Any Help On Images

[nickbrookes1991]

Hello everyone.

Was just wondering how all of you take pictures when using the telescope, I have been looking at objects through the telescope and would like to take images of them for future reference.

If there is anyone that could help and give advice, that would be great.

Thanks

Nick

[starhunter]

please give us a description of your equipment,,, will go from there..

clear skies..

[nickbrookes1991]

This is my equipment:

Celestron Powerseeker 675 114mm Reflector Telescope

114mm Newtonian Reflector Telescope

900mm Focal Length (f/8)

Pre-assembled Aluminum Tripod

Mount Equatorial

Star Pointer Red Dot Finderscope

Eyepieces:

20mm - 1.25"

12mm - 1.25"

4mm - 1.25"

Barlow Lens: 3 times - 1.25"

I also have Stellarium, dont really know how to use it.

Thanks

Nick

[Doc]

You are going to struggle as your scope doesn't track the sky. Astrophotography is expensive and requires a mount that can track at the same speed as the Earth rotates. If I was you concentrate on learning the basics and see some of these objects with your own eyes first.

[Space Cowboy]

You could have a go at the moon with a digital camera fixed over the eyepiece with a universal camera adapter Adaptors - Skywatcher Universal Camera Adapter

A webcam can also be used if you have a laptop any cheap one will take decent pics of the moon.

For planets a motorised tracking mount is a must.

[Peter Reader]

The moon is a very nice target for any camera (you can usually just hold the camera in front of the eyepiece)

I have a question of my own:

I have a Skywatcher 200p on an EQ5 mount. I've just brought a Philips Toucam Pro 2.

Do I need a dual axis motor drive or just single axis? I know when I track objects manually I only adjust 1 axis...

Thanks

Pete

[Cornelius Varley]

A single axis RA drive is OK for visual use, but for imaging the dual axis is more useful as you need to move the mount in both axis. At only about £13 more for the dual axis drives it is not really worth buying the single axis motor.

Peter

[themos]

Nick, you have the same starter scope as I do. I shot pictures of the Moon using the "afocal" method. This means holding the camera in front of the eyepiece, it helps if you have some mechanical contraption for holding the camera steady. You can buy these.

You can go one step further and use a webcam. This entails removing the eyepiece and the webcam lens and shooting at "prime focus", letting the image formed by the mirror fall directly onto the webcam chip. Or you can add a Barlow lens that will magnify the image. The problem with that is that you want to capture maybe two minutes worth of video and in that time your target will have drifted off your webcam chip. So you have to get a motor that will allow your scope to follow the rotation the of the earth. There is a cheap motor for doing this

Skywatcher - RA Economy Motor Drive for EQ1

The webcam opens up more lunar possibilities, sunspots, Jupiter (and Jovian moon transits), Saturn (with rings!), Mars, Venus, Mecury. And the good news is that every extra bit you'll need (webcam, adaptor, motor, solar filter) costs tens rather than hundreds of pounds. Good luck!