Hi New to astrophotography Introduce yourself! · Matthew Abey · ... · 4 · 115 · 0

Matthew_Abey 0.00
...
Hi My name is Matthew I got back into astronomy about 6 months ago to finish and update a 12.5 inch newtonian on a german equitorial mount my father and grandfather built in the early 90's. It was strictly a visual telescope then.

It was handed down to me alittle over a year ago so I made it completly autonomous from the goto drive, focuser to the weather station dew control. All using arduinos. I machined all the stepper motor mounts and any updated parts my self and I think it turned out well. I went to the black forrest star party this past weekend and captured what I think are some decent shots for such low integration times and no coma corrector with a astro modded 450d.

Im also looking for criticism on how I can image better since im very new to this. my favorite shot I took is of NGC 891 that Ill put a link below.

http://astrob.in/full/314103/0/
Like
peleks 0.00
...
well i am not a huge pro, but i think You need to collimate mirrors and there is a small tip for precise focusing with camera :
aim  Mizar, thats what i do, it is a nice double star for focusing
do it trough screen with max digital zoom
when you adjusted focus so You can see difraction (dont know how it is called properly) spikes on star
reduce iso by 1 step or 2 steps and refocuss again, do it so untill you reach iso 200
Good luck and clear sky !
Like
Matthew_Abey 0.00
...
well i am not a huge pro, but i think You need to collimate mirrors and there is a small tip for precise focusing with camera :aim  Mizar, thats what i do, it is a nice double star for focusing
do it trough screen with max digital zoom
when you adjusted focus so You can see difraction (dont know how it is called properly) spikes on star
reduce iso by 1 step or 2 steps and refocuss again, do it so untill you reach iso 200
Good luck and clear sky !

Thanks for the advice. I checked my culmination and it is slightly off. What would that cause in a picture so I can pick it up. Also I used Backyard eos for my focuse with the full width half maximum setting on the star Vega. Idk how well a small duble star would pickup on the live view but I will try.

Thanks
Like
peleks 0.00
...
bad collimation will give You comet like stars , to pick up  Mizar, increase ISO to 6400 or more,, but if you have already +/- focused then you can see it with 1600 very easy  8)
Like
Matthew_Abey 0.00
...
Ok thanks, the next time I get out ill try focusing on mizar instead. I will also nail my collmination. Thanks for the advise.
Like
 
Register or login to create to post a reply.