beginner astrophotography tips

[A23649 (Nathan)]

Hello

I currently have a Celestron Astromaster 70 EQ with motor drive and a Canon EOS 1000D with a t ring and t adapter. I know that i will not be able to take "Hubble" type images but I would like to know what settings and exposure times to use on the camera for planetary and bright objects like Jupiter and the Orion Nebula. Any other tips would be extremely useful.

Cheers

Nathan

[mswhin63 (Malcolm)]

Hi Nathan,

Best to start on moon images, it is the best to get and idea of a large bright object. These can be taken using DSLR on either single capture of live view, reasonably easily.

http://www.waelect.com.au/mswhin63/M...r/index.html#2 -
This image was taken using my DSLR on live view capture mode after I made a mount for my scope. Single captures using a DSLR are not practical and there is a lot of turbulence to deal with. The ideal method for capturing is with a CCD high frame rate camera or a webcam.

If you go through my gallery there is 3 sequences using a DSLR while the rest are webcam.

An important note is, each larger view uses a 3 x barlow, you would need a 4 x barlow to get the same result Mine 1500mm FL yours 900mm FL

The beauty of a DSLR is the ability to discard images that don't turn out right.

Deep sky may not be the best scope to use, but I will let other people let you know. I now use a motorised mount just for DSLR only capture of widefield, I removed the scope.

[dannat (Daniel)]

if you can polar align it well (though i don't think your scope has a polar scope) ..actually you will need to drift align (look it up in the articles section here) you should be able to get some 30sec exp of the orion nebula to see what its all about. planets are not suited to a d-slr.

[mswhin63 (Malcolm)]

The motor would only be a single motor, so you will need to be fairly accurate polar alignment. Polar alignment is difficult as there is no polar star bright enough for a 70mm to see, the way I do it is to use a compass and then use live view on the camera to see any drifting and re-adjust the mount a little when the image stays where it is.

Focal Length 900mm, you will notice a fair amount of drifting and will need to be quite accurate.

I use a couple of items to align without polar. Compass to get south and a level to get the EQ angle of my latitude. I have an IPhone application that also provides a variation is south alignment as well, usually only a couple of degs if I wish to get a more accurate reading.

Another application I use is Astro Photography Tool, for live view recording onto laptop and great for testing my drift as well. Only recently I have used the Focus mask which is brilliant for getting accurate focus.

One thing I forgot, to do very accurate focusing it is possible to manual focus but would be better with a motorised focuser.

Without getting too daunting, try the moon first should start rearing its head in the next few days and there is a lot of flexibility. Small steps and build on it as you go.

[A23649 (Nathan)]

sounds like small steps are the way to go
thank you very much for all your help so far

[Logieberra (Logan)]

Nathan

I see that you're in Canberra. You're welcome to bring your bits and pieces out to a dark sky location with us one evening.

We like to head out towards Hall (I live in Dunlop, and the other guy lives in Gungahlin).

I'm still learning myself, but a little help goes a long way.

Cheers,

Logan.

[A23649 (Nathan)]

i live in kaleen which isnt to far away

[Logieberra (Logan)]

Nathan, I sent you a PM.

Cheers,

Logan.