begginer advice

[spiritus Angelos]

hey, Im just getting into astronomy/astrophotography and i was wondering as im a student on a budget im looking at getting a skywatcher 150p or a skywatcher 200p dob if i can get my rents on my side haha anyway i now theres a 101 ways to do astrophotgraphy and to be honest i would like to photograph dso like the orion nebula ( i think its called) and the planets, so i was wondering would this be any good? The Celestron NexImage Solar System CCD Imager, or are there any cheaper alternatives? as im not out to get crisp proffesional images first time of and i wont care if i have t take a weeks worth of images to make one photo after bieng stacked, im a photoshop freak and animator so i have no problems with hours spent playing with layers haha anyway so advice would be great thanks

ash

[mason]

hi ash,

the celestron neximage wouldn't be any good for deep sky. the sensor isnt big enough. its great for lunar and planets but cant pick up nebula. ive tried.

i cant advise of what the best cheapest camera to use for dsi would be.

you can modify ccd webcams for long exposure, other than that i would say a dslr camera (cannon) or meade dsi.

hope that helps a little!

mason.

[Doc]

For astrophotography you need a good mount like a EQ5 or EQ6. Don't get a dobsonian as these will be no good for photography. But you say you are on a budget and to do astrophotography correctly isn't cheap.

[mason]

micks right, a good mount for tracking is a must for deep sky imaging, although if on a budget then the skywatcher skyliner flextube auto 8" dob can track, but wouldnt be as smooth as the eq mounts.

mason

[ollypenrice]

Yes, to take a real astrophoto you need a mount which tracks the sky very accurately. Dobs don't do that, they are push-pull manual mounts. Even when motorized to track the sky they are not suitable for imaging because the field rotates slowly. Most of the deep sky pics you see on the forum are taken with setups which have an autoguider on the mount. These are expensive items. Then you need a camera. Honestly it really isn't cheap. I would stick to visual and join a club to talk to imagers and maybe work with them with their kit. You are sure to find someone who would like to do that. When you have done that you will get an idea of how much you would like to spend and how seriously you aim to do it. This lark bears no resemblance at all to taking a picture in the daytime.

Clubs are great places to start. You will find a big difference between what people say there and what the manufacturers sometimes imply in their ads.

Olly