Insights Planning to buy a first telescope? - Comments

[sophiecentaur]

Lately I've been wondering if there is any practicality in using CCDs transmitting telescopic images to a PC/Laptop and Monitor especially at longer exposure times since the more dim and distant objects appear to us with relatively small displacement that would make for fuzzy imaging. Has anyone here experimented with this?

It's what 'everyone' does these days. Long exposures allow us to record very faint images and also 'see' the colours.
Star Trails are present for even quite short exposures and gets worse for high magnification. We need Tracking.
Equatorial ('polar') mounts allow the scope to move around a polar axis and you can follow a star manually by moving the scope with just the one control.
Clockwork motors replaced the operator and that's what the very best observatories used to achieve tracking. Nowadays, the tracking is done with an electric motor and, of course CCD or CMOS sensors.
There's a limit to how good tracking can be and now we use Guiding, which involves servo control to keep a chosen 'guide star' at a given position on the sensor. It's usual to use a smaller guide scope, locked onto a bright enough star and a main scope to image small / faint objects that couldn't be used for guiding.

Don't go buying anything until you know enough to know what you want - you can spend much more than you can afford unless you are really well informed although there are some very good low cost solutions.

 

[chemisttree]

Transmitting camera images to a PC is fairly routine nowadays. See, for example, the ASI Air product. It interfaces a tracking mount with camera control and broadcasts the images taken to your iPhone. It doesn’t have a lot of range but there is a work around for that. You can sky surf from your recliner and upload to your living room TV!

 

[collinsmark]

Lately I've been wondering if there is any practicality in using CCDs transmitting telescopic images to a PC/Laptop and Monitor especially at longer exposure times since the more dim and distant objects appear to us with relatively small displacement that would make for fuzzy imaging. Has anyone here experimented with this?

Like others have pointed out, controlling the telescope and camera remotely is nothing new. As @chemisttree mentioned, the ASI Air (a couple of different versions) is pretty popular among amateur astronomers these days. But it only supports ZWO cameras, so it sort of locks you into ZWO products.

PrimaLuce has the Eagle4 and Eagle Core, which are competing products.

I took a different approach and attached a Mini PC to a Pegasus Astro Ultimate Power Box V2, which doesn't tie me down to any particular manufacturer, and allows me to upgrade the mini PC at my own discretion. I have it attached directly to the OTA of my fork-mounted telescope.

It has no monitor or keyboard attached, but since it's a PC, I just "Remote Desktop" into it from inside, either at a desk or even while sitting comfortably on my sofa. I can then control my telescope that way.

It also functions as a counterweight of sorts.

 

[Drakkith]

@collinsmark Geeze, I've heard amateur astronomers say they've nearly wasted away waiting for a new piece of gear to come in, but you really take it to a whole new level.

 

[collinsmark]

@collinsmark Geeze, I've heard amateur astronomers say they've nearly wasted away waiting for a new piece of gear to come in, but you really take it to a whole new level.

Ha! No, but seriously, that's not me. That's Talus Jones, a PVC skeleton, and the newest member of the Shady Crypt.

 

[Drakkith]

Ha! No, but seriously, that's not me. That's Talus Jones, a PVC skeleton, and the newest member of the Shady Crypt.

You tell him that if he starts any funny bone business he can PVC his way out the door! Alright, I'll stop now.

 

[aliceiii]

Hope this will be useful here.
I was looking for a telescope recently. Spoiler, I found it here (link removed by mentor)
I needed a portable and light one because I want to travel and take it with me. The ability to connect to the phone was also very important to me. So, I've ordered Celestron NexStar Evolution 8
If you guys know anything about it, please share your opinion.

 

[sophiecentaur]

I needed a portable and light one because I want to travel and take it with me. The ability to connect to the phone was also very important to me. So, I've ordered Celestron NexStar Evolution 8
If you guys know anything about it, please share your opinion.

Two or three club members have bought the mount with a couple of different scopes. It seems to work pretty well and will interface with iPhone apps. You don't have to get involved with the dreaded Synscan system, which is sooo dated these days.
The setup is very quick and you can be in business with no hassle. Only time will bring out any downsides.
Enjoy.

 

[chemisttree]

That’s a good telescope but it’s pricey for a first scope.

 

[sophiecentaur]

That’s a good telescope but it’s pricey for a first scope.

That’s a good point and there’s no way I would have ever spent that much as a beginner. But a comfortably off adult wouldn’t find the price ridiculous and the resale value of an unwanted nice scope could hold up well.
My best choice ever for a scope was an 8inch Dobsonian from Skywatcher. It was second hand and, with some nice 2” eyepieces, it gave breathtaking views for not too much money. No good for my creaky old back and neck, though.

 

[DennisN]

I saw a new video by Nico Carver (Nebula Photos) which I think fits this thread like a glove .

I like for instance that he is emphasizing that you don't have to be rich to start with the hobby, i.e. you don't have to start with very expensive things. He also has a number of videos on his channel about doing astrophotography with quite cheap equipment.

Busting Five MYTHS About Astrophotography in Ten Minutes (Nico Carver/Nebula Photos)

 

[sophiecentaur]

I like for instance that he is emphasizing that you don't have to be rich to start with the hobby,

He's dead right.

However, our astro society has a Young Astronomers' section and you'd think they' love to own one of the slightly elderly club scopes (for free). However, it seems that neither they nor one of their parents seem to want to get involved with the messy business of handling Manual scopes and mounts. We have several scopes, cluttering up peoples' garages and it's a 'shame'. We seem to have moved on from the generations which made their own radio receivers and their Dobsonian mounts to Gamers with consoles. They are missing out on the first steps towards the sort of Hobby that appealed to so many young people.

Nico Carver clearly made it through the cut.