Any good for astro photography?

[jwallis]

I have a skywatcher 130/650 f5 gathering dust in the garage at the moment, and was wondering if this scope would be any good for planetary photos and dso,s.

If it will be of use,what recommendations for a camera and mount.

I do have a dslr, but unfortunatly it does not have live view:(.

Thanks in advance, Jon.

[themos]

You can get an idea of what a 114/900 can do in this album

[E621Keith]

What mount do you have? As Thermos demonstrated in his impressive photos, the mount is more important than the scope in astrophotography.

[jwallis]

Nice picsThemos. The mount is the problem because it is alt/azimuth. When i do spend some money on a new mount, i want to get it right. It took me ages to decide on a visual scope and i plumbed for the 12 inch skyliner flex which is awesome. So, if the scope is ok,what price am i looking at for a solid reliable mount?

[Shibby]

Planetary with a webcam: yes. But chances are, for DSOs, you won't be able to reach focus with a DSLR (My old 130P was waaaay off). However, I did get a couple of ok-ish images using the 130P + a barlow to achieve focus.

[themos]

Basically DSOs are tricky and expensive partly because of the mount requirements. Why not start with a simple equatorial mount that will cover you for planets, lunar and solar work? The Skywatcher EQ2 is the minimum you'll need, equipped with the multispeed RA motor and handset. You could fork out more for an EQ3-2 but I'm not sure it's worth it. The Skywatcher AZ GOTO might also be a contender for strictly planetary (short-exposure) work.

[themos]

Let me give you some links to these mounts

Skywatcher - Skywatcher AZ GOTO mount

Skywatcher - Skywatcher EQ2

Keep asking if anything is unclear!

[themos]

I just noticed you already have an alt/az. Not the Synscan then?

Future-proofing an EQ mount is not an easy ask! I went out and got the EQ6 although I have no decent optics (yet) to put on it. I also have the EQ1 from my starter scope but that is just barely good enough (photographically) for camera+lens work and it absolutely needs the multi-speed motor and controller. If I was buying today I'd probably go for the Astrotrac portable solution and stick to camera+lens work for a while.

[jwallis]

Thanks Themos, much appreciated. I believe that to start with, i will just do planetary,lunar,solar and jupitar etc until i have got the grasp of it, then maybe later delve into dso,s. From pics on this website of lunar,solar etc,if i can get half as good a pic as some of them then i will be contented. I beleive its going to be a nice learning curve. Cannot wait.