Quote:
Originally Posted by Cyclops
G'day,
Hoping someone can point me in the right direction for beginning astrophotography. I want a simple goto telescope that I can use my k30 dslr with.
With the goto scopes is polar alignment still important, or does it sort itself out with the calibration process?
Is there a list of equipment I should get to set the dslr up on the scope? T-ring? extra weight for the scope that kind of thing?
Any specific info appreciated....there is just too much info and when I start looking at it all I keep second guessing what I think I want or know.
Thanks in advance.
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For very short duration astrophotography you can get away with a GOTO & Tracking Alt/AZ mount and reasonable DSLR.
At the very minimum you will need a Bayonet Adaptor for prime focus photography which essentially means you attach the Camera directly to the Telescope without any bit in-between.
Otherwise you will need a nose cone adaptor that adapts the Camera to the slot that would normally take the eyepiece.
Or you could use eyepiece projection adaptor which connect the camera and eyepiece together.
For slightly longer exposures using an GOTO and Tracking AltAz mount you will ADDITIONALLY need a field de-rotator which compensates for the earths rotation so you don't get circular light streaks.
The best mount for Astrophotography is a Goto and Tracking Equatorial Mount (EQ). You will still need the adaptors for connecting the Camera to the telescope as already mentioned above but you will NOT need the field de-rotator as a EQ mount is aligned with the celestial pole and followed the natural rotation of the starts around the celestial pole.
You will still need to get a good polar alignment as the goto and tracking system DOES NOT compensate for rotation of the stars around the pole if you don't have a good polar alignment.
The next step up for even longer exposures is to add guide scopes and guide cameras that you setup on the mount to monitor a guide star. The guide camera then sends correcting instructions to the mount to compensate for minute alignment errors.
Ultimately this will all come down to the quality of the mount and tripod that you select. Bad quality mounts and tripods will exhibit vibration and/or poor drive tracking. Much better tripods and mounts will increasingly provide better quality drives and construction and software that makes alignment and tracking very smooth.
Examples of top quality GOTO and Tracking EQ mounts for Astrophotography include:
-Paramount
-AstroPhysics
-Takahashi
There are many users of these three mounts in Australia.
Hope this helps
Cheers
