New member here

[Johatin]

Hello everybody.........i'm new to this forum....i'm glad i found it......all photo's are taken with a Canon DSLR 350d,(not modified) either piggybacked or coupled to a crappy, forever uncollimated 6-inch f/7 newtonian.....no motors,
all hand guided!! But so worth it!!......
I'm troubled by the debate of which telescope to buy next, that will work good with a DSLR, a few things I need.....
1. high resolution lunar/planetary.....
2. deep sky....
3. motors!!!!!
my research has pushed me towards the jack of all trades.....8-inch Schmidt
Cassegrain, most likely the LX-90......but i don't want to make a huge mistake,
especially after waiting so long..........any advice will be greatly appreciated.
Thanx

[Radar]

Hi Johatin,

Welcome to the site mate. There is a welcoming bunch of guys on here, maybe one or two secretive females that rarely post, and then there are the shocking jokes made by Astro Dave, lol. (only joking Dave, your jokes are good mate).

Your photos are great mate. Astrophotography is extremley rewarding.

As far as which telescope to buy, what do you see yourself imaging the most? DSO's or planetary?

[phoenix]

G day Johatin.
Wellcome to the site.
Nice photos like to see more. :cool!:




cheers Jason:pipethinker:

[Mick]

Hello and welcome mate, Nice photos. :thumbsupmate: I have had an LX 90 for 5 years they are a solid scope, I will never part with it. I don't use it for a lot of photography but I find it adequate for bright planetary imaging. An Eq mount would be more suited to the deep space stuff IMHO if that is what you want to do.

[Draig]

Hi There Johatin :thumbsupmate:

A another welcome to the site.

I cann't help with you on advise for Astro Photography. But I can tell you Great Photos those are :cool!: !

I have just purchased a 8" Skywatcher newtonian on a HEQ5 mount, but due to bad weather ( and now a full moon :ahh!: ) I haven't had a chance to use it yet. Still I mioht set it up in the back yard and see what Saturn looks like through it.

Anyway Cheers and Welcome
Colin

[Noel Carboni]

Welcome!

Great images.

I have a 10" LX200 SCT. The one thing to remember with SCTs is that they have big apertures, but quite long focal lengths (e.g., the 8" LX90 has a 2000mm focal length). What this means in general is that your astrophotos will be closeups with an SCT, and you'll need longer exposures. What many folks don't realize is that many of the most beautiful objects in the sky are actually quite large, just faint. For beginning astrophotography, you might want to consider a small but good quality refractor - for example a Takahashi Sky-90. With a focal length reducer you end up at around 500mm focal length, which will give a great field of view on a dSLR imager. Plus, with the shorter focal length and brighter images will give you the ability to capture objects with shorter exposures - all of which which puts less demand on the mount to track perfectly.

Hope this helps!

-Noel

[Johatin]

thanx guys......its cool to finally be able to chat with other people about
astrophotography......i'll post some more pics for ya....same equipment setup,
i don't know if anyone noticed in my pics....but i know nothing about dark
frames...etc. am I missing any important steps in processing? As far as what i'll image most.....i don't think I can answer that question with out my head blowing up....lol......I want to do both..........i'm thinking the LX-90,
or a SCT on a german equatorial mount......still got a couple months to decide
though......see ya later
Jon

[Radar]

Hi Johatin,

That LX 90 is probably an all good rounder for DSO's and Planetary. You'll need a focal reducer though.

That last shot of the moon you posted is awesome. Amazing detail. Did you do any processing to it?

[Johatin]

thanx, radar.....that moon pic is actually a mosaic of 3 images, and the insert image is the same night, just a smaller focal length. i wish my telescope still
resolved that kind of detail.....but i stripted the screws in the mirror mount,
so i had to drill them out, and in the process i destroyed the mirror cell....
so now it won't stay collimated....but i can still do piggyback.....
see ya

[Radar]

so i had to drill them out, and in the process i destroyed the mirror cell....
so now it won't stay collimated....but i can still do piggyback.....
see ya

I'm sure you would be able to pick up the spare parts for next to nothing from somewhere. Have you tried asking a Meade dealer? There is usually second hand parts floating around somewhere. I'll ask at my local astro shop, he used to have a Meade 8 inch SCT that he butchered for spare parts. I'll find out if he still has it.

[Johatin]

hey radar, the telescope i currently have is a celestron 6-inch f/7 newtonian
i think its the c-150hd.....its got a built in barlow lens.....which i've heard is
junk....but anyway........i checked out naturespeak.com....i have to say those are some killer pictures man...........i'm officially jealous.....haha....keep up the good work!!

[Radar]

hey radar, the telescope i currently have is a celestron 6-inch f/7 newtonian
i think its the c-150hd.....its got a built in barlow lens.....which i've heard is
junk

Can you remove that barlow lens Jon? You will double the speed of your scope if you can, and also widen and brighten your view by a factor of two.



i checked out naturespeak.com....i have to say those are some killer pictures man...........i'm officially jealous.....haha....keep up the good work!!

Thanks mate. :thumbsupmate:

[Draig]

Hi Johatin,

great set of photos. Loved the one with the moons and the trees

cheers colin

[Johatin]

thanx....draig....that pic is the last bit of the eclipse the other night.....
Radar........i can't remove the barlow....but i took apart my scope, and cleaned it really good.....I also collimated it to my best judgement......I'm going out tonight to do some piggyback and also try moon and saturn shots...
even know it's 25 degree's(F).........wish me luck...........see you guys later.

[Draig]

HI Johatin,

Good luck tonight(?)

But one quick question -where is Nashua?

Cheers Colin

[Johatin]

sure....nashua is in New Hampshire, USA......1 hour north of boston.......

[Radar]

Hey Jon, what's the light pollution factor there like? I imagine Boston is quite bad, and these days, one hour from a big city is sometimes not enough.