Telescope Question

[transparent_opacity]

New here so bear with me..

I'm looking at buying a Meade DS2102 Goto Maksutov Telescope for xmas and from there get into astro-photography. I dont have a top of the range digital camera (some 6MP slim thing i bought while at uni) so I'm not sure how things would turn out.

But interested if anyone could give me some suggestions on what equipment would be suitable for astro-photography, such as filters, straps, brackets etc. I was told that light pollution can be an issue.

I look forward to comments and suggestions on this.

Regards

Si

[Goatsmilkuk]

Re: Telescope Question

I use an Orion Europa 150 (6" reflector) with a T mount adapter which I then use to attach my 300D, works well for the Moon, however I do not have traking on the tripod so longer exposures are out of the question.

With light pollution it's worth getting one you can transport to a dark site if your garden has too much light, but then depends on what you taking shots of and for how long the exposure is. It is worth looking to see if you have a local astronomy society near to you, that way you can get some advice and also get to use other members scopes before you part with your cash, you may even get a very good second hand one which is where I would look. The meade lx90 and lx200 are worth a look second hand.

Stu

[transparent_opacity]

Re: Telescope Question

Thanks for the reply,

I'm looking at getting some pictures of nebulae and later in the spring saturn when it becomes visible. Also any misc objects, such as comets and such would be cool. It's just to see how clear a picture i can get with it really

[Goatsmilkuk]

Re: Telescope Question

Here are some links that may help, if you don't already have them

http://www.orionoptics.co.uk/

http://www.meade.uk.com/

http://www.greenwich-observatory.co.uk/index.html

To find a local group

http://fedastro.org.uk/fas/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=8

Some very good photo's

http://www.digitalsky.org.uk/

Just make sure you shop around before you part with your cash and try as many as possible.

HTH

Stu

[ekkl]

Re: Telescope Question

Hi there. Saturn is knocking about right now, it is low to the east just above Venus at the moment. Difficult to see with the moon really bright as it has been recently but easily spottable these days. Thing is it rises quite late in the middle of the night at the moment so I would set your alarm for around 0400 and have a look for it then. Good Map Here.

The sky above us is brilliant at the moment with so many great things to see, there is an amazing comet more or less directly overhead at the moment around midnight visible with the naked eye.

The Plough is almost standing on it's handle and Orion is looking over us from the south, don't forget to look at the sword in Orions belt for the Orion Nebula which is easily visible and looks fantastic even through binoculars.

The Andromeda galaxy is still visible and brilliant to see even through binoculars as is the excellent double cluster just between Perseus and Cassiopeia.

Sorry for going off on one! Ther is so many great things to see and to photograph right now.

You will definately need a motorised mount for your telescope to be able to track what you are taking the picture of. You will be suprised at how quickly objects are moving when you look through a scope with no motor on the tripod.

You will need to buy two things to be able to connect your camera. A t-mount that goes onto your camera and an adapter that goes from down the viewfinder on the telescope to the attatchment on your camera.

It is a great thing to do taking pics through your scope hope you come back here with some pictures.

[ekkl]

Re: Telescope Question

PS, forgotten to say a great book to have, a must have infact, is Turn Left at Orion [ame="http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0521781906/interactiveda3319-21 and you can download for free a planetarium for your computer which tells you exactly what is overhead in real time. http://www.stellarium.org/"]Turn Left at Orion: A Hundred Night Sky Objects to See in a Small Telescope - and How to Find Them: Amazon.co.uk: Guy Consolmagno, Dan M. Davis: Books[/ame]

[Ian]

Re: Telescope Question

Can you see Saturn's rings with binoculars?

I can only extend to 700mm (equiv) with the camera lenses I have - I guess that's not much use for anything apart from the moon?

Ian

[devilgas]

Re: Telescope Question

depends what you mean by 'see'. in 10x50 bins i can barely make out an elongated shape. telescope is better but still pretty indistinct - i've never managed to resolve the cassini divisions in the rings.
to be able to get anything even remotely worthwhile i'd suggest the camera would need to be piggybacked to a scope, preferably a motorised equatorial mount scope as it correctly tracks the 'rotating' sky.
to test the current setup you have, practice on the 17p/holmes comet that's currently visible in perseus - check www.spaceweather.com for sky maps. it's brightness is less than saturns, but it'll give you an idea as to how quickly the sky moves. max shutter speed i used a few nights ago was 1 sec with a 200mm lens + 1.4x convertor which kept the movement in check.

[devilgas]

Re: Telescope Question

for light pollution, you can use an oxygen III filter attached to the eyepiece. this means you can't use afocal photography though. does a great job!
alternatively, you can remove light pollution in photoshop. take your image, dupe the layer . blur it big style. then change the layer display mode to difference. hey presto, most of the LP gone.

[ekkl]

Re: Telescope Question

Can you see Saturn's rings with binoculars?

I can only extend to 700mm (equiv) with the camera lenses I have - I guess that's not much use for anything apart from the moon?

Ian

Sadly no. I have 15x75 Celestron bins and you cant see the rings even through them and they are made just for astronomy.

Through my 6" scope you can see them and the gap between the planet and the rings. The image is too bright to see the division in the rings and I have not got hold of a filter for that yet but it is still an awsome sight to see for real everytime, I just love looking at it.

[devilgas]

Re: Telescope Question

New here so bear with me..

I'm looking at buying a Meade DS2102 Goto Maksutov Telescope for xmas and from there get into astro-photography. I dont have a top of the range digital camera (some 6MP slim thing i bought while at uni) so I'm not sure how things would turn out.

But interested if anyone could give me some suggestions on what equipment would be suitable for astro-photography, such as filters, straps, brackets etc. I was told that light pollution can be an issue.

I look forward to comments and suggestions on this.

Regards

Si

first off, an alt/az scope such as the DS2102 will NOT allow you to get long exposures on deep sky objects. for that, you will need a motor driven equatorial mount such as on the meade lxd75 range. significantly more than the 2102, but then the 2102 probably won't deliver what you're perhaps expecting of it. very nearly made a similar mistake myself!

the cam you have should allow for relatively easy eyepiece projection - get good quality eyepieces (meade 4000 series etc) - with a suitable mounting bracket, although a DSLR is a better choice simply down to noise etc.

[devilgas]

Re: Telescope Question

comet from earlier this evening which gives an idea of how much stuff moves in an f=280mm lens over a 7 sec exposure....



the inset shows a slightly-scaled-down-from-original-size of the comet