new to astrophotography

[lem]

hey guys i've recently got into astrophotography and read some basics on equipment i need, anyway i've been shooting star trails and want to get into deep space photography so i'm looking for a telescope to buy i was looking at this http://www.ozscopes.com.au/reflector-telescope-celestron-nexstar-130-slt.html to buy would this be a good start for deep space astrophotography?i've also read people using star tracker, does this telescope come with it? anyway if you guys could give me some tips could you direct me to what type of telescope to get my budget max is $1000. thank you

[MrB]

Hello Lem, welcome to IIS.
Unfortunately the scope you have linked to is not really suitable for deep space photography due to it having an Alt-Az mount(Altitude-Azimuth), images shot with these suffer from something called field rotation. A half decent Equatorial Mount is needed for half decent photo's of Deep Space Object's(DSO's).

The star tracker you ask about is probably the next practical step from the star trails you have been doing, and allow you to do Widefield photography, the simplest and cheapest tracker would be a barndoor tracker/scotch mount (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barn_door_tracker) if you are handy with the tools, or with a bit of cash instead, something a bit better like a Polarie (http://www.vixenoptics.com/mounts/polarie.html) or an Astrotrac (http://www.astrotrac.com/)
It might be worth reading this article (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/63-671-0-0-1-0.html) about astrophotography.
Good luck and enjoy the road ahead :)

[MattT]

Hi Lem,
Seeing as your in Melbourne get yourself into Bintel on Bourke Rd and check it all out there.... take a large wallet, or credit card with no limit.:)
Welcome to IIS lots to be learnt here. Matt

[Meru]

Hi Lem,

I've also recently gotten into astrophotography. I'm using the good old Skywatcher 8" + EQ5 Mount. The way I went about astrophotography was to simply buy the dual-axis hand controller and modified it to accept ST4 guiding. I have attached a link detailing what ive done and have sample images from both my 8" and 80ED :) Perhaps by reading it you might get a better idea of whats involved.

http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=88981

Im also going to be selling my 8" set up soon and Im in Melbourne so if you ever have questions or consider buying my Newt, im happy to help out :) just send me a Pm with your qs. Clear skies!

[Meru]

Its now up for sale:

http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=89821

[traveller]

A nice beginner package there Meru and you managed to achieve a fair bit with it as well.
Bo

[Meru]

Thanks Bo :)

[lem]

wow thanks for the response guys, looks like i'll be saving a little more for the gear i'll need to take those DSO photographs thank you so much for the helpful information! :)

[bmitchell82]

Just don't forget you need to guide your images other wise you wont be able to track precisely

... Off Axis Guider and a minimum of QHY5 or Orion Star shoot auto guider
... small guide scope QHY5 of Orion Star shoot autoguider

the off axis guider is the best out of both if the star moves on the focus point, it is realitive to the imaging camera. Cons can be slightly challanging to get the right connections and focus points but once you have figured it nothing more needs to be done!

small guide scope is easy to get opperational, but the con is differential flexure. aka, the star moves in the guide scope the guider corrects the mount. but it may not be representitive of the main imaging scope hence you get star trails and loose details.

AP requirements to take more than happy snaps

if going a newtonian, you need to generally

-upgrade the focuser
-Modify the OTA (generally they just don't have the back focus)
-MPCC to make the field flat
-Camera DSLR or CCD
-Mount HEQ5 or NEQ6
-Guiding solution as mentioned above
-Small laptop to control the whole shebam

if your going a refractor, you need to generally

-possibly upgrade the focuser
-field flattener
-Camera DSLR or CCD
-EQ5 or better
-Guiding solution as mentioned above
-Small laptop to control the whole shebam

I use a eeepc 1000HD which is a 900MHz celron with 1gig of ram it does splendidly!

But to be honest to get a good kit that is capable of decent photos budget 4-6k. It sounds alot but if your a bit of a loon like myself and you know you will be using it then it doesn't really matter does it! :D Cheaper than cars and other hobbies!

Brendan

[alistairsam]

That about sums it up I guess.
I saw so many groups of divers going for their weekend dive off sorrento Bay the other day with their underwater cameras, re-breathers and stuff, couldn't help but wonder how much all that gear would have cost. Our hobby isn't all that expensive, considering...

[jenchris]

I used to scuba in Bermuda and it was quite cheap. No wetsuit and visual only (no camera) (Same as stargazing in summer really)

[bmitchell82]

Know your feeling alistairsam... I once was a rather large car fanatic, a good pair... of tyres used to set me back just on 1000 bucks they generally lasted 10-15k km.... that's not including the Track days, drift days and street meets I attended in my VRSS....

Now if i only had put that kinda of money into astro :D i would have one awesome kit :D