Maksutov 102/1300

[asmarino]

Hi everyone,I have the Skywatcher maksutov 102/1300 on EQ3 mount four eyepieces skywatcher/celestron MA20mm and 10mm,500 series plossl 25mm(no brand,probably china) and GSO superplossl 6 mm and I'd appreciate some suggestions;my goal is to make some photos and video clips of the moon and the planets(jupiter,saturn).What would be the best setup for the prime focus astrophotography:what eyepiece?what barlow?I have the Olympus Pen EP2 and the Nikon D3200 and the rispective t2 adapter and additional macro rings



thanx!!!!

[Wavytone]

Prime focus = no eyepiece - the telescope acts as the camera lens.

If you want more magnification than this, use eyepiece projection, where you will need one around 12 ... 25mm and a barrel set up for this, with the eyepiece inside, see figure 4 here http://televue.com/engine/TV3b_page.asp?return=Advice&id=85&plain=TRUE&preview=TRUE#.U_CtuGIaySM

The magnification = A/B. As a first approximation B is slightly longer than the eyepiece focal length.

You can also use digiscoping, figure 5, but this means an awfully large number of surfaces in the optical path and you can expect a lot of scattered light degrading the image.

For the planets like Saturn yes you will need more magnification, possibly 5x, and also set the mount to track reasonably well. You main enemy will be atmospheric turbulence, for one good shot you'll probably take 100 bad ones.

[asmarino]

Wavytone,thanx a lot......I'm going to try a prime focus method with barlow lens