astrophotography

[tombo]

Hi Guys,

Just got my cgem 1100 recently and still getting to know the equipment. I'd like to start looking into astro imaging. I'm thinking of buying a second hand digital slr specifically for this purpose. So a few questions.

1. Should I go for CCD or CMOS? I've read so many different things. It seems most people go for CCD for astro imaging? but I think CMOS has come a long way too? Is it all much of a muchness?

2. on my cgem 1100 with 9mm eye piece I can barely see jupiter with the belts. As I understand it with the Digital SLR you just attach it with an T-ring but not with an eye piece? I've ready at most people get a barlow? so my question is how can I get the maginification I need to take photos of jupiter?

3. what brand of camera do you guys recommend?

4. any recommended software for processing image stacking or processing the video? Prefer it to be as easy as possible.

Thanks,

[Ryderscope]

One thing that I would recommend Tom is to be careful about jumping in to the deep end too quickly. Prime focus astrophotography (connecting your camera directly to your telescope) can present a number of challenges which can be quite daunting at first. Conventional wisdom says that it is best to start with widefield work first and them move on to narrow field prime focus after gaining some experience.

An option that I would consider is to start off by buying a DSLR with a reasonable quality lens and to try some piggy back photography first. By this I mean to install the camera on the top of your OTA so you are capturing images directly with the DSLR using its own lens. You will find this far more forgiving than trying to debug the issues that will occur the first time trying prime focus. I am assuming that you have a reasonable quality tracking mount that will carry the payload of your OTA and a DSLR.

If you finish up buying a Canon DSLR, the Backyard EOS software is a great tool for automating image capture. For image calibration, stacking, integration and processing - the are a number of tools around including Deep Sky Stacker, Image Plus, Nebulosity and Pixinsight. For the learning process there are many many books availbe but I would start by simply doing a Google search using terms such as Astrophotography introduction or primer or something similar. There is plenty of stuff online that can absorb many hours of reading before making the first purchase.

I hope this helps as a starting point Tom and I wish you well on your journey.

[jenchris]

For planetary work, the camera chip should be quite small. And you need a lit of short exposure images . So, a lot of people use a converted webcam.
Dslrs are really for deep space.

[Ryderscope]

Jennifer's point is a good one as well Tom in that you need to consider the type of object that you want to image. If it is only planetary work then a web cam or dedicated planetary camera would be the way to go (do a search on DMK cameras). Conversely though, planetary imaging requires long focal length, high magnification work which means that you are working with a narrow field of view. This will require close attention to issues such as mount stability and guiding/tracking accuracy. Registax is a software package that a lot of planetary imagers use.

[tombo]

Thanks that's helpful gives me something to think about and also to research :)