5 replies to this topic

[KestrelAviation]

I have a beginning interest in AP and plan to shoot some wide-angle work focusing ( pun intended I guess) on the Milky Way.  Have been doing lots of research and notably to shoot any specific stars/nebula keeping up with the earths rotation will be important.  Does anybody have experience with any particular brand/style they can share? I am using Nikon equipment and have a great tripod.

 

Thanks

 

Craig

[nbanjogal]

I think I'm confused about wide-angle work and focusing on the Milky Way but then trying to shoot specific stars and nebulae… I can't quite see doing both...

 

I shoot the Milky Way often with a wide-angle lens—no equatorial mount required for that, as I'm guessing you already know. 

 

I've been learning to shoot specific stars and nebulae (and faraway galaxies!) with telescopes and CCD cameras at the physics observatory of our nearby university, so I understand the need for the equatorial mount for those "close-ups"... I think I'm just thrown by "wide-angle" in your opening. With a telescope, I think there is no longer such a thing as wide-angle (or at least, I guess it's very relative in terms of field of view), and you will get only tiny portions of Milky Way. So…are you mounting a telescope on your camera? Is that why you need the equatorial mount?

 

Maybe the problem with my understanding that when I think "Milky Way photography" I think of this kind of photo:

 

Milky Way over Oxbow Bend by nbanjogal, on Flickr

 

But you perhaps are trying to do this kind of photo?:

 

M42, Orion Nebula – Tinyblue Observatory

(Holy cow--had a look at this website--this guy is amazing.)

 

 

 

Well, despite my confusion, our instructor at the observatory has promised us a list of consumer versions of the equipment we use there, so when I get that, I will be happy to pass those recommendations on.

[Brian]

http://www.bhphotovi...s=REG&A=details

 

Celestron makes motorized mounts with computerized control.

 

When I did this with friends 40 years ago everything was manually aligned and driven. Mount the camera on the telescope and use the controls.

 

This motorized mount looks a lot easier, and for wide-angle lenses should easily do the job. 

[KestrelAviation]

nbanjogal:

 

Thanks for the great response.  Nice that you have access to a local University and their tools!  Yes I have started shooting the Milky Way as in the picture you displayed  - using a wide-angle lens. I am certainly not that good! 

 

For the specific stars/nebulae as you indicated, equatorial control is needed.  Look forward to the list you may receive from the school.

 

Craig

[Brian]

The "Alt-Azimuth" mount could provide tracking depending on the software provided and if the reference point is fed into the computer, but I'm not sure how it has been implemented.

 

The equatorial mount that we used had the old-style clock-drive in it, which required manual corrections for lengthy exposures. The advantage is that with an equatorial mount, you can keep track of a star using one control, once properly set up with the reference point. These days, two axis corrections with an az-alt mount could be done in software as each axis is under computer control. So- just a matter of how the manufacturer did it. 

[morticiaskeeper]

I've never been happy with my astrophotography, but I'm starting to get there.

This was taken with a Raspberry Pi through a 25mm eyepiece on a Skywatcher 1145p scope with an equatorial mount and a motor. The video was about 30 seconds long.



Processing is a major component in getting a good astro shot. This was done in Registax 5. The shot was taken from my driveway, so there was a fair. It of light pollution.

There are DSLR mounts available to fit onto EQ mounts, but it does depend on how much you want to spend. If you're happy with your tripod, perhaps making a DIY eq mount that will fit onto your tripod is the way to go. There are some DIY plans involving two bits of wood, hinged at the correct angle. The tripod thread you will need is 1/4" Whitworth, although 1/4" UNC will be fine for tripod use.

I've mounted my D80 with 600mm lens onto the back of my scope, but I wasn't happy with the results, I've also fitted the D80 directly to the scope with a T mount adaptor. That was better.

All my disappointing results have been before I starting using Registax, so I'm hoping to see an improvement.