I started in serious astrophotography about 6 months ago with a 'learning kit' that was fairly low cost. It consisted of a wide-field apo (Orion ED80T CF), a solid mid-range mount (AZ-EQ6) and a low-cost mono CCD (the Orion StarShoot G3). Overall, the whole package, with filters etc. weighed in at a <$4.5K budget, which seemed decent to me for a first kit. I'm pretty happy with the result. My plan is to soon upgrade the CCD, get a longer FL apo to compliment and wide field (I also have a long FL 8" SCT that I've not used much for AP so far), and keep using the mount for now.
People have complained about the low resolution (752 x 582 pixels, 8.3 microns) and meager cooling (-10C below ambient, at best) of the StarShoot G3 CCD (
http://www.telescope.com/Orion-StarS...a/p/101473.uts) but it has a deep well capacity (50,000e-) and is actually pretty sensitive and low noise (a Sony ICX419ALL chip). The key is to know your camera - in particular, this baby MUST be drizzled (with many subs) to get effective resolution. Overall, I'd definitely recommend it for CCD novitiates, as it teaches you most of what you need to know for LRGB and NB work, without a heavy financial risk.
Anyway, see attached image of M20 taken with this setup...
Full capture details and a high resolution version can be viewed here:
http://www.astrobin.com/134243/
A fairly long integration of the reflection (blue) and emission (red) nebula of M20, the fabulous 'Trifid Nebula'. This is a large HII region in Sagittarius, located about 5,200 light years away.
The image was captured a few months ago from my Adelaide surburban backyard, using an Orion ED80T CT apo astrograph (at f/4.8), mounted on an AZ-EQ6. The CCD camera was an Orion StarShoot G3 mono, guided with PHD2 using a think OAG and an ASI120MM-S guide camera. It's taken me a while to dedicate the time required to do the processing!
The image is composed of the following:
Lum = 56 x 5 min
Ha = 18 x 10 min
R, G & B = 56 x 5 min for each channel
Total integration time of 21.7 hours.
I used the Ha data to really make the central emission region stand out above the background. I developed a synthetic luminance channel by blending an exposure-based weighting of the L, Ha, R, G and B luminances. All subs were unbinned.
Captured from late Aug to early Sept 2014, as weather permitted. Pre-processed with flats (light box), bad pixel map (based on 70 darks) and bias in Nebulosity. Aligned and Drizzled in DSS. Post-processed in StarTools.
There's lots of itty bitty galaxies I want to image. It's either that or I get an RC8 for them with my DSLR.
