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Platystemon posted:SkySafari is what I use and what nearly everyone I’ve talked with uses. Trying out the free version in the meantime, and so far, so good. Thanks! 
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Jun 12, 2019 04:00
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Golden-i posted:I got out last night and tested some more and, unfortunately, I'm not pretty positive that it's not the tracking/alignment that's causing me issues. Pointing at M81, nowhere near the meridian, anything longer than a minute was streaking pretty badly and it was always in different directions - sometimes vertical, sometimes horizontal. So, yeah, the motors are too strained with this much weight. I'll get a smaller refractor in the meantime but I adore this reflector so much, it's just awesome at DSOs through this light pollution. Time to save up and shop for a new mount and tracking camera (since I assume that my Celestron StarSense is probably not going to work with another brand of mount). Very nice! Yeah, the Starsense only works with Celestron mounts. Are you using a computer to do your capturing? When I got my EQ6-R, I started using EQMOD, and Sharpcap's plate-solving can talk to it and provide alignment points. So that's what I do now for alignment every time. I think there's a way for Sharpcap (or astrotortilla) to inform the Celestron driver about alignment points, but it's not exposed in the same way EQMOD does. I thought it was a definite upgrade. Platystemon posted:SkySafari is what I use and what nearly everyone I’ve talked with uses. I like SkySafari too but I also used Pocket Universe for a long time and it's pretty good.
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Jun 12, 2019 04:08
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hannibal posted:Very nice! Yeah, I'm actually using Sharpcap to run my captures, so that wouldn't be much of a leap for me at this point. I'm considering the EQ6-R, in fact, but I'm not sure when I'll take the plunge on it. Can it run plate-solving through the primary imaging camera, or is it recommended to get a dedicated camera for tracking? ZWO just came out with some relatively cheap mono tracking cameras, but just the same, it would be great if I could skip it entirely.
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Jun 12, 2019 13:43
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Golden-i posted:Yeah, I'm actually using Sharpcap to run my captures, so that wouldn't be much of a leap for me at this point. I'm considering the EQ6-R, in fact, but I'm not sure when I'll take the plunge on it. Can it run plate-solving through the primary imaging camera, or is it recommended to get a dedicated camera for tracking? ZWO just came out with some relatively cheap mono tracking cameras, but just the same, it would be great if I could skip it entirely. Yes, you solve via the main camera (the only way to do it IIRC). I like my eq-6r a lot, definitely a great step up from the avx. I also considered the ioptron equivalent (I forget the model) and you’d probably be good with either. I really like eqmod though and I don’t know if it supports ioptron mounts.
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Jun 12, 2019 20:17
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hannibal posted:Yes, you solve via the main camera (the only way to do it IIRC). Awesome, one less thing to worry about. I've been reading up on EQMOD and it looks great, considering that I'll already have my laptop with me when I'm taking pictures. How do you connect your computer to the mount? Via the handset RJ11 in PC Direct mode? Or do you have a signal converter to adapt from a serial out to TTL voltages? I've read that some people seem to have issues with the PC Direct mode and go with a straight connection to the mount, but I've also read that plenty of people have no issues with this at all.
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Jun 12, 2019 20:55
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Well, I decided to put off getting a reflector for a bit and just took the plunge for an EQ6-R Pro, which arrived yesterday. This mount is absolutely gorgeous. Currently putting together a workflow to hopefully test out Friday, if the weather holds out.
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Jun 25, 2019 14:16
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Golden-i posted:Awesome, one less thing to worry about. I use one of the EQDIR cables from here: http://www.store.shoestringastronomy.com/products_eq.htm Specifically for the EQ6-R you use the USB2EQ5. So, USB direct into the mount's RJ-45 port. I don't use the hand controller at all, never have. EQMOD does everything the hand controller would normally do. (I guess that's the PC direct mode, which uses the controller as a passthrough, which is how it works on Celestron mounts)
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Jun 25, 2019 20:08
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hannibal posted:I use one of the EQDIR cables from here: http://www.store.shoestringastronomy.com/products_eq.htm Thanks. I may have to order one of those. At the moment, I'm going through the USB-B on the hand controller, which the PC conveniently sees as a serial-to-USB adapter, so that's nice. I played around this afternoon with a combination of Stellarium/ASCOM/EQMOD drivers and it all seems to work, at least.
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Jun 26, 2019 00:48
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I needed a grab-n-go alternative to my bigass Dob, so I decided to see what I could do with my 6" f/5 Newt (Orion Starblast 6). I ditched the lovely stock focuser and upgraded to a dual-speed 2" GSO Crayford, enlarging the focuser hole with a Dremel. I fully flocked the interior of the telescope tube, with proper flocking paper- not velvet, like I tried to do with the Dob. While I was at it, I blackened the side of the secondary with a Sharpie. I took it off the tabletop mount- stable, but hardly portable- and upgraded to a Vixen Porta II. The aluminum legs are way too shaky, so I stuck some sandwich bags filled with sand in the legs. Not perfect, but better than the cost of a good wooden tripod. Verdict: This is an awesome wide-field telescope. With a 30mm ES82, I get a 3.3 degree true field of view, enough to get the whole North America Nebula or the Veil in one field. With a 2" UHC filter, it's great for huge, dim nebulae. Maybe the secondary is a little too small and I lose a bit of light, but I'm not complaining. The mount is still a little vibration-prone, so I'm open to more ideas on damping that down (more sand??).   The flocking only shows up that well with a flash; without it, it's very dark in there.
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Jun 26, 2019 04:54
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Hi again, I have a question about mounts and dovetails. I stumbled upon a smoking deal on a like new CGEM mount. I'm going to pick it up. Note it's about 3 years old and NOT the CGEM II. The scope I have right now is a Celestron 8SE (and that's the tube I plan putting on the CGEM) but from what I can tell that has the Vixen 1.75" dovetail. The CGEM has a 3" dovetail (from what I can tell). What's the best way to get the 1.75 to 3" ? Would something like this work for my 8" tube? https://www.celestron.com/products/8-inch-dovetail-bar-cge I'd either like a whole new dovetail rail, or do they make adapters?
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Jul 7, 2019 18:12
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slidebite posted:Hi again, I think that bar would work (isn't the CGE the newest version of the CGEM/CGEM II?) or you could look around ADM Accessories and see if they have any adapters. https://www.admaccessories.com/ I've never had to deal with 3" dovetails myself.
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Jul 7, 2019 19:28
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That bar seems to be about the most economical way to go, and I read a review of someone mounting on the optical tube of their 8SE which is exactly what I'll be doing.
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Jul 8, 2019 06:19
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Been having some fun with the new EQ6-R Pro mount. I've got my workflow figured out and can get a very accurate polar alignment, and plate solving near my target seems to get tracking to the point where I can do 5+ minute exposures. Now there's a new problem, because of course there is. EQMOD has issues maintaining tracking, and will seemingly randomly drop tracking altogether. Not ideal for an extended AP session, to say the least. I'm pretty sure the issue is related to voltage regulation. I've been using the smaller Celestron powertank that runs 7AH@12v, and am figuring that it's a combination of this battery being too small for the larger mount and that the powertank seems to have pretty terrible voltage regulation. I'm considering bringing it in to my work to check it out on a signal analyzer, but even at full charge it doesn't like to maintain tracking and will just randomly go from sidereal tracking to "not tracking" on a whim. From what I've read, the EQ6R doesn't behave predictably if it drops near or below 11-12v, which I guess isn't a surprise. I've picked up an AC/DC inverter with a voltage regulator (this one) to keep things at a steady 13.8V/5A max (within the range of 12-15v that the EQ6-R requires) and will have to figure out a new regulated battery setup if I want to take this somewhere that I can't get AC power. So, this is mostly just a cautionary tale for anyone else who might have intermittent issues like this. I'm excited for the next time I can take the mount out, when or if it ever stops raining.
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Jul 9, 2019 23:58
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Golden-i posted:Been having some fun with the new EQ6-R Pro mount. I've got my workflow figured out and can get a very accurate polar alignment, and plate solving near my target seems to get tracking to the point where I can do 5+ minute exposures. Interesting, I have not used my EQ6-R with a battery. Do you have the lithium Powertank? I have that one too and can give it a shot to reproduce your issue. You've probably already looked but this thread on Cloudy Nights seems to describe similar problems: thread That said, yeah I love my EQ6-R. I have not done a lot of DSO imaging with it but I was getting really stable tracking without any autoguiding. Of course I'm not going above a few minutes so far in my light polluted skies.
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Jul 10, 2019 00:16
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Speaking of my EQ6-R, here's some planetary imaging from the other night. 
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Jul 10, 2019 00:30
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hannibal posted:Interesting, I have not used my EQ6-R with a battery. Do you have the lithium Powertank? I have that one too and can give it a shot to reproduce your issue. You've probably already looked but this thread on Cloudy Nights seems to describe similar problems: thread I actually didn't see that thread, but there's a few on the subject of the EQ6-R's voltage sensitivity. I do have the lithium powertank, this one in fact: https://www.celestron.com/products/powertank-12v-power-supply I don't know how many amps the EQ6-R draws as it tracks, but if it's anywhere near the maximum it will kill that tank in like 2 hours, so I'm wondering if it has a harder time with voltage regulation when there's a higher amp draw? I've had zero issues with it on my AVX mount, which has a lower draw but still should be in the 12v3A max range. Just an interesting thing. I'm really loving this mount. I did a couple of exposures of the Iris nebula before I had issues with power. Here's a mostly unprocessed frame (1x4min, debayered, histogram stretched, but nothing else):  Tracking is soooooo close. I think that the slight drift you can see near the center of the frame might just be the voltage issues - the stars are dots, with just a tiny bit of a streak coming off of them, so I don't think it's tracking drift... maybe just the mount struggling to keep up with the sidereal tracking at too low of a voltage? Farther out from the center of the frame, the streaking is because I'm not using a coma corrector at all. I'll test it more next time I go out. I'm really surprised with how well DSOs work in my neighborhood, I'm in a bortle class 7-8 area. I bet I could push it to 5 mins before I start to have any additional issues with light pollution. hannibal posted:Speaking of my EQ6-R, here's some planetary imaging from the other night. These are awesome! What scope are you using for that? Golden-i fucked around with this message at 01:07 on Jul 10, 2019 |
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Jul 10, 2019 00:43
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Golden-i posted:I've picked up an AC/DC inverter with a voltage regulator (this one) to keep things at a steady 13.8V/5A max (within the range of 12-15v that the EQ6-R requires) and will have to figure out a new regulated battery setup if I want to take this somewhere that I can't get AC power. Sort of silly option that will work: plug an inverter into the powertank and plug the thing you just bought (which I want to be clear, is not itself an inverter) into that. More efficient option: get a buck–boost converter to keep the voltage stable as the batteries discharge. Something like this, though I’m not recommending that one in particular and if you do want that one, it’s cheaper on eBay or AliExpress. Platystemon fucked around with this message at 01:03 on Jul 10, 2019 |
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Jul 10, 2019 01:01
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Platystemon posted:Sort of silly option that will work: plug an inverter into the powertank and plug the thing you just bought into that. Ok this is so drat hilarious that I might just try it to see what happens. I've got a DC-to-AC inverter already. I mean, it should work, shouldn't it? Platystemon posted:More efficient option: get a buck–boost converter to keep the voltage stable as the batteries discharge. Something like this, though I’m not recommending that one in particular and if you do want that one, it’s cheaper on eBay or AliExpress. This does seem like a nice option. I could pretty easily build an adapter that connects the 12V output to something like this, then has a connection for the telescope's 12V input. Something to consider, thanks!
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Jul 10, 2019 01:12
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Golden-i posted:I actually didn't see that thread, but there's a few on the subject of the EQ6-R's voltage sensitivity. I do have the lithium powertank, this one in fact: https://www.celestron.com/products/powertank-12v-power-supply I don't know how many amps the EQ6-R draws as it tracks, but if it's anywhere near the maximum it will kill that tank in like 2 hours, so I'm wondering if it has a harder time with voltage regulation when there's a higher amp draw? I've had zero issues with it on my AVX mount, which has a lower draw but still should be in the 12v3A max range. Just an interesting thing. This is what I used for my old scope. I intend to use it for this too. Not sure how long I'll get out of it but never ran out of a charge within a few hours with the Nexstar https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B00935L44E/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 In other news, picked up that CGEM and mounted my 8" tube on it.  It's basically new. Still has plastic on a label. Fellow I picked it up off of was super nice. He was the 2nd owner but literally never used it, and it shows. Not a scratch on it, even in the dovetail clamp. The original owner guy never used it out if the field. Either looked into the city with it (  ) or used it on his patio. Going to see what I can get for my Nextstar+ mount that came with the 8SE. Now to read up on how to use it.
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Jul 10, 2019 01:57
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slidebite posted:looked into the city with it (  That scope is gorgeous, I take it that you got things figured out with the dovetail? I'm looking forward to hearing how it works for you. On the powertank's page, it does specifically say "PowerTank Lithium Pro" in the description, but that could be a mistake since I can't find it anywhere in the specs. Oh well. I think what I'll end up doing is getting a deep cycle marine battery and a regulating case to run all of my equipment, but I rarely get the chance to run this setup anywhere that I can't run a long extension cord so it's pretty low priority until this winter, I guess.
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Jul 10, 2019 03:19
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Thanks! Yeah, I got that Celestron Dovetail and it fit like a glove. Nice and tight. I had to move the starsense to the other side of the mount, but no biggie. Fit fine. Not sure when I'm going to have an opportunity to take it out - hopefully before too long. I think I'll update the firmware in the starsense first (I think I last did it in 2015) just to make sure it's all good. RE: Looking into the city. The original owner I guess lived in some mansion on the outskirts of Calgary and has all sorts of awesome, high end astro gear (like, really high end stuff) and because of light pollution would look at the moon and maybe the brightest planets.. but other than that, just look into the city. Through his window. Oh well. Someone has to buy the stuff new so us plebes can buy it hardly used for half the price!  I saw that on the specs too, but that's a lead acid battery in that powertank.. or at least I'm 99% sure. It should have a warning sticker on it? I'm not sure what the reserve is like compared to them. Although the lithium should be a little more resistant to degrading. Maybe?
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Jul 10, 2019 03:33
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Gonna emphasize the update on your Starsense. There were some critical updates on it, apparently, and it works so much better since 2017 or so than it did. I'm keeping my AVX mount around for planetary observations with my lighter mak-cass scope almost entirely because of how much I like the starsense and how well it tracks for shorter exposures.
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Jul 10, 2019 03:42
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That's really good to know - thanks! I'll definitely do it more sooner than later then. Do you know if you can use a 64 bit OS to update? I have a laptop and all the connectors... but I can't remember if I needed to break out my old 32 bit XP Dell or not to do it. Also, this CGEM is beefy. Holy poo poo. With the old nexstar SE I could move the whole assembly around, including optics without much of a worry. No god drat way with this thing. It's gotta be stripped down before I take it outside for sure. I have half a mind to build a small semi-fixed structure in my backyard to keep it in.
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Jul 10, 2019 03:47
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Haha, I felt the same way with the EQ6-R. No hauling that around in one piece. I used Win10 x64 to run my starsense update. I don't know if they've changed the hardware at all in the last few years, mine was just a micro USB connection and a couple software downloads from Celestron. Shouldn't be too much different if you need to use a serial/RJ11 line, though.
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Jul 10, 2019 03:49
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Mine has a micro USB on the back of the camera too. Hey, I could look this up myself but do you know if the hand controller needs to be updated separately? What about the mount itself? I have an RS232/RJ11 cable that I'm sure I used for something 4 years ago but I can't remember what. e: Oh just looked at the photo/diagram in the update software. Yep. Starsense AND hand controller. ee: Got them updated. Had to find somewhat modern drivers for my old USB-Serial cable, but I did and it's done. The update software sensed 2 devices - so I presume the Starsense camera and the controller? Mount itself would be done through the camera or do I need to plug the RJ11 into a port directly on the scope? Or does anyone know if that's even required? Aside, when I mounted the counterweight rod, I loved how I could see right into the body and I saw a nice big fat taper bearing set in there. Literally larger than the outer wheel bearings on my old car. I like that its built relatively heavy duty. slidebite fucked around with this message at 05:03 on Jul 10, 2019 |
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Jul 10, 2019 04:01
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Golden-i posted:These are awesome! What scope are you using for that? Thanks! I'm always surprised they come out that well from here (near DC). Here's the details: quote:Frames: ~1000 each of LRGB, stacked and combined To talk about the batteries again - I have also bought a few large power packs that output 12V, and the Powertank Lithium (basically the same thing) and had terrible luck with all of them and my AVX - one of them burned out the board on my AVX and I had to get a replacement. So I ended up buying a deep cycle marine battery and building a powerbox using Powerpole connectors, and moving everything to 12VDC connectors coming of that as much as possible. I also built two boxes each that contain a Powerpole distribution panel and a USB3 hub. That combo has worked great. (although I've only used it in the field a couple of times - in my observatory I just connect a bench power supply instead of the battery) slidebite posted:Celestron updating stuff Having an AVX and a Starsense, here's what I remember: - The Starsense camera has firmware - The Starsense controller (that replaces the one that comes with the mount) has firmware - The mount has firmware You can update the mount's firmware with your USB-serial cable plugged into to your Starsense controller (plugged into the mount). It is basically an updated Nexstar controller and works the same as it, as a PC connector. Mount -> controller -> USB/serial converter -> PC You'll use the same cable config if you want to computer-control your the mount. I used 64-bit Windows to update everything (I haven't used a 32-bit OS in... years)
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Jul 10, 2019 05:48
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hannibal posted:Speaking of my EQ6-R, here's some planetary imaging from the other night. Hey these rule, thanks for taking them!
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Jul 10, 2019 05:57
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hannibal posted:Speaking of my EQ6-R, here's some planetary imaging from the other night. I want to look at Saturn, but have been having issues staying up late enough for a proper view (and atmosphere)
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Jul 10, 2019 21:13
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I hauled the scope and mount up north with me last weekend, it was the first time in the ~5 years that I've had my scope that I've been able to. I wouldn't quite call it a true dark site, but it's miles better than I'm used to. It was pretty fantastic, once the mount was tracking I set up some high-gain 2 second exposures and could easily see the Ring Nebula in that time, which was so freaking cool. There were some tracking issues, though, so I didn't do any photography. I was getting eaten alive by the mosquitoes so I didn't do a whole lot of debugging, and I'm kicking myself for not saving at least a couple of exposures for a follow-up on it, but on a 5-min exposure I was seeing what looks a lot like backlash in the images - stars were streaking slightly along the RA axis, but it wasn't symmetrical like I would expect to see if my polar alignment or tracking were off, just narrow streaks on either side of an otherwise mostly-circular star. The PA was as accurate as I think I can possibly get it, I made sure to adjust my Long/Lat on all of my software for the new location, and was using a few plate solves from various points in the sky in SharpCap for guiding corrections. I think it could be a couple things: PEC+autoguiding might be enough to correct it, and/or I need to adjust the RA tracking gain in EQMOD to make it a little less sensitive so that it wavers less when tracking. I'm heading back up there this weekend if the weather is nice and would like to experiment with this stuff. Anyone with DSO experience have any other ideas that I should consider? (Also, if I have problems again this weekend, I will definitely remember to save some captures).
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Jul 16, 2019 16:12
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Well, I figured out my goto/tracking issues! Everything I slewed to was far off-center, even though I had made sure to change all of my location info in Stellarium and EQMOD, since i was shooting a couple hundred miles away from where I usually do. I couldn't get it to change anything for the last couple weeks, though. On a whim, I re-installed the SkyWatcher drivers, and bam! Everything is dead center on a single plate solve. So, something in the SkyWatcher/ASCOM/something was hanging on to the old location info (I didn't even change any settings in the drivers, just a straight-up re-install). Tracking was still a bit off, but now it's just due to me not having a guide scope for longer exposures. I set up for 70x60sec exposures and managed to get 21 that were passable, though Pixinsight showed the eccentricity on almost all of the frames was still pretty drat high - a few were around .4, most were over .7. So, after all that, here's M27 - the Dumbbell Nebula  Link to full-size 21x60sec lights, 10x dark, 10x flat 8" Celestron Reflector @1000mm EQ6-R Pro mount Processed in Pixinsight Next up is a guiding camera to use with PHD2 on my 50mm guiding scope (to be replaced at some point later by a refractor). Currently looking at the new ZWO mini cameras, they look pretty slick.
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Jul 21, 2019 22:07
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That looks great dude
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Jul 22, 2019 04:16
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Agreed! Speaking of guiding, I spent a little time the other night fiddling with my Celestron OAG. I really hate the thing but I should really use it with my SCT instead of a guidescope. I can never get the guide camera parfocal though. Eyeballing the distance looks ok but trying to find stars with PHD2 sucks as I think it is cranking the gain way up unless it locks into some stars. The screen is all static, so there's no way to know if there's stars in there or not. I was thinking of using Sharpcap to adjust it instead. In the meantime because I wanted to measure PEC on my mount, I connected PHD2 to my imaging camera and used it to guide. When calibrating I was getting some funky errors (orthogonality, lots of backlash, DEC/RA rates different) that I spent a couple of hours going back and forth on. At the end of the session I thought, I guess I should check the balance (which I thought was fine) - nope, I had thrown it off by adding the OAG and not rebalancing. I haven't gotten back out to re-measure things but there's a lesson for you: ALWAYS CHECK YOUR BALANCE. Sidebar: EQMOD makes measuring PEC really really easy. Plus since the EQ6-R can store a PEC curve (PPEC), there's a cool way to replay the smoothed out EQMOD AutoPEC result and save it in the mount. Thread on CL with the details
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Jul 22, 2019 05:46
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slidebite posted:That looks great dude Thanks! Hannibal, you're absolutely right - balance is critical. I think that's why I have RA drift/struggling... I'm using a reflector, which has an off-center eyepiece, so my center-of-balance on the RA is always going to be off to one side at certain points in the axis. I'm hoping that a guide camera on a finder scope taking 1-to-2 second exposures will be enough to send correction signals to the mount to keep it on track during longer exposures. Then it's on to PEC, which I didn't get a chance to play with last weekend but seems really interesting, and EQMOD's AutoPEC does make it easy to implement. PPEC seems like an awesome idea, as well. The initial PEC recording of 40 minutes seems doable if it doesn't need to be done every time - are there conditions in which you'd need to re-do a PEC recording? Like if you accidentally move an axis with the clutch still enabled, for example?
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Jul 22, 2019 13:32
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Since I got the CGEM, the original Nexstar+ go-to mount isn't much good to me. I'll try to list it for $200-ish?  Sound reasonable? Heck, do you think I could even sell it?
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Jul 25, 2019 05:15
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So... Is there any astronomy thing I could buy, starting with nothing, for like $1,500 that I could then later upgrade instead of rip and replace if I wanted to get into astrophotography of DSOs? I have a Fuji X-T20 and a ~$200 tripod. I was thinking about getting some sort of star tracker. I have a Rokinon 12mm F2 and a Fuji 55-200mm. I have a pair of binoculars that are pretty good for star gazing. Forget the exact specs. Ones you can hand hold. Any thoughts? [edit: I guess to clarify, at that price range I assume I won't able to get something very astrophotography worthy. I think I'm asking if I could get a telescope and appropriate accessories to just use as a telescope to start and then upgrade/add things to get into astrophotography over time.] Internet Explorer fucked around with this message at 05:42 on Jul 25, 2019 |
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Jul 25, 2019 05:30
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At that price range, it sounds like you're at a similar point to where I started. I went with the Celestron Advanced VX mount that shipped with their 8" reflector scope and one or two eyepieces, which is in the ~$1250 range, I think. It's a really nice beginner-to-intermediate mount that will get you through learning how to do alignments, tracking, and, with a mounting kit, you can probably connect your Fuji to it to start doing planetary astrophotography (I'm pretty sure, at least - I've never tried to hook up a mirrorless camera to a telescope but I would think it should be possible). You can also get or make dovetail adapters to just straight-up connect your camera to the mount for tracking wider-angle, long-exposures. I really like the Newtonian reflector that shipped with it, as well... it's a ridiculously simple design involving two mirrors, no lenses, and is an absolute cannon at 1000mm F/5. With that setup, using my Canon T3i or 80D, I got into planetary photography and began some larger DSOs (Andromeda, the Orion nebula) which I've posted ITT. Once I got into dimmer DSOs and added a tracking camera, it struggled with the weight of the setup and would have noticable drift on exposures longer than one minute, but it got me through the first ~4 years of learning before I needed to upgrade. Examples of shots taken in a lot of light pollution with this AVX mount/scope combo and an unmodified DSLR:     I've since replaced the AVX in the last couple months, but that 8" reflector is still my go-to for DSOs. I'm sure I'll upgrade at some point, but I just really love that thing.
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Jul 25, 2019 16:47
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Ooohhhh what is this?
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Jul 25, 2019 17:42
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Dick Trauma posted:Ooohhhh what is this? That's the Orion Nebula from back in December 2018. That was before I got a CCD camera and started properly shooting DSOs, so I'm really excited to try shooting it again this winter!
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Jul 25, 2019 17:45
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Golden-i posted:At that price range, it sounds like you're at a similar point to where I started... This is super useful info, thank you. Edit: I should find something with an Equatorial mount and not a altazimuth mount for DSOs, right? The reason I ask is my local place is doing a sale and has stuff like this on sale that's mostly within my budget, but it's altazimuth mount. https://milehighastro.com/products/celestron-cpc-800-gps-sct Internet Explorer fucked around with this message at 20:06 on Jul 25, 2019 |
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Jul 25, 2019 19:54
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Internet Explorer posted:This is super useful info, thank you. With an Alt Az mount you'll see field rotation in long exposures (Say, at or above 30 seconds). Fortunately, with today's super low noise CMOS cameras, you don't have to have super long exposures to get good frames that you can live stack with SharpCap (or similar). People use Alt Az mounts to view DSOs with live stacking from their back yards pretty effectively. Now, if you want to do longer exposures and get into really fine professional astrophotography, then you'd want an equatorial mount.
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Jul 25, 2019 20:47
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