lookin to buy some good scope and learn ap from it ,so need advice

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ccfly
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lookin to buy some good scope and learn ap from it ,so need advice

#1

Post by ccfly »


https://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/pr ... cuser.html

will this one with eq6 mount be all i need to take pictures ?
with all i mean telescope side ,+ laptop and some guide software (which for sony ff camera ?) some 12v car battery (is this right one ? )
do i need filters ? i read ppl use them
what else ?

thanks

p.s. i know this is pricy one but even all ppl advice go cheap then learn
i learn that way is always the most expensive way
i start with photo so i go that way buyin cheap cam 200€ then 2 month later i buy dslr and 2 lenses then i buy semi pro nikon which i wanted from 1st time so i waste 4-500 € in to nothing
so i think in this ap hobby will be even more wasted so i go to something i will use for looong time and easy to upgrade (eq6 mount) if i choose to go with another tube
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TCampbell United States of America
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Re: lookin to buy some good scope and learn ap from it ,so need advice

#2

Post by TCampbell »


Your logic around avoiding "cheap" equipment isn't wrong. A top priority is a "solid" mount that can easily handle the weight without flexing, shaking, and can offer smooth tracking.

As for the question if this is all you need...

You'll need a guide-system. You can't guide with the same camera you use to image your object. The main camera might be taking a ... 5 minute long exposure. The guide camera needs to be taking images about every 1-5 seconds (2-4 seconds is more realistic) ... this lets it detect if a star is drifting in the frame so it can send a correction to the mount.

The guide camera also needs a "telescope" to use as well... and there are two primary ways to do this. One way is to get an adapter that lets the guide camera shoot through the same scope that the imaging camera is using. This is usually done by using something called an "off axis" guiding adapter. The adapter allows most light to pass straight through to your camera ... but it has a tiny little pick-off mirror near the edge of the frame so that some of the light is bounced over to the guide camera where you will *hopefully* find a decent guide star. But this has some complications because it means *both* cameras need to have identical focus (and you only have one focuser). So the guide-camera has to get "shimmed" until it shares the same focus as the main camera. ALSO... if you use a filter for the main camera, it is *probably* also filtering the guide camera. That might not sound like a big deal... but if you use an Ha filter, you'll find that blocks nearly all of the light and good luck guiding through that.

SO... it is a bit easier to just have a separate guide scope that you piggy-back on the main scope. Now you have independent focus, get the full field of view, and don't have to worry about filters.

The guide scope does not need to be large nor does it need to have high quality optics. Ideally it would have a focal length of around 1/3rd of the focal length of your main imaging scope. But I've seen people use guiders that only have 1/10th the focal length of the main imaging scope and still do well. The idea here is that if the guider focal length was too short then the telescope could drift quite a few pixels on your main imaging camera before it is noticed to be even 1 pixel in the guide camera.

Some finder scopes have removable eyepieces ... and those can be used as guide-scopes.

The guide-camera is usually a low-cost camera. For example, the ZWO ASI120MM-S. Monochrome guide cameras are favored over color cameras for guiding but you can guide with a color camera. There are more expensive guide cameras ... but the model I referenced is a fairly basic camera and perfectly adequate. I mentioned that optical quality of the guider isn't actually important. This is because the guide software takes the "shape" of the object (which need not be round) and calculates the center of that shape and uses that as its reference point for guiding purposes. I know people who use something called an "On Axis Guider" ... and due to the way those adapters work, the guide star gets a "+" shape that doesn't resemble a star at all... and yet the guide software has no problem with this.

The PHD2 Guide software is extremely popular (and free).

It sounds like you plan to use a full-color dSLR style camera. From light polluted skies ... a filter may really be helpful. In truly dark skies, a filter isn't usually needed (nor helpful). Also... filters are only useful depending on which filter is used with which object.
Scopes: PlaneWave 12.5 CDK - Meade 14" LX200-ACF - TeleVue NP101is - Lunt LS80Ha
Mounts: Losmandy G11 - Losmandy GM8 - Losmandy StarLapse
Cameras: Canon 60Da - ZWO ASI128MC-Pro - ZWO ASI174MM-Cool - ZWO ASI174MM-Mini
Software (Raspberry Pi): ZWO ASIair - StellarMate / Software (Mac): AstroImager - AstroDSLR - AstroGuider
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ccfly
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Re: lookin to buy some good scope and learn ap from it ,so need advice

#3

Post by ccfly »


something like this
https://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/pr ... cuser.html
with that aws120mm mini or normal aws120mm-s ?
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OleCuss
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Re: lookin to buy some good scope and learn ap from it ,so need advice

#4

Post by OleCuss »


You got some very good advice and I'm not going to disagree with it but maybe give a different perspective.

I would not wish to start imaging with an OTA with a focal length of 910mm. I think it is much easier to start with a focal length of less than 600mm and that may be more fun even years later. Longer focal lengths leave your system more sensitive to tracking problems and turbulence problems.

I would also tend to consider that OTA with the camera and an autoguider to be just a little bit more weight than I'd want to put on a Sky-Watcher EQ6 for imaging purposes. The EQ6 might handle things very nicely, but there is a chance the weight and length will be a little too much for great performance.

I would recommend starting with something a bit easier to work with.

Since I think that beginners benefit most from having great equipment I am not arguing for cheaper gear, just gear that is easier to work with and less likely to frustrate. That equipment may also be cheaper, but that is not what I would be aiming for.

I'd be delighted if you were putting something like the NP101is on the EQ-6 or maybe one of Avalon's mounts. You'd be paying more money but you would probably have a less frustrating experience.

If you chose to go cheap but likely good at the same time? I'd look at getting something like Astro-Tech's 6" Astrograph and put it on a Celestron AVX. Get a coma corrector and you should be in business! The focal length of the OTA will be just slightly over 600mm but not by much.

And if you later get a bigger and more expensive mount and OTA you will still have the smaller rig which will probably be operating at a different focal length and you might now have complementary rigs.

One other note? I've never done autoguiding and I seriously doubt I ever will. I've just kept my subs fairly short and I enjoy a simpler life that way. Right now it is probably still technically superior to do the longer sub-exposures but with huge numbers of satellites planned for launch, those quite long subs may not be a good option in the future.
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Re: lookin to buy some good scope and learn ap from it ,so need advice

#5

Post by Star Dad »


Another question I'd put forth is - what kind of Bortle skies do you live in or plan to do your AP? The background noise from Light Pollution (LP) will affect how long you can image before the noise overwhelms the signal (object's light). For example - I live in Bortle 5 skies. The break even point is 1 Minute exposures. I've been doing 1 minute exposures for about 5 years now, but I finally got everything working well together with PHD2 guiding down to less than .5 pixels. So I am processing my first ever 2 minute exposures. I've got nice round stars and it looks to be really good images so far. So I might actually be in Bortle 4.5 - I cannot see the Milkyway visually but my images don't have the noise I'd expect from Bortle 5. If your Bortle is higher you'll want shorter exposures and therefor your need for accurate tracking won't be an imperative... still you do want to be as accurate as you can get (or afford). Just something to think about.
"To be good is not enough when you dream of being great"

Orion 203mm/f4.9/1000mm, converted TASCO 114mm/f9/1000mm to steam punk, Meade 114mm/f9/1000, Coronado PST, Orion EQ-G, Ioptron Mini-Tower and iEQ30, Canon 70D, ASI120MM,ASI294MC, Ioptron SkyHunter
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