Imaging on 8"dob

[poncho (Poncho)]

Hi, have a collapsible 8" dob.

Is it possible to take some DSO images throught it?
Dont have a DSLR
Looking for basic pics just to show people, not brilliant deep images with mirron colours

Webcam an option?
Its not auto aligning

[rustigsmed (Russell)]

is it goto? which brand?

[raymo]

Most Newtonians [dobs] don't allow the use of a DSLR anyway.[Skywatcher ones do].
A webcam will put an image onto your laptop screen, but only of bright objects such as the moon, Jupiter, and Saturn, useless for DSOs.
You can hold a compact camera or a phone up to the eyepiece.[afocal
imaging], or get a cheap bracket on ebay that will hold the camera in place.
raymo

[poncho (Poncho)]

Originally Posted by rustigsmed

is it goto? which brand?

Non goto
Sky watcher

[rustigsmed (Russell)]

hi poncho,

a non goto - not really no, a goto will let you get some of the brighter deep sky objects with exposures up to about 30 seconds max.
As Raymo says planets are fine because they are bright.

Saying all that I know people have tried on the brighter elements of the brighter ones. if you have a dslr you could try bright stars, bright binary stars, maybe a bright open cluster, other things to try would be the trapezium area in Orion nebula, the brighter smaller planetary nebulas like ngc 3242, ngc 6302, the homunculus nebula (example http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/s...d.php?t=144669 very short exposures).
You would have to do a few trials to see how long you could geta away exposing for it might be 2 seconds or less. whatever you take though take a lot of data on it.

I'm not sure how long you can tweak webcam exposure setting for though a dslr would give you more of a chance. a webcam would be great for the planets and it is a good time to look at Mars, Jupiter and Saturn.

the skywatcher collapseable goto dobs do have upgrade kits to make them goto or it can be possible down the track to buy HEQ5 and use the dob tube on the equatorial mount to photograph.

Russ

[mental4astro (Alexander)]

There is another way, following on from Russell's post. You don't need a goto mount, but it means the use of an equatorial platform in order to track.

There are many people who use equatorial platforms successfully, including dobs upto 30" in size.

I recently used an eq platform with my 8" f/4 dob.

Most platforms are made for visual use, so there is some lag & backlash with the gear meshing, which for visual is no problem, but for photo it can be a pain in the neck. There are some autoguided platforms being developed too. In the end it comes down to how much you want to spend. No photo solution in astronomy is without cost.

I won't double up on the background info on the photos below as you'll find it all in the "Video Astronomy" sticky in title page of this equipment forum. Photo is not my main focus in astro, and video astronomy suits me just fine. There are some exponents of VA who are really hardcore about it, and get incredible results. VA is not the only way of achieving photos with a dob. The main things to think about with a dob, whichever way you go, is keeping the scope balanced as some cameras can be very heavy (DSLRs). Other cameras that can be used are the humble webcam that can be modified to become excellent planetary cameras. There is an article here in IIS on webcam modification, and how to process the images using 'normal' astro software. It's one relatively inexpensive way to start dabbling in astrophotography, The article is this one:

http://www.iceinspace.com.au/63-431-0-0-1-0.html

Alex.

[janoskiss (Steve H)]

mental4astro's shots are a good representation of what you can do with a webcam & dob on deep sky. These images look quite good (but small) at 1/3 to 1/2 size. If you were really keen you could stitch a bunch of them together to make a larger widefield. It'd be a lot of work though.

[batman (Graeme)]

No trying to hijacking Poncho's thread, great info Alexander, gives me an idea what to expect, I'm just starting to dabble with a SW 8" goto, I have a Celestron Neximage 5 or modded Logitech QuickCam Pro 4000, I had some good results imaging Jupiter last week using the Neximage 5.

Graeme