New article - How to take photographs of space

[Barry]

Got bored and wrote this up today.

I hope it helps.

Baz.

http://asignobservatoryii.webs.com/astrophotographytips.htm

[Tatts]

Haven't finished it all yet but awesome work Barry. It's a great read. Love the uppercuts. haha.

Dunno how useful it is for astro photography but if you have a smart phone you can download google sky maps. It's an interesting app even if you aren't into astro photography :)

[Barry]

Haven't finished it all yet but awesome work Barry. It's a great read. Love the uppercuts. haha.

Dunno how useful it is for astro photography but if you have a smart phone you can download google sky maps. It's an interesting app even if you aren't into astro photography :)

Thanks mate. Yeah, those apps are handy for sure.

Baz.

[Scottymc]

Man just read it all. Love it. Id love that DSO camera for bird work hehehehe. Whats the price tag on one of those in the pictures. 40000 kidneys?
Great right up mate. You could probably through a few links to the star trail tracking tripods though!.

[Barry]

You could probably through a few links to the star trail tracking tripods though!.

Done.

[Psycoco]

Thanks Barry. That was one very interesting and useful post and quite a read.

Makes me want to go out tonight to play.

[AK7]

Awesome stuff, Barry. This is something I've wanted to try for a while. Got some questions for you - will hit you up when I get home.

[plusnq]

Great article Barry. Thanks for posting.

Cheers

Shane

[Barry]

Have fun folks.

Baz.

[caralan]

Great work Barry - thanks. I'm going to give it a try again - if the clouds ever go away....

[AK7]

I'm interested in Astrophotography in various forms In particular, widefield. It seems either I missed the part about tracking mounts when I first read the article, or it's been edited since then. Either way, that question has been answered. So my next question is:

Would something like this (http://www.skywatcher.com/swtinc/product.php?class1=3&class2=306) be suitable? Do you know of any other tracking mounts that may be more affordable, yet still up to the task?

Next question is - do you have any tips advice for mounting a camera (Nikon D7000) to a Celestron spotting scope? I'm thinking of getting the Celestron to Nikon adaptor and mounting my camera to Dad's scope and see if I can't get some shots of the moon or other distant objects.

Thanks :)

[Barry]

I'm interested in Astrophotography in various forms In particular, widefield. It seems either I missed the part about tracking mounts when I first read the article, or it's been edited since then. Either way, that question has been answered. So my next question is:

Would something like this (http://www.skywatcher.com/swtinc/product.php?class1=3&class2=306) be suitable? Do you know of any other tracking mounts that may be more affordable, yet still up to the task?

Next question is - do you have any tips advice for mounting a camera (Nikon D7000) to a Celestron spotting scope? I'm thinking of getting the Celestron to Nikon adaptor and mounting my camera to Dad's scope and see if I can't get some shots of the moon or other distant objects.

Thanks :)

The mount in the link is an alt-az mount, which means it follows the stars in steps. Not good for long-exposure astrophotography. You need an equatorial mount that is tilted to the same degree as your lattitude above or below the equator, so the mount can follow the stars in the same smooth curve, not steps.

For your second question, use a t-ring and t-adaptor and make sure your camera and telescope are balanced and counter-weighted so you don.t stress and wear the motor drives in the mount and ensure accurate and smooth tracking.

[tanz]

A great write up, thank you for posting :)

[AK7]

The mount in the link is an alt-az mount, which means it follows the stars in steps. Not good for long-exposure astrophotography. You need an equatorial mount that is tilted to the same degree as your lattitude above or below the equator, so the mount can follow the stars in the same smooth curve, not steps.Cool thanks for that :) I take it most tracking motors can be programmed to tilt according to your latitude?


For your second question, use a t-ring and t-adaptor and make sure your camera and telescope are balanced and counter-weighted so you don.t stress and wear the motor drives in the mount and ensure accurate and smooth tracking.Ah - I was just intending to do static shots with this setup, but I can see in future that I may want to do something that involves tracking too. Thanks again for the heads up :)

[Barry]

Cool thanks for that :) I take it most tracking motors can be programmed to tilt according to your latitude?

Ah - I was just intending to do static shots with this setup, but I can see in future that I may want to do something that involves tracking too. Thanks again for the heads up :)

Most of them have screw that you wind up to get the correct angle and lock them in place. Look up German Equatorial Mount on wiki or Google. There are many variants. An EQ5 or EQ6 should suffice for a camera and lenses, up to a medium telescope. The bigger the gear, the bigger the mount you need to support it accurately.

Baz.