Hoping to test out my new celestron omni xlt 150r tonight (weather permitting) just wondering which object would be good to image not sure which camera ill use yet possibly my D90 was thinking carina might be a good start?
Hi Daine , personality I would forget that and concentrate on the moon first , take your time as good AP takes lots , and I mean LOTs of time to get right.
Most of all get out with your new scope and enjoy what it can show you.
Brian.
I have done some imaging before out at another members observatory but finally have my own gear to use i know how long it takes to get all the frames and then process all those images
The "r" being for refractor I presume? I would have said the same as Brian and go for the Moon, but it's very low in the west at sunset right now. Might have to wait a couple of days.
Deep sky is a whole new ball game and if that's an achro refractor you have, you will find some strong blue fringing around bright stars.
All i have is the basic set up at the moment but i can mount the scope on ken charlwood's eq-6 with off axis guiding all i was after was an object to have a go at
Okay. Probably best on Ken's mount then for now. You can try the Eta Carina nebula. There's a few nice clusters near it like NGC3532. Omega Centauri and nearby galaxy Centaurus A photograph well with an achro. You don't want anything with too many bright stars in the field as the achro will make a mess of it. Most globular clusters will image well, open clusters not so much. You could try M22, M4, the Tarantula neb in the LMC. If you want to hunt galaxies in the northern sky there's the Leo Triplet M65, M66 and NGC3628. The Leo Triplet is nice in a fast achro. You could try M104 in Virgo but the stars around it get a bit riddled with CA, or point the scope at M86 and see how many galaxies you can get. M16 and M17 should be okay, M8 and M20 might be a CA ridden but could be of interest just the same.
That should get you started. Remember to avoid objects with bright stars otherwise the dreaded blue halo of CA will haunt you.
I may not have all the necessary gear myself yet but i am keen to get into astrophotography not everyone has bucket loads of cash to spend on expensive things i just want to make the most with what i have at hand it might not be much but everyone needs to start somewhere
You'd be surprised what you can produce with basic gear. Once you get all the fancy expensive gear you become a slave to it, in order to justify
all the money you spent on it. You advance at your own rate, and enjoy the journey.
cheers raymo
I've been using a cheap achro refractor for imaging for a while, which is why I chose those particular objects. They are "achro friendly".
Objects like the Southern Pleiades, the northern Pleiades and the Orion nebula are best left until you get a reflector or ED refractor. Unless you shoot narrowband, but I suspect that's a way into the future yet.
The Moon is also up now in the evening and as Brian mentioned is a great object for all telescopes.
of time to get right.
