Which starter telescope?
Discussion
I live near a forest with no street lighting so pretty good I think!
Reading the threads I'm going to go with https://www.firstlightoptics.com/beginner-telescop... but want to give them a call to find out how to mount an SLR!
Reading the threads I'm going to go with https://www.firstlightoptics.com/beginner-telescop... but want to give them a call to find out how to mount an SLR!
Bino's 10X50 learn to navigate around the sky before you take the plunge.
Even then a set of 25X100 bins on a soilid tripod will be far more useable than a telescope that requires dragging out from the house every night, aligning, power supplies. All these can be overcome of course but eventually kneeling on wetgrass/mud trying to align with the CNP does become a CHORE.
Just be sure you know what you want to do first, are their any astro clubs you can go to [hoho] and get some hands on and advice?
Even then a set of 25X100 bins on a soilid tripod will be far more useable than a telescope that requires dragging out from the house every night, aligning, power supplies. All these can be overcome of course but eventually kneeling on wetgrass/mud trying to align with the CNP does become a CHORE.
Just be sure you know what you want to do first, are their any astro clubs you can go to [hoho] and get some hands on and advice?
Be aware that Astrophotography is quite difficult to do and it's not simply a case of bolting on your scope and snapping a picture. I've been keen on Astronomy all my life and have a degree in Astrophysics, but I have Astrophotography earmarked as a retirement project! 
To take decent pictures through a telescope the mount will be critical - most mounds that are sold with scopes can take the weight of the scope and that's it, and the accuracy they provide will be sufficient for visual use only. This was certainly the case with my Meade reflector, which is now sat on a Losmandy G-11 mount, which I bought off a friend heavily into Astrophotography (he now has a £10k Astrophysics mount!). Even the best mounts will usually need some sort of intervention to track perfectly for decent exposure photographs (e.g. using an off axis guider). Your best starting point is probably taking photos without the telescope, for which the mount requirements are much milder, or pictures of very bright objects such as the moon, where tracking isn't as critical and you can take a video and stack the images on top of each other to gain the detail, rather than using a long exposure.
To take decent pictures through a telescope the mount will be critical - most mounds that are sold with scopes can take the weight of the scope and that's it, and the accuracy they provide will be sufficient for visual use only. This was certainly the case with my Meade reflector, which is now sat on a Losmandy G-11 mount, which I bought off a friend heavily into Astrophotography (he now has a £10k Astrophysics mount!). Even the best mounts will usually need some sort of intervention to track perfectly for decent exposure photographs (e.g. using an off axis guider). Your best starting point is probably taking photos without the telescope, for which the mount requirements are much milder, or pictures of very bright objects such as the moon, where tracking isn't as critical and you can take a video and stack the images on top of each other to gain the detail, rather than using a long exposure.
Ok I'll have a think about that - the chaps at that website said:
Bare in mind that the earth is rotating whilst you are imaging, the target is constantly moving, Planets and the moon only require very short exposures so this is doable with the EQ2 mount.
I'll give it a go and see what happens!!!
Bare in mind that the earth is rotating whilst you are imaging, the target is constantly moving, Planets and the moon only require very short exposures so this is doable with the EQ2 mount.
I'll give it a go and see what happens!!!
VEIGHT said:
Ok I'll have a think about that - the chaps at that website said:
Bare in mind that the earth is rotating whilst you are imaging, the target is constantly moving, Planets and the moon only require very short exposures so this is doable with the EQ2 mount.
I'll give it a go and see what happens!!!
Yes, that's correct. The more you magnify things obviously the worse this effect gets. Even if you track with an equatorial mount, the mount will have some errors. The moon is extremely bright though, so an easy target (I've even taken ok photos with my iPhone held up to my telescope eyepiece!). The planets are harder if you want enough magnification to get detail, but the preferred method for those is usually a short video and then run it through software that stacks the frames up (e.g. Registax). The difficulty and skill really starts coming in with galaxies and nebulae.Bare in mind that the earth is rotating whilst you are imaging, the target is constantly moving, Planets and the moon only require very short exposures so this is doable with the EQ2 mount.
I'll give it a go and see what happens!!!
Check these photos out:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/in-pictures-36907268
You don't need to use a telescope and an expensive mount to get some fantastic pictures.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/in-pictures-36907268
You don't need to use a telescope and an expensive mount to get some fantastic pictures.
£90 ebay scope (TAL-1M) + £15 webcam and some freeware of the interwebs.
Planets are relatively easy, you could get similar by holding your phone up to the eyepiece, the difficulty is if you want to do deep sky images, then you need a big lightbucket of a scope (10"+) and an SLR or dedicated astronomy camera which starts to cost money...
RobDickinson said:
I asked this question of a friend into astronomy...
The result was an 8" RC on an iOptron mount totalling over $3000 lol...
The result was an 8" RC on an iOptron mount totalling over $3000 lol...
That's similar to my setup (10" reflector and £3k mount). As I said earlier, the mount is the key item, because tracking with an accuracy suitable for photography is an extremely hard thing to do. For example, even though I already for an expensive mount, I have an option on my mount to buy some ridiculously expensive worm gears to upgrade the accuracy, and the friend I bought my mount off had the thing apart to set the tolerances as well as possible. Even then, most people use an off-axis guider to point a cross-hairs at a star in the image and then use their eye or automatic software to make tiny mount adjustments and keep that star on the cross-hairs.That friend of mine has a website with his pics: http://www.johnmurphyastro.info/ His setup for the older photos is the same as mine now, although a few years ago when he sold me his mount (~2006) he upgraded to a much more expensive mount. The majority of what you're looking at with his pictures though is knowledge and skill - proper astrophotography is a very difficult thing to do!
As above though, the planets and the moon are a different thing entirely and much easier to image.
VEIGHT said:
Hi,
I'm looking at getting a telescope and instead of buying the first one that came up on Amazon I thought I would ask the PH experts!
I only have 2 requirements:
That I can take pictures / hook up a camera and be under £300 ish.
TIA!
If your looking for expertise your local Astronomy club is a good bet you may find a 2nd hand bargain and of course you could try a company such as http://www.green-witch.comI'm looking at getting a telescope and instead of buying the first one that came up on Amazon I thought I would ask the PH experts!
I only have 2 requirements:
That I can take pictures / hook up a camera and be under £300 ish.
TIA!
The Celestron 90 SLT a pretty good model https://www.amazon.co.uk/Celestron-NexStar-Mak-Bla... just add a T piece for the Camara
Here is the manufactures link http://www.celestron.com/browse-shop/astronomy/tel...
scubadude said:
£90 ebay scope (TAL-1M) + £15 webcam and some freeware of the interwebs.
Planets are relatively easy, you could get similar by holding your phone up to the eyepiece, the difficulty is if you want to do deep sky images, then you need a big lightbucket of a scope (10"+) and an SLR or dedicated astronomy camera which starts to cost money...
Yeah.
Had a clear night last night the MW was magnificent (stars so many stars) spent ages just gazing at it lol, fired up -heaven's above but it was quiet at that time, typical when you get a great night for viewing, followed a fair few sats some acquired visually but most through the instrument, even had a N-S E-W crossover in the fov, not actually had that before so that was fun enjoyed the Vista the 10X50 bins gave and had a sky tour as well, all in all a nice night.
oh and some micro meteorites also in the bins, the less that 1 second flares that you probably wouldn't see visually.
I suppose it all depends on your light pollution at times in certain locations even the 100X25's struggle the only real solution if your lp'd out is Aperture and lots of it.
oh and some micro meteorites also in the bins, the less that 1 second flares that you probably wouldn't see visually.
I suppose it all depends on your light pollution at times in certain locations even the 100X25's struggle the only real solution if your lp'd out is Aperture and lots of it.
Edited by Sylvaforever on Monday 8th August 10:28
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