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   Richard Hendricks (hendric@astronomy.city)'s status on Monday, 05-Feb-2024 04:20:40 JST Richard Hendricks

   in reply to

   • Julien :ve: 🔭:python:
   • GreatGodOfFire

   @greatgodoffire As @jdlbt recommends, for #astrophotography it would be better to get a camera tracker and learn the craft first. 1000mm is not a beginner-level friendly focal length, for sure.

   • Embed this notice
     Richard Hendricks (hendric@astronomy.city)'s status on Monday, 05-Feb-2024 04:20:44 JST Richard Hendricks

     in reply to

     • Julien :ve: 🔭:python:
     • GreatGodOfFire

     @greatgodoffire @jdlbt I think you are mixing "autoguiding" with "tracking". Tracking is the basic "turns with the Earth's rotation" that any electronic mount can do. "Autoguiding" is precision tracking at a arcsecond/few pixel level to account for mount imperfections. No £600 mount+scope will do that. At best you'll be able to take 15s images before they trail. With the high F-ratio of a Mak, that's not much light.

   • Embed this notice
     GreatGodOfFire (greatgodoffire@chaos.social)'s status on Monday, 05-Feb-2024 04:20:50 JST GreatGodOfFire

     in reply to

     • Julien :ve: 🔭:python:

     @jdlbt I started with astrophotography about a year ago with the 135mm lens and made ~150 pictures of the Orion Nebula which I stacked in Siril. The reason I want to use a telescope is that with my current setup the Orion Nebula is only around 300x300 pixels.

     The scopes you suggest are quite expensive, wouldn't just buying a telescope with goto and autoguiding yield bigger and better pictures? Especially Maksutov telescopes seem cheap and have a large focal length and aperture.

   • Embed this notice
     Julien :ve: 🔭:python: (jdlbt@techhub.social)'s status on Monday, 05-Feb-2024 04:20:51 JST Julien :ve: 🔭:python:

     in reply to

     • GreatGodOfFire

     @greatgodoffire 135mm is a good focal length to get started in AP. It is more forgiving and allows you to do reasonably long exposures without autoguiding. If your current EQ mount can track on the RA axis, I'd recommend you give this a try before buying anything.

     In AP, a good goto mount is probably the most important piece of gear to buy. With focal lengths ~200mm and above, autoguiding is required to get long sub-exposures without star trailing, and a goto mount is required for autoguiding. It also allows dithering (move the framing just a little bit between exposures) which helps significantly reduce fixed pattern noise from the camera sensor.

     Once you have a good mount, you can consider APO scopes in the 250-400mm focal length range like the WO Redcat 51 or the Askar FRA400 (I have the FRA400 and it is AMAZING).

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     GreatGodOfFire (greatgodoffire@chaos.social)'s status on Monday, 05-Feb-2024 04:20:52 JST GreatGodOfFire

     I am interested in #astrophotography but my current equipment is quite limited; I have my dad's Canon EOS 5D Mark III (which is defintively a good camera) with a 135mm camera lens as well as a 90/1000 Omegon achromatic refractor telescope on a quite flimsy equatorial mount without goto or automated tracking.
     I am considering getting a better telescope but I have no idea where to start. Are there some telescopes you can recommend I won't have to spend a fortune on?

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     GreatGodOfFire (greatgodoffire@chaos.social)'s status on Monday, 05-Feb-2024 04:58:24 JST GreatGodOfFire

     • Thomas 🔭🕹️
     • Julien :ve: 🔭:python:
     • raspberryswirl

     @thomasfuchs @hendric @jdlbt Oh wow, I thought you need a way longer focal length to capture that much detail! Is there a particular star tracker you can recommend? Although @raspberryswirl's suggested DIY star tracker makes me want to make my own, but I did some calculations and getting enough accuracy might be a challenge.
     Camera lenses with high focal lengths seem to be expensive, is there a specific refractor you can recommend?

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     GreatGodOfFire (greatgodoffire@chaos.social)'s status on Monday, 05-Feb-2024 04:59:53 JST GreatGodOfFire

     in reply to

     • Thomas 🔭🕹️
     • Julien :ve: 🔭:python:
     • raspberryswirl

     @thomasfuchs @hendric @jdlbt @raspberryswirl And regarding the astro camera: Is there a significant difference? I read that filters in cameras get rid of most of the primary emission line of hydrogen, making nebulae much darker.

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     GreatGodOfFire (greatgodoffire@chaos.social)'s status on Monday, 05-Feb-2024 05:03:45 JST GreatGodOfFire

     • Thomas 🔭🕹️
     • Julien :ve: 🔭:python:
     • raspberryswirl

     @thomasfuchs @hendric @jdlbt @raspberryswirl Removing the IR filter will make the camera unsuitable for normal photography usage and my dad still uses the camera for that. I am aware that there are ways to make it clip-on but I don't want to risk breaking the camera.