Beginning astrophotography

[Dandobi]

Hi all

Thanks for all your help in the past but after careful thought (and finding a great, dark site in Leicestershire!) I think I need a telescope that's a little more portable than a dobsonian. Also, I'm interested in taking my hobby into the world of astrophotography!

I'm looking at a manual EQ mount, not so interested in GOTO, with an aperture of about 6in. What type of scope would suit astrophotography? Quite felxible with price but it does need to fit in the car and be lugged up a hill!

Any suggestions?

Thanks, Marc

[ajg]

I'm looking at this.

I believe it's the Astro-Tech one rebadged which is manufactured by GSO. Hears rumors that the focuser isn't all that great on it, but it's well baffled and has an overlength OTA which should help improve contrast.

[david o]

Hi Marc,

If you want to explore astro-photography, a good place to start is with the book Making Every Photon Count by Steve Richards, steppenwolf here on the forum.

It'll guide you through imaging from the start, covering everything from kit to techniques, helping you choose the right equipment and tools, whilst avoiding the expensive mistakes.

And there's loads of skilled imagers on here too, willing to share their tips 'n' tricks.

It's said that the mount is the heart of AP, buy it more robust than you need now so you'll be future-proofed to a degree. And if you want to image DSOs you will need a driven mount.

But be warned, imaging is a dark and costly art

[david o]

Andrew,

Seems to be a nice bit of kit. Depending what camera you're planning to use, you may well need one of the coma correctors offered with it.

Teleskop Service offer a GSO branded item that looks identical.

[ollypenrice]

With any Newt you need to be very careful that the camera you have will come to focus. Also, if you change, say from DSLR to CCD you may be into complications. However, the Altair scope, which is not quite identical to the TS GSO, they tell me, has the advantage of being f4 - very fast. This would be good in the UK with poor weather. A post on UKAI by Chris Suddell raised some issues over the focuser not being stiff enough to stay orthogonal.

By far the easiest scopes for imaging are short focus refractors, though. There is almost universal agreement on this and I certainly find it to be so.

You need a motorized mount for imaging and GoTo is, in fact, a huge bonus for potography. You will very soon be wanting to image things that are quite invisible in the EP, for one thing. Then if you lose your guide star, or have clouds passing etc, you can quickly get back into business. In imaging time is terribly precious and very finite!

A good minimum standard mount is the HEQ5 Pro with the bigger NEQ6 able to carry more weight.

You also need an autoguider of some kind if you want to expose for long enough to get the nebulae. If not guiding, keep to very, very short focal lengths.

Olly

[Dandobi]

Good advice, thanks everyone. Will look into the book but I can see this becoming a very expensive new hobby!

[jgs001]

With the two mounts Olly has suggested, as long as you get at least the Syntrek versions, you can add goto and computer control easily enough as the mount electronics are already capable of it all. And you will want to if not initially, eventually.

[riklaunim]

Well, 8" Newtonian isn't required to start DS imaging or make good, very good images. You must note that 8" Newtonian is quite big, heavy and it has some focal length (more - the better the mount must run and the field of view is smaller).

You can do as well by using something smaller. SkyWatcher released some 130 and 150 astrophotography upgraded Newtonians.

[GuillermoBarrancos]

Why not go for an ED80 refractor like the Skywatcher Equinox series.

Those have become pretty much legendary when it comes to widefield DSO work.

[bing434]

Off topic: being a resident of rural Leicestershire I'd like to know where this dark site is

[brantuk]

Hi Druid - turns out it's Beacon Hill lol

You and Dandobi should come and join us at EMS (social group) dark site next time we meet (ie next clear night) near Jn24 M1.

[OzDave]

I was going through the same dilemma of what scope to get for astrophotography since I'd outgrown my beginner scope, which is good for planets etc, but has a very narrow field of view.

I thought for a while about getting a Mak-Newt with more aperture, but dismissed this after a bit due to the bulkiness of the kit. I've now settled on the idea of getting myself a good quality refractor. For astrophotography, the aperture isn't so important as the focal length - you need a fast scope (small f-ratio). So, as I'm starting out, I am going to go for something like the SkyWatcher Equinox 80 ED, which appears to be pretty good value for money, is a fast scope, reasonable aperture, and good for wide field shots so I can start to image some of those large open clusters.

And I wouldn't recommend anything less than an EQ5 mount. I have an EQ3-2 now and its almost useless for photography. Nowhere near stable enough. I shall be investing in a HEQ5 Pro when I get my new scope.

Anyway, that's my recommendation!

Dave

[Dandobi]

Thanks for the recommendation. Been looking at the Equinox 80 ED myself and pretty sure thats the one for me. Comes with an EQ5 mount but will save for a HEQ5 Pro later. Think this hobby may bleed me dry!

Brantuk, meeting up sounds a great idea. Am new to up this way myself, only moved from Kent last year. Let me know when the next meeting is.

Marc

[brantuk]

Will do Mark - meantime get yourself over to the EMS social group and join up - we usually have a thread discussing the next meeting (on the day mostly - usually a saturday). How do I know which day that is? you may ask - just step outside and look up lol

I'll try and remember to pm you too

[davy999]

Just for info.. I am currently reading Making Every Photon Count and I can attest that it is a very good read, extremely informative.

Well done to steppenwolf, this book will really help me on the long road of learning (and spending loads of dosh)!!

[adamsp123]

You said you needed to be able to lug your kit to an car and up a hill then I would seriously look a getting a Vixen Sphinx mount, I know they are very expensive new but if you look out for one secondhand (as I did) you can get one at a reasonable price.

They are made of Aluminium and are very light and well made, Ok it has a goto controller in the form of the starbook which is a doodle to use, and can be autoguided directly via the port on the starbook.

The polarscope is very accurate, a big help when setting up for imaging and the way it is designed you need little in the way of counterweights compared to other mounts, my 120ED only needs the small half size one so when I image with the 120ED the mount is under very little strain.

The HAL tripod is also Aluminium and light but is remarkably stable.

Stick a 80mm or so Apo refractor on it and you would have a nice rig, and if you are humping scpoes around stick with a refractor, they are reasonably light, robust and won't need collimation.

Here is a pic of my rig at SGL5

my 2ps worth

Pete

[Dandobi]

That is a really nice set up but a little out of my league. Gives me something to aim for! I like the idea of aluminium and its given me something to think about.

Thanks, Marc