Hi I'm New Here in need of some help

[stargazerkelly]

Hi i am new to this site, thank god i've found it.

i have been doing some research before hand, ive been reading the book, " turn left at orion" which is my bible LOL

i have a skywatcher 150p on a eq 3 mount with dual motors, im hoping i have chose a good telescope?

so heres the thing i need help with i would love to image DSO's

What do i need?

any help would be appreciated

your friend

stargazerkelly

[Jimmy Stix]

Welcome to SGL Kelly.

Unfortunately I am not the one to help you with imaging as I am only just starting out myself but you will get loads of help here.

Members are only too willing to share their knowledge and experience and as you will see there are whole sections of the forum devoted to imaging. Someone will be along soon to lend a hand I am sure.

I am hoping to do some myself when I get more proficient with my scope.

Good luck for 2011.

[stargazerkelly]

Hey there, thanks for the quick hi, thats why i have joined to gain some knowledge and help

Stargazerkelly

[oldfruit]

Hi and welcome to SGL.

[rowan46]

steve Richards should put me on commission today get this and read it before you buy anything Books - Making Every Photon Count - Steve Richards I would like to point out I have never even met this guy. I just think it should be required reading before people buy epuipment. it may save you a packet in the long run.

[brantuk]

Hi Kelly and welcome to SGL

Imaging dso's is a very time consuming and expensive part of the hobby but also very rewarding. You have got a very good intermediate scope - I started with one of those myself and it will last a long time. For observing it's fine and will show a lot of stuff.

For imaging the ota (optical tube assembly) is good, but the mount and tripod combination will be limiting. Dso's require very long exposures, typically 5 mins or more. Because of this a mount has to be rock solid, accurately polar aligned, track perfectly, and even that is not enough. Due to inherent error it would need guiding as well, by a guide scope and camera combination.

I would suggest starting with a webcam and take some short exposures of planets first in order to get some experience. The SPC880 from Morgans can be flashed to turn it into an SPC900. Add a telescope adaptor and laptop and you're set.

The software I use is wxAstroCapture. The frames you take can be stacked and aligned in Registax, then processed in Gimp. The camera and adaptor will be around £20, all the software I quote is free to download.

Once you have some experience then you'll be ready to choose which direction you want to go with imaging (dslr or ccd).

Hope that helps and if you need links to any of this stuff let me know.

[naked"I"]

Hi Kelly, welcome to SGL. Iv'e only just joined myself but will say the speed of response to Q's is second to none.

Rowan46, saved that link thanks

Mr brantuk, great post this is something I am looking at trying and you have saved me some research time. thankyou Sir.

Dave

[Astro_Baby]

Hi and welcome from me Kelly. I can't advise on imaging but your scope is certainly a good telescope to start with.

[stargazerkelly]

hey guys thanks for the warm welcome, i wondered can anyone help me on what objects i can be looking at in the night sky, like planets , galaxies ect...

thanks i cant wait to get out there ,

well when we have clear skies

best wishes

stargazerkelly

[rowan46]

download this program its free it will show you whats up in the sky Stellarium