I would like to buy a tracking/goto telescope that I could use CCD Camera with. Any price. Good magnification and resolution. To look at planets the Moon and bright Messier objects.
2007-07-30 06:09:23 · 7 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
Please, before you spend any money at all, find an Astronomy club in your area and ask to attend one of Their free Star Parties, open to the public. They will love to show you what is involved in Astro Imaging.
Planetary imaging is one of the most difficult imaging tasks to do well.
While you can get some nice pictures of the moon just by holding the camera up to the eyepiece of any telescope, if you want something a little better than that, a whole lot more is involved.
For deep space imaging, the requirements for a good telescope are almost the opposite of the requirements for planetary imaging.
If you don't know how to accomplish this, frustration will be your only reward.
Deep space imaging sometimes requires exposure times of hours.!! Your mount has to maintain an accuracy during that whole time measured in microns !! The average mount sold with a scope, goto or not, can't come anywhere close to that. As a matter of fact, the mount is the single most important part of the imaging setup, much more important than the Telescope. I can take very good pictures with a mediocre Telescope on a good Mount, but the opposite is definitely not true.
So Please, at least make yourself a little familiar with what's involved before you cough up even a lousy dime.
And you haven't even talked about learning how to find the things you want to take pictures of. Unless you know exactly where to look, Messier objects are not that easy to find. So you need to learn a little about the sky also.
I don't mean to sound negative at all, but I have seen so many folks leave the hobby frustrated because they had unrealistic expectations.
I would rather welcome you into the Hobby and maybe meet you at one of the Events a few years down the road.
Adolph
2007-07-30 07:36:22 · answer #1 · answered by Adolph K 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If you're serious about the photography, an 8" SCT (Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope) on an equatorial mount is a good choice. This is also a good general-purpose observing scope. For photography, the quality of the mount is the most important factor.
For a bit less money, there are scopes like the Meade LXD75 series, and 5" and 6" SCTs from Celestron. Smaller, but marginally adequate for bright objects are the 90mm and larger members of the Meade ETX line.
2007-07-30 14:17:55 · answer #2 · answered by injanier 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You are not looking at a beginner's telescope. If you want to take pictures of Messier objects with a CCD camera.
One requirement is to have an equatorial mount. An Alt-Az goto will not give you satisfactory long exposure pictures. For deep-sky (messier objects) a reflector of 8 inch will be ok.
2007-07-30 13:24:50 · answer #3 · answered by Ernst S 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Make an equatorial mount. An English youke mount is very stable. Forget GoTo; make your own setting circles. Forget magnification; go with aperture. Make your own mirror. It's done all the time. It'll take a few weekends; an experienced mirror maker can make a 4" mirror in a day.
2007-07-30 17:57:18 · answer #4 · answered by Mark 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I'd recommend an 8" Schmidt Cassegrain by Meade or Orion.
http://www.celestron.com
http://www.meade.com
2007-07-31 00:12:15 · answer #5 · answered by minuteblue 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The Celestron NexStar 6SE is one I would recommend; here's a detailed review I wrote of mine recently:
http://www.starrynight.com/sntimes/2007/07/#art2
2007-07-30 13:27:14 · answer #6 · answered by GeoffG 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
find an excellent... Geeks'.... eye glass.
2007-07-30 13:13:12 · answer #7 · answered by CuriousG 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋