sensors they're using to get a like for like comparison.

The moon you can capture video for a while as it doesn't rotate. Planets you have to keep video sessions quite short per capture due to their rotations and varies by planet, general rule is around 1-2 minutes per video capture. By taking multiples captures, stacking each video and combining each stack you can then create animations of planets rotating though it can be a more involved process. For some, simply capturing a blurry photo of a planet is good enough.

Edited July 22 by Elp

[PeterStudz]

I started off, a few years ago, with a similar small reflector. A Skywatcher Skyhawk 1145p. Still have it, but it’s been put on another tripod + mount and used as a grab-and-go as well as a compact travel scope. I know also have a Skywatcher 200p Dob which (although needed work) was given to me free. So be patient, keep your eyes open, there are bargains out there. I am into visual with a little additional add on mobile snaps. I’m still very much a beginner. For the moment I’m more than happy with that!

But for what it’s worth my advice would be to take it slow and steady. Don’t jump into anything until you know what you want. Personally I’m more than happy with just mobile images. I don’t even own a PC. So all “processing” has to be done on the phone. Maybe an iPad. I just purchased a cheap plastic mobile eyepiece adopter for £9.99 and away I went. 

I’ve dug out a few of my first images on my Skywatcher 1145p - same mirror size as yours. Taken with an iPhone XR (now ancient!). Single shot snaps. The only editing done in the stock iPhone camera app. Really easy stuff and I’d only had the telescopes for a couple of months. 

 

Also try video. Here’s my first ever attempt at a lunar video. Again, similar telescope to yours.

And don’t forget the sun. With a simple white light filter (you can make one for your telescope for ~£25) these small reflectors are not bad at white light solar. Here’s my 3rd attempt at capturing the sun with sunspots. Don’t forget, the view through the eyepiece is far better. 

Try different things. This is using a smartphone and it’s the ISS transiting the sun. For this I was using my 200p Dob but it was my first attempt. Details in the link.

For planetary you really want to take a video. This is an animated gif of Jupiter made from an at the eyepiece iPhone video. Any editing just done using the stock iPhone camera app. The view at the eyepiece on my 200p Dob far better. And here’s the final image. Created just using smartphone apps.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Maybe have a look at the “Imaging - Smartphone/Tablets” section on this site in order to see what people have done. Experiment, but above all have fun!