Astrophotography setup

[Gvarouha (George)]

G'day all,

This is my first post on this forum and would really appreciate any feedback I get.

I've been using a 4se for observing and it been great now I want to make the jump to astrophotography but the mount that comes with the 4se is clearly not up to the task.

I am looking at building a rig over time that I don't have to keep upgrading. So I was thinking of buying a ax-eq6 mount as a solid base to start with.

My question is until I can upgrade my OTA is it possible to use the 4se on the eq6 to start imaging. If so would I need guiding due to the long focal length.

Thanks for the time.

[Somnium (Aidan)]

Welcome to the forums .

The eq6 would be absolutely fine for the 4se, it looks like it already has a dovetail bar so you are good to go. 1.3 m is a pretty long focal length for unguided imaging. If you are going to do it you need perfect polar alignment and limit your exposure times. But have a play around and see how long you can go without getting eggs or lines instead of stars, you should get between 1 - 4 mins depending on how well it is set up. One thing that I did for a while is mark a location where I set the scope up, that way I only need to get perfect alignment once, the next night I would just bring it back to the same spot and you are good to go.

[Gvarouha (George)]

Thanks for the reply, it's good to know roughly what I should aim at regarding unguided exposure times.

[raymo]

Even with near perfect polar alignment you will struggle to get
consistently round stars beyond around 90-100 secs. On occasion
you might get enough useable subs from a session of slightly
longer exposures to stack some, say 100-120 secs.
I hope your new mount tracks beautifully, and you get a bit longer than that.
raymo

[Somnium (Aidan)]

Money spent on an auto guider is well worth it !

[Gvarouha (George)]

Thanks for the info, I might invest in an auto guider as I plan to shoot DSOs when my skills are up to it.

Any suggestions on a guide scope and guide camera.

Cheers

[rustigsmed (Russell)]

Originally Posted by somnium

money spent on an auto guider is well worth it !

+1

[Shiraz (Ray)]

it's going to be hard work imaging DSOs with that scope George. At f10?, the sensitivity will be super low (particularly if you will be using a DSLR), which will mean that you need long exposures. Agree with other posts - you will definitely need a guider and you will be limited to a few of the brightest objects. Looking forward to seeing some images.

[rustigsmed (Russell)]

Originally Posted by Gvarouha

Thanks for the info, I might invest in an auto guider as I plan to shoot DSOs when my skills are up to it.

Any suggestions on a guide scope and guide camera.

Cheers

Hi George,

People mostly either use a guidescope with their autoguider or an off axis guider with their autoguider.

Bintel sell a few guidescope and autoguider packages http://www.bintel.com.au/Astrophotog...7/catmenu.aspx probably worth giving them a call to sort out the differences and to confirm it will be effective with your FL.

I hope this helps.

Russ

[Gvarouha (George)]

Originally Posted by rustigsmed

Hi George,

People mostly either use a guidescope with their autoguider or an off axis guider with their autoguider.

Bintel sell a few guidescope and autoguider packages http://www.bintel.com.au/Astrophotog...7/catmenu.aspx probably worth giving them a call to sort out the differences and to confirm it will be effective with your FL.

I hope this helps.

Russ

The guys at bintel are very knowledgable. Pointed me in the right direction.

I realise the 4se is not great for imaging but I would rather put all my cash into a mount first and then upgrade the OTA when I can afford to.

Thanks for the tips

[Somnium (Aidan)]

Originally Posted by Gvarouha

The guys at bintel are very knowledgable. Pointed me in the right direction.

I realise the 4se is not great for imaging but I would rather put all my cash into a mount first and then upgrade the OTA when I can afford to.

Thanks for the tips

Good idea, just a question, why are you looking at an az-eq6 rather than just getting the eq6 and Use the 500 you save on a auto guider set up or an ota?

[Gvarouha (George)]

I want a mount that I don't need to upgrade down the track. My thinking is to build the kit up once and do it right even though it may take a little longer.

That's the goal anyway. I'll see how that plan works

[Somnium (Aidan)]

Originally Posted by Gvarouha

I want a mount that I don't need to upgrade down the track. My thinking is to build the kit up once and do it right even though it may take a little longer.

That's the goal anyway. I'll see how that plan works

are you looking for an alt az mount in particular? because the EQ6 has the same weight rating and is $500 cheaper. unless you are looking for a terrestrial and astronomy mount then you might want to save the money

[Atmos (Colin)]

Originally Posted by Somnium

are you looking for an alt az mount in particular? because the EQ6 has the same weight rating and is $500 cheaper. unless you are looking for a terrestrial and astronomy mount then you might want to save the money

I believe that the alt az version also has belt drives as standard whereas the standard NEQ6 doesn't.

[Gvarouha (George)]

I believe the az-eq6 is belt driven rather than gears. I will look into it some more though, I might just be getting caught up in the sales talk

[Somnium (Aidan)]

Originally Posted by Gvarouha

I believe the az-eq6 is belt driven rather than gears. I will look into it some more though, I might just be getting caught up in the sales talk

Originally Posted by Atmos

I believe that the alt az version also has belt drives as standard whereas the standard NEQ6 doesn't.

true ...