|
When I think of astrophotography, I think of two paths. Planetary, which you can do with a dob and a modified webcam, but it will be difficult as the field of view is extremely small on the sensor (which might be 5 or 6mm diagonal, not sure, but small). I have tried it on my dads 12" F5 dob, with a 2x barlow, and I gave up as it was just too hard to find the object to allow it to drift through the FOV. You can also equatorial mount the dob if you get some rings, which is what people like iceman have done, and it lets you track the planet so that you can just focus on all the data aquasition. The challenges for planetary astrophotography are getting good collimation (not too hard), using the correct capture settings (not too hard), and data processing (there are several great guides, including the one mike salway has posted in the articles section of this site).
For deep sky work, I would suggest to any beginner to start off with a short focal length scope, like an 80mm refractor, as it is far more forgiving of mount tracking errors. You will also need a second scope to guide with, and two cameras, a guide camera and an imaging camera. Polar alignment of the mount is more critical, and I think the challenges are harder than for planetary imaging.
Either way, I'd recommend getting out to some dark skies to really appreciate your dob, and get out to a star party (i assume they still have them over in WA?)
|