The
GoTo kit will allow you to slew to targets and track. A guidescope will allow you to take images for longer than 20, 30, 40 + seconds (depending on how good your mount is) without star trails. but unfortunately, I do not think you will be able to do much in the way of astrophotography with this setup
You might be able to do some really simple images, but I would save the money and put it toward a better mount.
If you are set on trying to do
AP now with that budget, I would go for a small tracking mount (ioptron and skywatcher have them for $300 - $400), and attaching a
DSLR with a lens onto it.
The mount you have has a payload capacity of only 20 lbs.
For astrophotography, you should cut that in half. The
OTA itself weighs 16.5 lbs
If you are set on doing
AP with that
OTA, you can try to find a used
EQ mount with a higher payload capacity, but it will be quite a bit more unfortunately
There are some who do budget astrophotography, but it is not without a ton of headaches and hair loss :/
-James W.
Telescope: Explore Scientific 80mm FCD100 Triplet APO Refractor
Mount: EQ6-R Pro
Cameras: ZWO ASI1600mm Pro (Cooled) |
Canon DSLR EOS T7i
Auto-guiding: ZWO ASI120mm-Mini +
Astromania 50mm Guidescope
Filters: ZWO 31mm Ha/Oiii/Sii 7nm + LRGB | Orion 2" Skyglow Filter
Accessories: Explore Scientific 2" Field Flattener, ZWO EFW 8 Position
Software: APT, SharpCap Pro, PHD2, CPWI | PixInsight, DeepSkyStacker, Photoshop
Flickr:
https://www.flickr.com/gp/186194203@N06/18B629