Mount suitable for Astrophotagraphy?

[Caveman]

Hi all,

I'm looking for the good oil on my next equipment upgrade.

I have a Meade DSI and want to combine this with my 8 inch GSO but I am yet to procure a suitable mount for tracking.

Many of the equipment suppliers recommend the eq5 mounts for up to 12 inch telescopes.

The other option I've been considering is to get my hands on a second hand LX90. Does anyone here have experience with using these for astrophotography.

Also can anyone suggest a good not too expensive ($2000 max)refractor/mount combination too?

Thanks for your thoughts

[Caveman]

Thanks Shevill,(If you are reading this)

I just found your previous post re mounts for astrophotography.

[rmcpb]

One rule for astrophotography ---------------- over mount your scope.

For an 8" f6 an EQ6 would be the go.

Cheers

[Caveman]

Thanks Rob,:thumbsupmate:

This one looks like it will fit the bill. It will take loads up to 20 kg so ok for upgrading later on!
http://www.myastroshop.com.au/products/details.asp?id=MAS-043b

Seems like a good price too!

[Radar]

Hi Caveman,

Looks like you are onto most of what you need, but just adding some stuff. With a mount, you really get what you pay for. The EQ6 are good value for money, you'd be hard pressed to find one of similar quality at that price. As far as I know, they work well for astro photo's.

Stephen (http://www.myastrospace.com/forums/member.php?u=304) (or as we have come to know him "Generous Steve") has just sold one of his LX90's and if my memory serves me right, he has just bought an EQ6.

http://www.myastrospace.com/forums/showthread.php?p=7889#post7889

He would be good for pratical feedback, I'll PM him and let him know you are thinking of buying one and we'll see what he says.

Keep us posted if you have thoughts on a different type of mount.

All the best mate.

Regards

Ray

[AstroTasmania]

Hi Mike,

Go for the EQ6, it is the pick of the lower end mounts. The bigger the mount the better for photographic work.

I have an EQ6 as my little portable mount, which I drive and pulse guide through the EQMOD interface and laptop, which provides much better accuracy and range of objects, plus auto mosaic and a host of other very useful things.

Join the Yahoo EQMOD user group, the software is free and you only need to buy the little EQDIRECT interface. The laptop and guiding is done through the single DB9 connector and you don't even need the hand paddle. I use a GPS unit on mine from Chris Carson in Canada, works a treat.

Clear skies...
Shevill

[Caveman]

One rule for astrophotography ---------------- over mount your scope.

For an 8" f6 an EQ6 would be the go.

Cheers

Hopefully this is big enough. :bow: I have ordered an extension tube as the bottom of the OTA doesn't clear the tripod when operating near zenith. Although I suspect for general viewing I may not always need to use it as even I will need something to stand on.:crazy:

As I am a Newbie to EQ goto I'd appreciate any operational tips.:biggrin:

[AstroTasmania]

Hi Michael,

You will have a lot more success with this EQ mount and photography. Unfortunately, the tripod as it comes is too tall for the larger Newtonian's, in that it puts the EP so high off the ground - and a bit top heavy - so be careful.

I overcame this problem by making a pier mount half the height, which is interchangeable with both my LXD55(no longer used) & EQ6 heads, which is my portable replacement. My Alhena EQ head is a LOT bigger & too heavy to cart around.

see links:
http://picasaweb.google.com/AstroTasmania/MeadeLXD55SN10ModsImprovements/photo#5004106420890039570

http://picasaweb.google.com/AstroTasmania/MeadeLXD55SN10ModsImprovements/photo#5004106442364876082
This may give you some ideas if you have access to any workshop facilities.

Clear skies...
Shevill

[Radar]

Hi Mike,

The fun is about to begin! I don't know much about this mount but I'm sure others here will shed some light on it. I know Stephen (Generous Steve to those that know him) has recently bought one, I'll pm him and get his feedback.

Ray

[Caveman]

Some nicely engineered items there Shevill. I have considered maybe getting a pier for the back yard that way I can at least beat the hieght problem at home.

Once I get up and going I will adapt ideas to suit.

Luckily Im just tall enough for everything to be reachable. Even though the mount is quite solid its very manageble moving about once the OTA and counterwieghts have been moved.

All I have to do now is wait for the clouds to clear.

Thanks guys

[Stephen]

G'day Michael,
Congratulations on your new mount mate, my first impression of the EQ6 Pro goto mount as I opened the box was " Bloody hell it's big". Then after dragging it out back and puting it on the observatory mount I realised bloody hell it's big and heavy.... :smile:

Once mounted, had the twin scopes, a Meade 5000 series ED80 triplet and Saxon ED80 mounted on an MDF board, put on and I'd played with it for a few days I found it is smooth as silk, solid, and dead accurate. Even after a very quick StarTarg alignment, I was slewing from northern hemi objects to southern ones and dropping them into the 18mm eyepiece each and every time.

Next, I downloaded EQMOD and joined the group and the learning curve went through the roof. You must read everything you can about it. It's not complicated but if you don't know what to do you will very quickly get lost and nothing will work.
I've got all the extra bits and pieces that are suggested either here or in the mail on their way here.

Over the last 2 weeks, weather permitting, I've been tweaking the alignment and doing some test shots as I go. I can do a 3 minute unguided image without start trails. I'm in the process now of getting the guiding sorted through PHD, a free and excellent guiding application.

I'm also waiting for a full side by side scope system from Luke over at http://www.starstuff.com.au/ He has specialised in EQ6 stuff lately and is designing and building the set up for my scope. Pix will be posted as soon as it arrives and is in place.

Not much more I can say except........ it's awsome
have fun and clear skies
Stephen

[Tenacious Del]

nice mount caveman. I am jealous. :crazy:

[Caveman]

Hi Stephen,

Thanks for your input. I managed to get outside last night despite some sporadic cloud cover.

My thoughts on opening the box were the same. I thought I'd bought some sort of heavy metal 1960's style sewing machine. And real heavy MAN!

Anyway its quite manageble but I can see why they saw the need to bring out the HEQ5.

Oh if you have a spare minute could you elaborate a little on autoguiding. I must admit after reading the EQMOD stuff my brain still has a very fuzzy grasp of this concept. Is this a software or hardware function. I know it seems to be for stabilizing the mount for long exposures? What sort of equipment do I need to carry this function out.

Anyway I'm going to trawl the EQMOD sight today for answers to an initial snag I had last night but you may have a solution. The inital start up was smooth. My southern aspect is light polluted so I had to approximate polar allignment by operating off the log axis of the cross intersecting with a line 90 degree adjacent to the pointers. Three star allignment went well and only had to move the scope to centre with the objects only just either being in or out of the FOV. I tracked the moon for a while and did some data capture. Then I thought maybe I can improve the allignment so I started again (bad idea!). The mount had no idea and was slewing all over the place. I restarted by switching on and off, an improvement but no where near the initial success. No matter what I did the allignment was a good 5 to 10 degrees east of the allignment star. Choosing different stars made no difference. I checked time, elevation and position data but I couldn't come up with a reason why all of a sudden after the inital success the mount got confused. I suspect that maybe my first polar allignment was just dumb luck!

There is most likely a simple explanation as I do recall an EQMOD member talking about a similar problem so I sure this is just a teething problem.

I aggree with you the movement of the mount is very smooth and effortless and a joy to watch.

I'll upload a photo later

Thanks

Mike:crazy:

[Stephen]

G'day Mike,
Here's my EQ bible, http://welshdragoncomputing.ca/eqmod/doku.php
you may have already found it over at the EQMOD site. It's my constant reference about most of the little niggley problems that cropped up as I was setting up.
BEWARE!!!!! your latitude disk may not be accurate. I was told this by Luke who also has an EQ6. SOLUTION? see below....$12 at Bunnings and set it into your head dovetail and adjust to your latitude. Mine was out by about 3+ degrees.
My setup is, Starry night pro 5 for working out what to look at and control of the scope through the EQMOD application once installed. PHD for guiding the scope using a webcam or something more substantial if you have it.
I'm using an Orion Starshoot planetary imager.... well I will be when I get it all sorted.

Ok, a few extras I have bought to make life a tad easier....
1. Gps module for the Synscan V3 http://www.myastroshop.com.au/products/details.asp?id=MAS-323

2. A GPUSB adapter and some extras
http://www.store.shoestringastronomy.com/products_gp.htm
so you can run the scope control through a USB port instead of a serial port which you may need for long exposure control of your camera ( but thats another story heh heh) There's also some good info in there and downloadable manuals and links to other stuff.

3. PHD for guiding the scope
http://www.stark-labs.com/
Starky also has a heap of other stuff there as well that is very helpful. Some free and others worth the pennies. I also downloaded Craterlet from here to use with StarTarg for alignment.

4. StarTarg for aligning your scope
http://www.andysshotglass.com/links2.html#startarg
the best $20 I've ever spent. You download it and then when you pay for it, Andy sends you the rego number. You don't need to now much as it tells you what to do how to do it and I had my scope aligned and running before my coffee got cold :smile:


hope this helps mate
clear skies and good luck :woot:
Stephen

[Stephen]

G'day Mike,

Firstly....
I always park the scope before shutting the power off, Unless the scope is in such a position that it might hurt itself. If you just shut down, you lose any alignments etc that you have done and it starts from scratch next time.
I've got three little circles on the paving slabs out back where I used to set up the tripod. I set it up initially and then aligned it as accurately as I could, then drew the cicles around the feet of the tripod . When I finished a session, I'd park the scope and then power down and put it all away. Next night, drag it out and put the tripod back in the same spot in the circles and then fire up the scope. It should, if you havent released the clutches and moved the scope in its ra/dec positions, be very close to aligned. Do a quick alignment run with strtarg and your right for the night.


ok, autoguiding is basically, you have a camera producing a picture of a star on your PC screen and software you are using to get it talks to your scope and as the star moves, your pc moves your scope motors to keep the star in the picture.

There a few ways of doing this. My way is.....

I have twin scopes on my mount. One, usually the Saxon ED80, has an Orion planetary imager, sort of a souped up webby, that I use to get a live image of a star and have it show up on the screen in PHD Guiding. Using this program, I then select a star on the screen to be my guide star. During this time, you can also use the star image to focus your scope.
PHD guiding now takes over and starts following the star. Normally your scope will keep the star on the screen because you have done such an excellent job of aligning heh heh.... BUT, if the star starts to move out of position, the program sees this and tells the scope motors to slow down or go faster to keep the star in place. This will continue till you stop it.
In the meantime, your imaging camera, mine is a Canon 400D attached to the other scope beside it, which can be on a piggyback scope is taking multiple images or one long exposure.

Hope this de fuzzies a little. It's not easy but it isn't hard either. There is just all this new stuff to learn and even though you think it's almost magic boogada boogada.... the bits and pieces slowly come together.
Start slowly and at the beginning and then as you get the hang of one thing.. go feral :crazy: and try something else.... it can be great fun.

clear skies
Stephen

[Caveman]

I'll give the Star Targa a shot. Looks like auto guiding will be some ways away for me. As you said start slow then go feral! I've been pondering Orion ED80's for some time now and it looks like I may have a reason sometime later to acquire one. Just as well the EQ6 can take up to 20 kg.

As I said previously I did attempt some frame capture on the moon but when I went to look this morning I discovered that I must have not hit the save button.

The craterlet software looks useful I'll have a look at that too.

Bye for now and thanks for your interest

[Caveman]

G'day Mike,
BEWARE!!!!! your latitude disk may not be accurate. I was told this by Luke who also has an EQ6. SOLUTION? see below....$12 at Bunnings and set it into your head dovetail and adjust to your latitude. Mine was out by about 3+ degrees.
Stephen


Hi again Stephen

I have a similar instument that I used on the dob to check my alt level. Its a magnetic circular level. When I checked it the mount was out by 2 degrees.

I've done a bit more research on auto guiding. Do you autoguide through your hand controller or do you have a plug in unit for the mount? I believe the later is superior. If you plug in what unit do you use and what do you recommend. I won't be diving into this at this stage as I have well and trully exhausted this years astronomy budget. Good thing its near the end of the year eh!.

Have a great Christmas etc and thanks for your time.

Michael

[Stephen]

G'day Michael,
My new GPUSB adapter just arrived. It plugs directly into the guide port on the scope and then into a USB port on the pc. Very efficient way of guiding I've been told and it leaves the serial port on the pc open for other uses.

You already have just about everything you need for guiding. If you have a spare web cam then get an eyepiece adapter so it goes into your scope.
http://www.myastroshop.com.au/products/details.asp?id=MAS-400
download PHD guiding, a free guiding program from stark labs and connect to your serial port with the cables that go from your handset to your pc........and your away.

You can't get out of it that easy mate.... :)

have fun and clear skies
Stephen

[Caveman]

Yes That looks good. I presume the GRUSB adaptor is from Shoestring.

I'll be looking around for some type of ED80 refractor for a guidescope and with those other bibs and bobs I'll be on my way. Bintel have a couple under 400 dollars.

Anyway I will let the budget warm up again for next year.:biggrin: