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SmokeDog
newbie
Reged: 01/22/09
Posts: 4
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I've quickly learned that DSO photography is something that I'd love to master, but the whole learning process is pretty daunting for someone who is a very amateur astronomer that has difficulties with even the basics of figuring out what polar alignment means let alone performing it.
I purchased a CPC 1100 and have a digital SLR camera. I started snagging bits and pieces of equipment: adapters, rings, an equatorial mount, tele-extender and a bunch of the "recommended" things one would need to take pictures of things far away with this scope for longer durations.
The unit was relatively simple to learn how to use for basic observing, but the ease ended there.
Now to the question - is there anyone out there in the SoCal area that provides consulting work in an in person one-on-one instruction session? I have difficulty learning on my own from books or online and do much better hands on, but an not a huge fan of joining a local club with a lot of people, as nice as they may be.
Also - is it possible to construct a permanent mount in one's backyard, where all I have to do is jump out there, do some minor tweaks and I'm ready to rock?
Thanks in advance!
C
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mark Jimenez
sage
Reged: 01/08/07
Posts: 339
Loc: Atlanta GA.
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Hello Smokedog,
First, welcome, I see its your first post. I dont know if there is anyone in your area who has this type of service who would actually charge money, most of the people Ive met in this hobby are more than happy to spend a little time answering questions, thats the beauty of this forum. That said, hopefully someone on here knows someone near you who could spend an evening or two helping you get started.
As to your second question, absolutly, many people have a perminant pier in the backyard. Id head over to the observatory forum. A simple pier with some sort of cover is often discussed in that forum.
-Mark
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Celestron ASGT
Astro Tech 8" f4 Newt
QHY8
Meade DSI pro
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revans
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 09/26/05
Posts: 1515
Loc: Fitchburg, MA
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Your 11 inch telescope is a very advanced piece of equipment. Because of its long focal length and relative image magnification at prime focus, you will need extremely accurate polar alignment to avoid blurry star trailed images of deep sky objects. For now I would put most of my effort into learning how to achieve a good polar alignment and would start my deep sky imaging by attaching my DSLR camera to the telescope body (as opposed to the telescope viewing port) via a mounting ring or adapter of some sort and take some deep sky images through some basic camera lenses (50 mm, 100 mm, 200 mm). When you can take an image of the Andromeda galaxy or Orion Nebula or North American Nebula with the 200 mm telephoto lens that is 30 minutes long via a series of shorter sub-exposures allowed by your local light pollution, then you will be almost ready to start some prime focus imaging through your large telescope. But even at that point, you might first want to attach a good guidescope to your C11... maybe an 80 mm or 90 mm short focus refractor. If you decide to do this, then after mastering basic DSLR telephoto imaging, I would take some prime focus deep sky images with the DSLR through the guidescope before finally making the transition to deep sky imaging through the C11 itself. And at this stage, I would definitely use the C11 with a focal reducer.
If it were me, I would have started with a short focus wide field refractor for my first steps into deep sky imaging and used that and also a mounted camera/telephoto lens combination for a couple of years before tackling a C11 right away. Even so, you will do just fine if you start in small steps as I have suggested above...
After you have learned how to take 2 to 3 minute unguided subexposures at prime focus through the C11 using a focal reducer, you can add an autoguider to your setup and possibly omit the focal reducer when you want larger image scale.
PS - there is also a lot to learn about image processing once you've taken some good images.
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Rick Evans
http://www.freewebs.com/revans_01420/
"The universe is there for us to see, but it cannot be understood without learning its language -- mathematics." Galileo Galilei
Edited by revans (10/10/09 06:20 AM)
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SmokeDog
newbie
Reged: 01/22/09
Posts: 4
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Rick, thanks for the detailed info. I think the challenge that I have is trying to achieve polar alignment in the first place. I have a wedge for my scope and tried configuring it so that I could utilize the built in tracking (not even fine tuned for polar alignment at that point) to simply find and keep a bearing going and it didn't seem to work.
I was almost led to the point where I felt my GPS unit was incorrectly configured because whenever I link and try to grab the time/date, it's an hour behind where it should be and I have to manually set it to the current hour. Once I had done that I was trying to run through the basic SkyAlign method by pointing at 3 high brightness objects. That seemed to work, but when I ran through a tour option to find say, Polaris, it actually aimed my scope toward the ground 
I think that another problem I have is that I can't even see Polaris from my back yard, so I'm trying to use a magnetic compass to achieve magnetic north. All in all, I've failed kind of. If anyone has some pro tips on configuring a CPC using the heavy duty wedge for polar alignment they could point me to, I would be very greatful.
Also, I would be interested to hear more about those body mounts for the camera and a decent telephoto lens. I'm guessing you would affix it to the place where the guide scope goes?
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Jared
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 10/11/05
Posts: 2534
Loc: Piedmont, California, U.S.
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Sorry, I can't answer the question about astrophotographers in SoCal. I would recommend finding a local astronomy club, attending a meeting, and asking if there are any astrophotographers in the club who could help you. Most astrophotographers are anxious to share (since it can be a pretty lonely hobby otherwise). If you happen to take a trip up north to the Bay Area, let me know 
With regard to your CPC-1100, I would recommend that you not try to learn DSO photography with this scope. It's a great choice visually, but the focal length and weight of the optical tube make it extremely challenging for long exposures. Here is what I would recommend: - Use your existing scope for some planetary photography if that has any interest at all. This can be a very rewarding scope to use for pictures of Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars. Depending on exactly where you live in SoCal the seeing is actually very good, further enhancing the results you could get in planetary photography
- If your heart is set on DSO's, then I would buy an 80mm ED refractor--optical tube by itself--and piggyback it on your CPC-1100. You won't have to spend a ton of money, and the mount that wasn't up providing good tracking at 2,800mm suddenly works like a charm when you cut the focal length down to 600mm or less. You'll have a lot more rewarding experiences starting out on a smaller imaging scope.
As far as a permanent mount... Lots of people setup permanent concrete piers with wedges. That way all you have to do is carry out your optical tube when you want to observe or image. It will cut substantial time off setup. I'd ask on the "observatories" forum and see what kind of response you get. While a pier doesn't constitute an observatory all by itself, plenty of people go through a permanent pier as a stage towards an observatory, and obviously it is one of the key components in a full-blown observatory in any event. I'm sure they can be quite helpful over there.
Welcome to Cloudy Nights!
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- Jared Willson
- TMB 152 f/8 Apochromat
- Fluorostar FLT-110 w/ TEC optics
- Stellarvue SV80S
- Astro-Physics Mach1 GTO
- Takahashi Teegul SP Mount
- STL-11000
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SmokeDog
newbie
Reged: 01/22/09
Posts: 4
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Jared, thanks for the input! I think tonight or this weekend, I'm going to set myself to the task of simply trying to learn how to align my scope correctly with the wedge. Once I tackle that I'll move on to other things, and I'll take a look at some smaller equipment you suggested.
It's kind of the foundation for everything, and I'll need to know it regardless of the equipment I'm working with.
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