Telescope

jay12329 · Dr. Evil Joined: 02 May 2003 Karma :

I quite fancy a telescope that I can connect to my Canon SLR. I want to take some moon photos, ISS, toolkit... and maybe some stars and planets too.
Anyone got any suggestions or even better have one sat gathering dust that you want to off load to me Smile

ta
J

Louise · World Chat Champion Joined: 22 May 2006 Karma :

I have a seban comet scope -For the adaptor its an extra £50ish quid - I can see the moon great with mine - cost about £100 all in all.
Managed to see Jupiters moons too (altho tiny stars) but was still a great picture Thumbs Up

This is my scope - shall be getting adaptor soon Thumbs Up

G · The Voice of Reason Joined: 02 Feb 2002 Karma :

bladerunner · World Chat Champion Joined: 09 Sep 2006 Karma :

moon shots aint a problem as it's nice and bright. exposures of 1/100th of a second or lower are not a problem. however taking pics of anything else requires some serious dedication. ie if your looking at saturn or the like (6"+reflector scope)then the magnification required will be like 5 seconds of arc ie the object viewed will cross the screen in just 5 seconds so to get clear images will require some good tracking work!!
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Louise · World Chat Champion Joined: 22 May 2006 Karma :

I had my scope for well over 6 months and never really put it to the test.
Its great for beginners - But deffo read into each scope well.
The ad for mine was 'see jupiters moons/Saturns Rings (yet to be found) but Saturn is 'Side on at the moment' so not great for veiwing.
Yes Ive seen the moons but only slightly - depends how clear/bright they are.
I need a better camera to get decent shots of the moon now tho - Can be an expensive hobbie Smile

bladerunner · World Chat Champion Joined: 09 Sep 2006 Karma :

Spot on Louise the rings will be side on for most of 2009 I'm afraid.I remember 10 years ago finishing a night shift at 4 am and riding the 20 miles home thinking..hmm bloody clear night. You could see the milky way clearly overhead and one interesting bright spot I didn't know what it was. pulled out the then new scope and OMG it was saturn!! I was so wow I even woke the wife up to say "hey come look at this hehe" it was a real landmark moment when you see it for real Very Happy

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Current bikes...cbr929, KDX200's, Rd125lc mk2, RGV250's

DEN MONKEY · World Chat Champion Joined: 17 May 2005 Karma :

how long is a piece of string ?

That's kinda like you're question.

There are infinite possibilities here, starting with various types of scopes and then you need to start considering the mount.

As said you will be limited to short exposures because once you start using magnification you will find out how quickly these things move.
Of course you can consider mounts which will track objects for you and are motor driven or even further up the price line are mounts which will permit you to specify what you wish to look at and they will automatically go-to the object at the press of a button.

I guess what I'm trying to say is there is no real cheap way to get into astro photography without spending some decent bucks.

I'd prob suggest starting out with a scope for visual stuff.
A dobsonian would be a great place to start and represents excellent bang for your buck.
Then if you like it and use it enough, then consider your options in moving towards imaging.

Take a look see over at this forum
https://stargazerslounge.com/
There is lots of info there to get you started.

One word of warning though and you will see this repeated over and over again DON"T BUY A DEPARTMENT STORE SCOPE you will just be wasting your money when you could pick up a pre-loved scope which will knock your socks off for not much more.
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meh