Every 11 years the Sun’s magnetic field completely flips. That means that the north and south poles switch places. Then the cycle starts again and it takes another 11 years for them to switch back. Through that 11 year cycle you get solar minimum and solar maximums. Solar maximum is the fun one with increased levels of activity. This increased activity can be seen from earth as sun spots, and flares.
We’re now in solar cycle 25, which began in December 2019. That means we’re budling up to solar maximum between 2024 and 2026. Here at the shop, we get our solar scope outside most days to take a quick peak at what the sun is doing. We’ve seen great aurora, flares, and lots of sun spots.
Now is a great time to start solar observing, just make sure you use the right equipment. There are a number of different ways to safely observe the sun. The commonly available options fall into two large categories.
The first is white light filtering that will show you great detail on the photosphere of the sun. This layer of the sun will show sun spots, and is great for viewing partial eclipses and transits across the sun. These transits include the international space station and the inner planets.
The second is Hydrogen alpha filtering. This is a more specialized [read expensive] way of viewing the sun. You will see everything that you can with a white light filter, plus extraordinary detail and solar prominences/eruptions/flares in the chromosphere. Here’s a picture to illustrate the difference.
Hydrogen alpha view of the chromosphere on the left, white light view of the photosphere on the right.
There are four good options for white light solar observation
If you want to get into Hydrogen alpha observing and imaging there are a couple of brands we recommend. Both Lunt and Coronado are made in North America and offer incredible views. There are a lot of nuanced options, and in addition to the size (aperture) you’re going to come across terms blocking filter and double stack. Hydrogen alpha really deserves it’s own article, and we’ll get to that in a future post.
In the meantime, we have our Hydrogen alpha scope set up at the shop most days, feel free to come take a look through it, or to reach out with any questions you have on any solar observing or imaging.
]]>It usually starts out with a lot of excitement and enthusiasm. You get a new telescope, get it assembled and maybe test it out through a window looking at a tree or a car across the street. The clarity and magnification are impressive, and you can’t wait to explore the universe.
You wait patiently for a night with decent weather and clear skies, drag your telescope outside, and set out to explore the universe. Maybe you look at the moon or notice how many more stars you can see through your telescope, but most people quickly start asking ‘well now what?’.
If you’re at that point where you’ve gotten outside and don’t quite know what to do, you’re in good company. There are telescopes all over the world gathering dust instead of being outside gathering light. The sky is a big place, and it can be tricky to get started. Here are a few tips for anyone new to the hobby.
As you get comfortable navigating the sky, and more familiar with the kinds of things you can see through your telescope, you may want to start experimenting with different magnifications and fields of views. It’s incredibly satisfying to take in a widefield view of the Milky Way, or to zoom in and find detail in the rings of Saturn of the bands of Jupiter. Different eyepieces will adjust the view through your telescope and tailor it to the kind of observing that you want to do. Most telescopes come with a couple of focal lengths to get you started.
Astrophotography is a bit of a rabbit hole, it’s immensely satisfying and it can be immensely frustrating as well. To get started, use a cell phone to take a picture of something you’re observing. A quick shot of the moon, or something like the Orion Nebula can be surprisingly impressive. Most telescopes can also be connected to a DSLR camera with relative ease. It’s also a great way to share your enthusiasm with friends and family. Also looks pretty cool on your insta.
Astronomy can feel like a solitary hobby, but it’s a surprisingly social thing. There are loads of online clubs and Facebook groups that you can join to ask a question, or get some feedback. The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada is also a fantastic group to join. They have chapters in most Canadian cities. We will be back to hosting sidewalk nights and star parties later this year. Join our mailing list if you’d like to keep up to date on any events we’re holding.
]]>This article is part of two part series, check them both here:
Part 1 - Tips for Happy Stargazing
Part 2 - Aligning a GoTo Scope
GoTo telescopes are terrific for their ease of finding objects, then automatically tracking them. They work well, but only if they are set up properly. Here are tips for avoiding the common errors.
All GoTo scopes need to know where they are and what time it is. More advanced models have GPS receivers built-in (or available as accessories) to set date, time, and location automatically. But most require you to input that information, often only once.
Celestron models (on the left above) under International offer a list of countries and cities. Choose the one nearest you. A city within 100 km will be fine. For other locations, create a Custom Site by entering your latitude and longitude. (Google Earth will provide those numbers.) To get to that menu, from the City Database use the Up or Down scroll buttons to get to Custom Site.
Sky-Watcher SynScan models (on the right above) have no lists of cities. You must enter your latitude and longitude. Be sure to enter N in Latitude (assuming you live north of the equator) and W in Longitude (assuming you live in North America).
Enter the month and day correctly – don’t mix them up. Most GoTo scopes use the American Month/Day/Year format.
Ditto on time. Don’t mix up AM and PM. Sky-Watcher scopes require entering time in a 24-hour clock: i.e. 20:00 H = 8 PM; 21:00 H = 9 PM.
Under Daylight Time, enter Yes if you are currently on DST, from mid-March to early November for most of Canada and the United States as of 2022.
Some telescopes will keep track of time even when they are off. But most require you to re-enter the date and time each night. However, location data is always saved. Even so, Sky-Watcher scopes still require you to skip over the Location screens (just hit Enter) to get to the Date and Time screens.
While this might be set correctly out of the box, check under the Scope Setup menu (Celestron’s is shown above) that your particular model is selected (in this case, a NexStar SE), and that Tracking is ON and set to Sidereal, and the mount is set to Alt-Azimuth operation, the most likely method unless you place the telescope on an optional Equatorial Wedge.
Most German equatorial mounts must be first polar aligned, so the polar axis aims at Polaris. Use the little alignment scope built into the polar axis to sight Polaris. Use the latitude (altitude) and side-to-side (azimuth) adjustments on the base of the mount to place Polaris close to the centre of the reticle. For visual use, precise polar alignment isn’t necessary. Just get it close.
Telescopes with fork mounts, such as Schmidt-Cassegrains, as well as the little Sky-Watcher AZ-GTi mount, do not need polar alignment.
GoTo scopes with German equatorial mounts also usually require you to place the mount in a specific starting position, with the counterweight shaft and tube vertical, as shown. That aims the tube due north up to Polaris.
Some fork-mounted telescopes require a starting position with the tube level and aimed north. When controlled by its WiFi app, the Sky-Watcher AZ-GTi mount can also be started in a North-Level position, as shown above.
But for many models, there is no set starting position. They need to be sent by you to the first alignment star to get their initial orientation.
The next steps will vary from brand to brand, and even within a brand. Do read the instructions specific for your telescope. Each usually provides a choice of alignment methods, such as Sky Align, Auto Align, 1-Star, 2-Star, 3-Star, or Solar System Align.
The manual will also provide helpful tips pertinent to your telescope.
Unique to Celestron scopes, this choice requires you to aim the telescope at any three bright objects (stars or planets) in the sky. You do not have to know what they are!
Do the aiming by only moving the telescope (called “slewing”) using the four keypad direction buttons. Do not unlock the mount axes to move it by hand. Centre each object in the low power eyepiece and hit Enter (not Align).
This method also requires the mount be quite level. Other methods are not so fussy about precise leveling.
These methods will pick stars for you and ask you to slew over to the first star, usually one in the west. You must be able to correctly identify that star and the others that follow. Get it wrong and the telescope will not find things accurately!
With these methods you select the stars from the offered list, ones you know are visible (and not hidden behind trees or your house).
Mounts with a set starting position will slew to the first star on their own.
For telescopes with no set starting position you will have to slew over to the first star. After that, the scope will slew itself to the second or third stars, the most convenient method.
To work, alignment stars should be spread around the sky and not be due north and south of each other. Also, Polaris might not make a good alignment star.
A three-star alignment is most accurate and usually requires two stars in the west and one in the east.
When a telescope slews to an alignment star, do not expect it to end up dead centre in the eyepiece. It will always be off by some amount, perhaps by a finderscope field — as much as 5 or 6 degrees. That’s normal!
It is up to you to use the slew buttons to centre each star, then hit Enter or Align. That’s what the process of GoTo alignment is all about – telling the computer how to match, or “align,” its internal map of the sky to the real sky.
Once you complete an alignment, from then on the telescope should place most targets within the field of a low-power eyepiece, and begin tracking them.
If you get “Alignment Failed,” try again with different stars. But you must identify them correctly.
When GoTo scopes go wrong, it is almost always because the user has misidentified alignment stars, or entered location and time incorrectly, perhaps mistakingly entering a location or time zone in the eastern hemisphere.
Once you have a successful alignment, and you can safely leave the telescope outside without moving it, then you can Hibernate or Park the telescope. When you power up the scope the next night, you need only enter the date and time, forgoing the full alignment process.
If, despite all your best attempts, your telescope still seems to point inaccurately, or you simply get the hand controller in a muddle, then hit Factory Reset under Utilities. That can sometimes be needed for some scopes or mounts right out of the box.
While updating firmware can add new features, doing so is rarely needed to fix a misbehaving mount. And if done incorrectly, the update process can render a hand controller useless.
Chapter 11 of The Backyard Astronomer’s Guide by Terence Dickinson and Alan Dyer provides many more detailed tips and steps for setting up GoTo telescopes.]]>This article is part of two part series, check them both here:
Part 1 - Tips for Happy Stargazing
Part 2 - Aligning a GoTo Scope
Once you have your new telescope, here are tips we’ve found useful to ensure a happy experience on your first night out, and on what we hope will be many enjoyable nights under the stars after that.
Yes, we know it’s exciting to just get it all unpacked and assembled! Stop! It is a good idea to read through the instructions, noting specific tips and assembly steps that might apply to your telescope, but not be obvious to the novice. PDF versions of manuals are available at the manufacturers’ websites, usually under Support.
Don’t attempt the initial assembly at night in the cold and dark. Set up your new telescope inside first, so you can see what you are doing in comfort. With many telescopes most of the assembly steps need be done only once. As shown, Dobsonian mounts, which ship in a “flat pack,” require the most initial work.
After that, with most telescopes, the mount and tube can be stored assembled, and carried out as a single piece, or at most, only the tube might need to be placed onto and removed from the mount or tripod with each use.
Follow the telescope’s instructions to line up the included finder aid (likely a little telescope or a red-dot finder) so it is aimed at the same spot as the main telescope. As shown above, do that by using the telescope outside by day to aim at a distant treetop, power pole, or any identifiable feature a few hundred metres away.
Centre the object in the main telescope used at its lowest power (see below), then adjust the finder (they all have adjustment screws) so the same object is also centered on the finder’s red dot or cross-hairs. Doing that by day will avoid no end of frustration at night, making it easy to aim the telescope.
It is also an essential step for aligning all GoTo telescopes. See Using Your First Telescope — Part Two: Aligning a GoTo Scope.
As part of the finder alignment, focus the telescope at low power on your distant target. Unlike at night, you’ll be able to easily tell when the image is sharp and in focus.
If your telescope is a refractor you’ll need to use the “star diagonal” that came with the telescope. It allows for convenient right-angle viewing when the telescope is aimed up to the sky. Without it, the telescope likely won’t reach focus.
Practice switching eyepieces to change the power, which usually requires refocusing. You’ll see how at high power, the image will be more magnified but dimmer. And it will bounce around more easily as you touch the telescope.
Switch back to low power, refocus on a distant object, then leave the telescope focuser at that position. You’ll be pre-focused and ready to go for seeing things in the night sky.
Note: Stars should look like sharp and tiny points. If they look like large bloated disks, your telescope is out of focus!
Even at night, always use the lowest power eyepiece first (the one with the largest focal length number, likely 25mm) to help you find and centre things. Bump up the magnification (perhaps by switching to the 10mm eyepiece) only after the target is centered. Even then, high power will be useful mostly for the Moon and planets.
Your daytime tests will likely reveal that the image is either upside-down (in most reflectors) or as shown, flipped left-to-right (in most refractors).
Don’t worry, there’s nothing wrong with your telescope. All astronomical telescopes are like that; the optics needed to erect the image would distort and dim the images of celestial targets. So most astronomical telescopes don’t include such optics.
And other than the Moon, you won’t be able to tell if any celestial object is right-side-up or not anyway!
Yes, it’s cold outside. However, keeping warm by looking through a window won’t work – the view through the glass or even through an open window will be too blurry. The telescope must be outside and cooled to the nighttime air temperature before it will give the sharpest views. Then don’t look over heat sources like rooftop vents.
As we show above, during the two weeks after a New Moon, your first evening target should be the Moon. It will never fail to impress! You won’t believe it can have so many craters, all from impacts of asteroids long ago.
The most complex mounts to master are what are called “German equatorial mounts” because the design was invented by a German astronomer. They can track the sky easily and, if equipped with a motor, automatically. But only if they are set up correctly.
As per the telescope’s instructions, the mount should be adjusted so the angle of the “polar axis” is equal to your latitude, a set-once-and-forget adjustment.
After that, every night simply place the mount so that its polar axis aims due north, toward Polaris, the North Star. The Pointer stars of the Big Dipper’s Bowl point to Polaris.
Use the altitude (up-down) and azimuth (left-right) adjustments on the base of the mount (shown) to fine-tune the aiming of the polar axis toward Polaris.
Find objects by moving only the other two rotation axes that swing the telescope in the north-south direction (called “declination”) and in the east-west direction (called “right ascension”). The above image shows the mount polar aligned, but the telescope itself is aimed to the south, where many targets will be.
Here the telescope is aimed so it is looking northeast toward rising objects.
Here the telescope is aimed so it is looking northwest toward setting objects.
Note that in all cases, the mount’s polar axis always remains aligned pointed to the north. Its angle and direction remains fixed.
To find new objects with this type of mount beginners sometimes make the mistake of always adjusting the polar axis angle, or picking up the mount and turning it. No! The base of the mount stays where it is — it is the tube that turns to find new targets.
Chapter 10 of The Backyard Astronomer’s Guide by Terence Dickinson and Alan Dyer provides many more detailed tips and instructions for setting up and using your first telescope.
Wondering what to look at? Canadian John Read’s self-published books 50 Things to See on the Moon, 50 Things to See With a Telescope, or 110 Things to See With a Telescope provide excellent guides.
]]>The Celestron Nexstar is the most popular and commercially successful telescope ever, and with good reason. They are perfect for curious amateurs that want something they can grow with as they explore the sky. It can be a little daunting to pick one though. Right now, Celestron manufactures 13 different versions of the scope.
These are broken into three sub-collections: SLT, SE, and Evolution. We don’t regularly stock the NexStar SLT collection, we find that there are some better alternatives at that price point. The NexStar SE and NexStar Evolution series are both excellent.
The Nexstar SE series is made up of 4”, 5”, 6”, and 8” optical tubes. These are instantly recognizable because of their orange paint job. This is a nod back to the original C8 tubes that drove Celestron’s early success. The NexStar SE series come with computerized mounts, good quality eyepieces, and great quality optics. All of these scopes will stand up well to quality eyepieces and high magnification. They’re ideal for viewing the moon and will show great detail on the planets (Cassini division in the rings of Saturn, bands on Jupiter). The 6” and 8” will also introduce you to deep sky objects like open clusters, globular clusters, and some galaxies. We love the Celestron NexStar 6SE for it's portability. We love the Celestron NexStar 8SE for it's extra aperture. We can't recommend them highly enough.
The NexStar Evolution expands on the capabilities of the NexStar SE series by adding a rechargeable battery and wifi to the mount and tripod. They also come with an upgraded eyepiece. The Evolution is available in 4 varieties as well, 6”, 8”, 8” with HD optics, and a 9.25” optical tubes. Like the SE, these scopes handle higher magnification and work well with good quality eyepieces. They offer beautiful views of objects in our solar system and beyond.
The computerized nature of these scopes solved one of the biggest problems that new astronomers encounter. They draw from a database of 40,000 objects to automatically identifies new targets based on time and location.
They’re also well supported by a series of accessories from battery packs to GPS units to wifi adapters to autoalign accessories to solar filters. It’s easy to tailor these scopes to your specific needs. Out of the box it’s easy to take basic pictures with a cell phone. They’re capable of some very fine planetary astrophotography, and with a wedge they can be adapted to long-exposure or deep-sky astrophotography.
We think that the Celestron NexStar telescopes are often the best telescope for someone looking for their first serious or computerized telescope. We have the best in-stock selection in Canada here. Give us a call or send us an email if you’d like some help choosing a scope. We’re a website with a personal touch. We’re always happy to help.
]]>This article is part of a three part series, don't miss out:
Part 1: What’s the Best Beginner Telescope?
Part 2: Making the Choice
Part 3: Our Recommendations (2022)
The telescope marketplace provides new buyers with lots of choices. Before we recommend specific models, here’s our advice on what to look for in a beginner telescope that can provide years of viewing pleasure under the stars.
All the telescopes we sell, even the lowest-cost models, can reveal incredible details on the Moon’s cratered surface. All telescopes for beginners can show the four large moons of Jupiter and the dark cloud belts in the Jovian atmosphere. And, yes, you can see the rings of Saturn, even under city skies!
Under darker, rural skies you can hunt down glittering clusters of stars, and subtle clouds of gas, called nebulas where stars are forming. The distant Andromeda Galaxy is also well within reach – indeed, it can be seen with the unaided eye!
The Andromeda Galaxy is so far away, its light takes 2.5 million years to reach us. Hundreds of fainter and more distant galaxies tens of millions of light years away are within reach of amateur telescopes. The limiting factor is not how far away an object is, but how faint it is. Dim and tiny Pluto close by is much harder to see than the bright and large Andromeda Galaxy that is much more distant.
The maximum magnification of a beginner telescope is no more important than the top speed marked on a car’s speedometer. A magnification of 100 times (100x) is more than enough to show all the top targets popular with backyard astronomers. Even the best telescopes will rarely be used at more than 200x.
As such, avoid any telescope sold elsewhere advertised by its top magnification. While it might reach a whopping 525x, images will look dim and fuzzy. We don’t sell such over-powered models, because they are frustrating to use, and underdeliver on their promise.
The key telescope specification is not its power, but the diameter of its main lens or mirror, its “aperture.” The bigger the aperture, the more light the telescope can collect and focus, making for a brighter and sharper image. The bigger the telescope aperture, the better the views.
For example, the 150mm (6-inch) reflector at right will provide images that are 3.5 times brighter and nearly twice as sharp than in the 80mm (3.1-inch) refractor at left.
But …
… Is the biggest telescope the best one to buy?
We find people can become just as disenchanted with their new telescope because they bought too big a scope. After the initial honeymoon wears off, the buyer finds setting up the telescope takes too much effort.
The best telescope is … the one you will use most often, because it is portable and easy to use.
When making a decision, consider where you are likely to use your telescope the most. Many objects can be seen from within city limits. But if you have to cart your telescope up and down stairs or move it around your yard to avoid trees and lights, look for a light, compact model that can be carried assembled, or in no more than two pieces.
Under city skies the best targets are the Moon, planets, bright star clusters, and colourful pairs of double stars. These don’t need a big telescope for great views.
On the other hand, if you live under darker, rural skies, then fainter “deep-sky” objects – nebulas and galaxies – show up well and benefit from as much aperture as you afford – and move!
Even so, don’t expect to see nebulas (like the Orion Nebula shown here) and galaxies in glowing colours. Those colours show up only in long-exposure photos. Nor will planets appear as big as they do in NASA space probe images. Instead, planets appear small, but sharp. On the Moon features as small as a kilometre across can be seen, but not the Apollo landing hardware!
While buying a telescope might seem like the best first step for a beginner, we recommend first learning to identify the brightest stars and constellations, and where the planets are. That takes no more than the simple star charts in astronomy magazines, such as Canada’s SkyNews (available at most newsstands), or a “dial-a-sky” Planisphere. Both are great tools to use for naked-eye stargazing in the backyard.
Using just binoculars you can find bright objects like the Andromeda Galaxy and the Orion Nebula. (A 10x50mm binocular like the Celestron Ultima is the most popular type for stargazing.) By getting to know what the sky has to offer and how to find the most popular targets first with binoculars, you’ll be well prepared to put a telescope to good and satisfying use.
To discover what a beginner telescope can actually show you before spending any money, seek out a local astronomy club and attend one of their public stargazing sessions at a city park or at their club or university observatory.
Here in Alberta, both the Calgary Centre and Edmonton Centre of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, and the Lethbridge Astronomy Society offer regular sessions for aspiring stargazers where you can look through telescopes to see if what they show meets your expectations. Some people are disappointed. But chances are, one look at Saturn and you’ll be hooked.
For more on what to look for in a telescope, see Buying Your First Telescope — Part Two: Making the Choice.
]]>This article is part of a three part series, don't miss out:
Part 1: What’s the Best Telescope?Once you have become familiar with the sky and have been enticed by the views through other peoples’ telescopes, you will want your own. So what to buy?
Once you are ready to buy a telescope, how much should you expect to spend? We have surveyed the marketplace and found that to get a telescope with the desirable combination of sharp and bright optics on a steady mount, you should expect to spend at least $250 to $300. Anything less is often a plastic and flimsy toy.
Telescopes come in two main varieties: “refractors” that use a lens to collect and focus light; and “reflectors” that use a mirror. Reflectors generally offer more aperture (the most important specification – see Part One) for the money. But refractors can provide sharp images, and be more portable and maintenance-free.
The most common type of reflector is called a Newtonian, because the optical design was invented the 17th century by none other than Sir Isaac Newton.
Hybrid models invented in the 20th century called Maksutov- and Schmidt-Cassegrains (from brands such as Celestron and Meade) employ a combination of a mirror and corrective front lens for a reflector variation that is more compact than a Newtonian, but more expensive.
No one type of telescope is best. Each has its advantages.
A sturdy mount with smooth motions is essential for finding objects and keeping them steady at high power.
Telescopes come on mounts with two motions: up-down (or north-south) and left-right (or east-west). The mount might be on a metal tripod or a wooden stand. The simple but solid wood mount called a Dobsonian (named for astronomer John Dobson who popularized the design) is often used for Newtonian reflectors. “Dobs” provide by far the best value in a telescope, but most require that you find and follow targets.
Mounts come in two main varieties: ones that have motors to track the sky as it turns from east to west, and ones that require you to keep nudging the scope every minute or so to follow targets and keep them in view.
The latter type might seem inconvenient, but they are less expensive, great for those on a budget, and they provide more telescope for the money, good for those seeking the best value.
Many telescopes come with computerized motors that when set up properly (they must be aimed first at two or three bright stars to align their computers), they can automatically turn or “Go To” targets selected from their hand controller menus, or with a mobile app. Telescopes with this technology can locate many objects that would otherwise be hard to find.
But a GoTo scope costs more than a non-tracking scope of the same aperture. Or to stay within a budget, having GoTo means sacrificing aperture.
For example, fully motorized GoTo telescopes start at $850 for the Celestron NextStar 4SE, a 4-inch (100mm) Maksutov-Cassegrain. For the same cost you can get an 8-inch (200mm) reflector on a solid, but non-tracking, Dobsonian mount.
However, Celestron’s revolutionary StarSense telescopes offer computerized pointing at a very affordable price, because you supply the computer – your phone. A special StarSense app shows you where to aim the telescope to centre targets. StarSense scopes do not have GoTo motors or tracking, but they do make it easy, fun and affordable to locate many targets you might otherwise never see.
The telescope should be simple to use, but still provide views that will continue to wow the budding young astronomer long after the novelty of the first night out.
We’ve found the Celestron StarSense LT80 AZ ($300) a great choice. It’s an 80mm (3.1-inch) refractor with sharp optics and an easy-to-use non-tracking mount, but with the bonus of computerized finding. It has the great benefit of looking like what a child (and many adults!) expect a telescope to look like, and it comes in an attractive box (below) for an exciting gift-opening experience.
Reflector telescopes like the Sky-Watcher Heritage 130 ($340) offer more aperture for the money, with simple Dobsonian mounts easy for a child to set up on a sturdy table.
Many first-time buyers want to take images through their new telescope. It is possible, but with limitations. The Moon is fun to capture, using a phone camera on any telescope, as shown.
But images of colourful nebulas and galaxies that many newcomers are after require specialized gear. See our tutorials on Astrophotography for tips on getting started in capturing the night sky.
For more detailed recommendations of telescope models, see Buying Your First Telescope — Part Three: Our Recommendations.
For an excellent introduction to the hobby with practical star charts to use outside, we recommend Terence Dickinson’s book NightWatch. We include it with the Observer’s Packages we recommend adding to many telescopes.]]>This article is part of a three part series, don't miss out:
Part 1: What’s the Best Telescope?
Part 2: Making the Choice
Part 3: Our Recommendations (2023)
We present our suggestions for telescopes we find offer great value in each of several price ranges. But within a price class, you have a choice of what features might be most important to you and for your observing site. For example …
Most telescopes with apertures from 80mm (3.1-inch) to 130mm (5.1-inch) are very portable and capable of showing the Moon and planets well. The larger the aperture the more detail you will see. In that aperture range, large, bright star clusters like the Pleiades also look great. However, fainter deep-sky objects such as nebulas and galaxies will be dim, especially under city skies.
Move up to an aperture of 150mm (6-inch) or 200mm (8-inch) and those deep-sky objects begin to appear with more structure and detail, even from a city. Most telescopes on the market in that aperture range are reflectors of some form, and inevitably have some heft to them.
For example, 8-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain telescopes weigh 10.8 kg (24 lbs) for the Celestron NexStar 8SE to 18 kg (40.5 lbs) for the Celestron NexStar Evolution 8 (shown). They have to be transported in two pieces, setting up the tripod first, then bolting the telescope to it.
However, being compact for an 8-inch telescope, Schmidt-Cassegrains are good choices for camping trips or weekends at the cottage, as they don’t take up a lot of room, yet offer generous aperture to take advantage of dark skies.
Deep-sky fans love telescopes with apertures 250mm (10-inches) or larger, either Newtonian reflectors or Schmidt-Cassegrains. While any telescope of this aperture is a serious commitment to set up and use, the reward is the amazing views!
Telescopes with 80mm to 130mm apertures (as above) offer a good balance of aperture and portability. Many can be carried outside all assembled, qualifying as convenient “grab-and-go” telescopes. A manual mount simplifies setup, but a motorized GoTo mount allows you to find more objects, and track them.
GoTo telescopes do cost more. And they require power and special effort in setting up. See Using Your First Telescope — Part Two: Aligning a GoTo Scope.
But once they are “aligned” each night, GoTo technology makes it possible to see some deep-sky objects from the city that, while they can show up in a telescope, can be hard to find under light-polluted skies by the traditional method of hopping from star to star to object using charts.
GoTo scopes offer programmed, even narrated, tours of what’s up in “Tonight’s Sky.” And they make it easy to work through lists of objects, such as the popular Messier Catalogue of 110 deep-sky objects.
The Antares 511AZ Reflector ($280) is a 4.5-inch reflector on a simple but solid manual mount and metal tripod, suitable for use by a child or adult.
The Celestron StarSense LT80 AZ ($300) has a smaller aperture (3.1 inches), but with the bonus of computer-aided object finding.
The Explore Scientific FirstLight 102mm 4-inch refractor ($430) has more aperture on a good manual mount easy to use by an older child.
Offering 5.1-inches of aperture is the Sky-Watcher Heritage 130 tabletop reflector ($340) on a wood Dobsonian mount and a tube that collapses for storage.
The larger Sky-Watcher Heritage 150 ($390) offers 6-inches of aperture, but still in a compact tabletop design. It is one of the best buys on the market.
With the same aperture, the long popular Sky-Watcher Classic 150P ($580) is a free-standing Dobsonian, making it easier to set up, but taking up more space in storage.
For computerized “push-to” finding with more aperture than the StarSense LT80, consider the StarSense DX 102AZ 4-inch refractor ($625) or the StarSense DX 130AZ 5.1-inch reflector ($625). Both use your phone to point you to targets.
The Sky-Watcher Classic 200P ($820) is a solid-tube 8-inch Dob that is one of the best values on the market. For $940, Sky-Watcher’s Flextube 200P offers the same optics but with a collapsible tube for more compact storage and transport. An 8-inch Dob can show hundreds of deep-sky objects very well, in addition to providing sharp views of the planets. For the serious beginner, either might be the best choice for under $1,000.
The Celestron NexStar 4SE ($850) is a very portable 4-inch Makustov-Cassegrain with a fully motorized GoTo mount, offered at the entry-level price for this technology.
NexStar 6SE ($1,370) and NexStar 8SE ($2,000) are two of the most popular GoTo telescopes we offer, with generous 6- and 8-inches of aperture, respectively, all in a compact Schmidt-Cassegrain design, with tracking mounts good for lunar and planetary photography, though not deep-sky imaging.
For the aperture-hungry visual observer, this price range includes a choice of 10-inch Dobsonian reflectors such as Sky-Watcher’s Classic 250P ($1,140) and Flextube 250P ($1,280).
Or move up to a big Sky-Watcher 12-inch Dobsonian, great for use at dark rural acreages.
The Celestron NexStar Evolution 6 ($2,100) and Evolution 8 ($2,750) have the same Schmidt-Cassegrain optics as the SE models, but with the addition of a sturdier single-fork mount and tripod, and built-in WiFi and rechargeable battery.
The premium Celestron CPC models ($4,000 for the 8-inch CPC 800HD) have even more solid dual-fork mounts and flat-field HD optics, making them suitable for advanced deep-sky imaging when placed on an optional HD Pro Wedge ($664) for polar alignment and equatorial tracking.
In the same league are the Meade LX90 and Meade LX200 “Advanced Coma-Free” telescopes, a flat-field design similar to Schmidt-Cassegrains.
In this price class are also the mix-and-match astrophotography systems that mate an optical tube, such as a 60mm to 140mm apochromatic (apo) refractor from Askar, Orion, Sharpstar, Sky-Watcher, or TeleVue, with a German equatorial mount (the most popular type for astrophotography) from brands such as Celestron, iOptron or Sky-Watcher. We offer several Astrophoto packages to choose from.
Once you really get into amateur astronomy, you might realize, as many do, that the ideal telescope is not one, but two: perhaps (as shown above) a small grab-and-go refractor, to complement a larger reflector or Schmidt-Cassegrain. Or an apo refractor on a German equatorial mount for imaging, complemented by a larger Dobsonian reflector just for visual use.
]]>This post is part of a larger 4 step series, check them all out:
Step 1: Using the Star Adventurer Tracker
Step 2: How to Shoot the Moon
Step 3: Choosing Gear for Deep-Sky Imaging
Step 4: Shooting Deep-Sky Images
Here is the typical process for actually taking deep-sky images in the field.
The mount needs to be accurately polar aligned, a step you learned by using a tracker (see Astrophotography Tutorial Step 1: Using the Star Adventurer Tracker).
For the mount’s GoTo system to find targets, it must also be aimed at two or three alignment stars, a process you can practise in the backyard with an eyepiece to learn how to find things visually. See Using Your First Telescope — Part Two: Aligning a GoTo Scope. (Coming Soon)
With a camera attached, and the telescope cooled to the nighttime temperature, focus the telescope by first aiming at a bright star. A low-tech accessory called a Bahtinov mask (we sell a selection) placed over the front of the telescope makes it easy to tell when the star is precisely in focus, by centering the middle diffraction spike between two adjacent spikes of light, as shown.
Now use the GoTo system to move to the target. Don’t forget to remove the Bahtinov mask! Everyone makes that mistake … once. Or twice!
With a DSLR, set the ISO up very high (25,600 or more) and, just as with a tracker, take short exposures of 15 or 30 seconds. The image will be very noisy, but the point is to just see the object and adjust the framing. Remember to lower the ISO when shooting the final images!
When using a DSLR or mirrorless camera, a good way to start, even from within city limits, is to select a bright target like the Orion Nebula or the Andromeda Galaxy (shown).
With the mount tracking at the sidereal rate, use an intervalometer to fire the camera for lots of short 60-second exposures at a high ISO of 3200 to 6400.
Just as with a tracker, stacking a few dozen such images (tossing out any that appear trailed) will net you initial results you can be proud of, and that will give you valuable experience polar aligning, focusing and framing targets.
The best practice is to shoot fewer but longer exposures of several minutes each and at a lower ISO for better dynamic range and detail, and stack those. However, even the finest mounts will typically not track accurately enough for several minutes without assistance.
To provide that aid, we add an “auto-guider,” a small-chip camera attached to a little 30mm to 50mm guidescope. Its job is to monitor the positions of guide stars near the target. The camera feeds its images into auto-guiding software on a computer. The free program PHD2 Guiding is popular. As soon as the software detects that the stars have wandered off, if only by a pixel, it issues commands to the mount to correct its aim.
There are many choices for auto-guider cameras. Some of the most popular are from ZWO that work with their little ASiair Plus computer that runs a version of PHD2. The ASiair is set up using the ASiair app running on a phone or tablet (Android or Apple iOS), for much more convenient control than using a laptop at the telescope.
So we’re not done buying gear! An auto-guider is recommended for the best results.
The ASiair can also control many Canon and Nikon cameras, as well as all ZWO cooled astro cameras, and ZWO auto-guiders. And it can control many GoTo mounts.
Using the one mobile app, it is possible to: set up a sequence of images, program the targets to be shot, centre them by analyzing the star field (called “plate-solving”), start the auto-guiding, control the main camera, and store the images.
Adding a motorized focuser like ZWO’s EAF (Electronic Auto Focuser) also allows the app to automatically focus the camera, both at the start of the night, and periodically throughout the night as the temperature changes, shifting the focus.
The ASiair communicates with your phone or tablet via WiFi, making it possible to remotely control your rig from the warmth of your car or home! You can even set up a night’s worth of multi-minute exposures for multiple targets, then go to bed!
Many astrophotographers consider the ASiair a revolutionary product that has changed the way they do imaging.
Acquiring all the requisite images (called “light frames”) is just the start. Taking “dark frames” (to record just noise) and “flat-fields” of a uniformly lit panel (to record uneven field illumination and dust spots) is also common practice.
All these frames are mathematically combined using stacking and “calibration” software such as Affinity Photo, Astro Pixel Processor, Deep Sky Stacker (Windows only), Siril, Starry Sky Stacker (MacOS only), or the very complex but powerful PixInsight.
That step yields a base calibrated image, one that still needs a great deal of processing to tease out the maximum details in deep-sky objects, using programs such as Affinity Photo, PixInsight, or Adobe Photoshop (shown).
Processing is half the hobby — and fun! — of deep-sky imaging, and the subject of many books, workshops, and YouTube tutorials!
]]>Through your sessions you’ll encounter challenges like clouds, dew, aircraft, satellites, wind, and dumb user errors! If, despite all that, you want to continue your astrophoto adventure, the next big step is shooting deep-sky objects through a telescope.
]]>This post is part of a larger 4 step series, check them all out:
Step 1: Using the Star Adventurer Tracker
Step 2: How to Shoot the Moon
Step 3: Choosing Gear for Deep-Sky Imaging
Step 4: Shooting Deep-Sky Images
Using a star tracker gains you experience with the fundamentals of deep-sky imaging. Shooting the Moon gains you experience focusing and framing through your telescope.
Through your sessions you’ll encounter challenges like clouds, dew, aircraft, satellites, wind, and dumb user errors! If, despite all that, you want to continue your astrophoto adventure, the next big step is shooting deep-sky objects through a telescope.
For example here’s an image of the Andromeda Galaxy shot with a Sharpstar 61EDPH refractor.
Success in deep-sky imaging requires proficiency at several key skills:
Using a low-cost star tracker teaches you all those skills, with the exception of using a GoTo mount, an essential item for telescopic deep-sky imaging.
The literal foundation of any astrophoto setup is the mount. Entry-level models include the Sky-Watcher EQM-35 Pro, a lightweight but solid German equatorial mount (GEM) with full GoTo capability. Its polar axis scope makes it easy to polar align, just like a star tracker.
The new Star Adventurer GTi, a GoTo version of the Star Adventurer tracker, will be ideal for those looking for utmost portability without sacrificing GoTo and full auto-guiding capability. It will work well with small 60mm-class photographic refractors.
GEMs (from brands such as Celestron, iOptron and Sky-Watcher) are by far the most popular type of mount for deep-sky astrophotography.
The standard fittings of such mounts allow them to be used with a variety of telescopes. But the cardinal rule is to not overburden a mount with too heavy or large a telescope. Doing so risks poor tracking, vibration from wind, and trailed images.
Astrophotographers prefer to select “à la carte” from a wide range of optical tube assemblies (OTAs), to mate to a mount purchased separately, often from another brand.
By far the most popular type of telescope for not only beginners, but also among advanced photographers, is the apochromatic (colour-free) refractor, typically with a relatively fast (for a telescope) focal ratio of f/4.5 to f/6. “Apos” with just 60mm to 80mm aperture might seem small, but their focal lengths are ideal for framing many deep-sky targets and photogenic starfields. Their lightweight OTAs work well with a small, portable and affordable mount.
Bigger telescopes such as larger refractors, photographic Newtonian reflectors, or Schmidt-Cassegrains do frame smaller objects such as galaxies better, but they require bigger, heavier and more costly mounts. Start small and modest.
We stock many astrophoto-capable telescopes (sometimes called “astrographs”) from the popular brands Askar, Celestron, Orion, SharpStar, Sky-Watcher, and Tele Vue.
Some astrographs have the required optics built-in to flatten the field to ensure pinpoint star images corner to corner. With other telescopes a field flattener lens (which might also serve to reduce the focal length and speed up the focal ratio) is an optional, but usually essential, accessory.
A deep-sky imaging rig (mount and telescope) will start at $2,000. We offer several astrophoto packages, from entry-level systems to advanced packages for the more experienced astrophotographer. Or you can mix and match components to assemble your own custom dream system.
To start, use a standard DSLR or mirrorless camera. They can take excellent deep-sky images in the 4- to 12-minute exposures needed. The common practice is to shoot as many “sub-frames” as the night or your time allows, for later stacking to smooth noise and eliminate satellite trails.
A DSLR or mirrorless camera doesn’t need a computer to power and control it, nor store its images, making for a simpler setup to hone your skills and get great images.
With their greater affordability in recent years, using dedicated astro cameras has become popular. These often have CMOS sensors similar to those in standard cameras, but with greater sensitivity to the deep red wavelengths emitted by nebulas, and active cooling circuits to chill the sensor to below freezing. This reduces one form of noise (thermal noise) that can plague deep-sky images, especially in summer.
We offer the hugely popular ZWO line of cooled astro cameras, starting at $1,200, in both “one-shot” colour (OSC) and monochrome models, with a choice of sensor sizes, such as: micro four-thirds (13x18mm), APS (15x23mm), and full-frame (23x36mm).
They are best controlled with their specialized computer, the ZWO ASiair Plus ($399), that rides along on your telescope, and stores the images.
Powering a mount requires a source of 12 volts. A cooled astro camera also demands 12-volt power, as does an auto-guider camera and its control computer. In all, for field use you need a battery (or batteries) capable of delivering several amps of 12-volt power. The Celestron PowerTanks (shown) will do the job.
The finest images come from shooting under dark, moonless skies away from urban light pollution. However, specialized “narrowband” filters (like the Optolong L-Xtreme or the Antlia ALP 5nm Golden) can block a great deal of light pollution and moonlight, making it possible to do some deep-sky imaging from suburban backyards.
The targets suitable for such filters are limited to gaseous nebulas that emit only at very specific wavelengths, primarily red Hydrogen-alpha and green Oxygen-III. The Milky Way, visible in summer, autumn and winter, is rich in such targets.
We carry filters from popular brands such as Antlia, Optolong and ZWO, in dual-band (red + green) models suitable for colour cameras, as well as single-band filters for use with monochrome cameras favoured by advanced users.
Choosing the right gear is just the start. See our Astrophotography Tutorial Step 4: Using Gear for Deep-Sky Imaging for the steps on using it all in the field.
]]>This post is part of a larger 4 step series, check them all out:
Step 1: Using the Star Adventurer Tracker
Step 2: How to Shoot the Moon
Step 3: Choosing Gear for Deep-Sky Imaging
Step 4: Shooting Deep-Sky Images
Shooting the night sky has never been more popular, nor easier. The choice of equipment has also never been better, or more affordable. However, as per the advice given by Dickinson and Dyer in their book The Backyard Astronomer’s Guide, we suggest getting into astrophotography one step at a time.
Remarkably, modern phone cameras are capable of providing impressive results when used on a tripod in low-light mode for long exposures of scenes at night. Even older phones have cameras good enough to capture images of the Moon when clamped to the eyepiece of a telescope, with an accessory like a Smartphone Adapter.
Start with the phone’s own camera app. However, apps such as Deep Sky Camera (for Android) and Night Cap (for Apple iOS) provide more advanced options. Dabbling with phone astrophotography provides practice in framing scenes at night, setting a camera, aiming through a telescope, and simple image processing.
If you have an older DSLR camera or a newer mirrorless camera, plus a kit zoom lens, use it on a sturdy tripod to shoot short exposures (under 30 seconds) of night scenes lit by moonlight.
Mastering this type of “camera-on-tripod” nightscape photography will give you invaluable experience in operating and focusing a camera at night. Focusing has to be done manually, by using Live View to focus on a star at a 5x or 10x zoom setting.
You’ll also gain experience adjusting camera settings for the best exposures. On moonlit nights, use the lens you have at an aperture of f/4 to f/5.6 (or wider at f/2.8), and set the camera to an ISO speed of 400 to 1600 for exposures of 10 to 20 seconds. You’ll be amazed at what the camera can capture by moonlight.
Shooting the Milky Way in a dark, moonless sky requires exposures of 30 to 40 seconds at ISO 1600 to 6400, but with a fast lens, likely your first necessary astrophoto purchase.
Nightscape photography, and all tracked constellation portraits, as described below, benefit from having an f/2 to f/2.8 wide-angle (12mm to 24mm) lens. Manual focus lenses from brands such as Rokinon (shown) are popular and affordable. No matter how much more gear you buy, you will always have a use for such a nightscape lens.
A camera on a fixed tripod limits your exposures to no more than 30 to 40 seconds before the motion of the sky trails the stars. By placing the camera on a motorized star tracker it can follow the moving sky, allowing the camera to record even more Milky Way detail, while keeping the stars pinpoint. With exposures of several minutes under dark skies, the Milky Way shows up with stunning structure and colour. You’ll be hooked.
Getting good results requires learning how to “polar align” the tracker so its motorized rotation axis aims toward the North Celestial Pole near (but not exactly at) Polaris. The tracker, and any camera on it, will then turn to accurately follow the stars from east to west. Using short telephoto lenses you can start shooting big deep-sky objects.
See our Astrophotography for Beginners Step 1: Using the Star Adventurer Tracker for more information.
While you might want to immediately move up shooting long exposures of targets like the Andromeda Galaxy through your telescope, first try the Moon with your DSLR or mirrorless camera. Attaching the camera body (without lens) to your telescope requires a "T-Ring Adapter" and a “T-Ring” (shown) for your camera brand.
The Moon is bright and requires only short exposures well under a second. As such, the Moon can be shot through any telescope on any mount. Shooting the Moon provides experience with focusing and framing through a telescope, not always easy tasks!
See our Astrophotography for Beginners Step 2: How to Shoot the Moon for helpful tips.
This is where many aspiring astrophotographers want to start. But it’s a giant leap! Getting the colourful images that often entice newcomers into astrophotography requires a suite of specialized gear – both mounts and telescopes, not to mention accessories – that will add up to $2,000 … or much more.
The types of telescopes we recommend as the best buys for visual astronomy (i.e. just looking!) will almost certainly not be suited to long-exposure deep-sky imaging.
We survey the equipment required in our Astrophotography for Beginners Step 3: Choosing Gear for Deep-Sky Imaging.
]]>Here are steps and tips for using the most popular unit we sell, the Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer 2i Pro ($650), a kit which comes with the Latitude EQ Base, and the Fine-Tuning Assembly and Counterweight. However, the tripod is extra.
]]>This post is part of a larger 4 step series, check them all out:
Step 1: Using the Star Adventurer Tracker
Step 2: How to Shoot the Moon
Step 3: Choosing Gear for Deep-Sky Imaging
Step 4: Shooting Deep-Sky Images
By far the most economical and easiest way to capture beautiful images of the Milky Way and large deep-sky objects like the Andromeda Galaxy (shown here) is to use a star tracker.
Here are steps and tips for using the most popular unit we sell, the Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer 2i Pro, a kit which comes with the Latitude EQ Base, and the Fine-Tuning Assembly and Counterweight. However, the tripod is extra.
All trackers require a solid tripod. Any mid-sized camera tripod will do. Attach the Latitude EQ Base that comes with the Pro kit directly to the tripod without any head on it. If you don’t have a tripod you can use for the purpose, the Star Adventurer Tripod or iOptron Tripod are solid, yet lightweight options.
Any DSLR or mirrorless camera will work well, with newer models providing cleaner images with lower noise. For Milky Way shots, use a wide-angle lens, in the range of 12mm to 24mm. Images of constellations and regions of the Milky Way require a 35mm to 135mm lens. With any lens, a fast aperture of f/2 to f/2.8 keeps exposure times short (desirable even with a tracker), and ISO speeds low for the least noise.
The Star Adventurer 2i can control a camera shutter through its SNAP port using the correct cable for your camera. That allows advanced options such as time-lapse sequences where the camera shutter has to be synchronized with the tracker’s incremental moves.
However, for continuously tracked deep-sky images we suggest using a separate intervalometer, available at most camera shops. Using one makes it easier to change exposure times, and to start and stop sequences.
You will also need a ball head between the tracker and camera. You might have one already.
Test out your tracker in the city to get used to setting up and polar aligning. But good images of the Milky Way demand clear, dark skies on a moonless night at a rural site.
The Star Adventurer requires four AA batteries (shown).
It can also be powered through its USB Mini-B port by any 5-volt USB power bank used to charge phones. If the Mode dial light blinks slowly, the batteries are low; the tracker will soon stop working.
The Star Adventurer 2i is programmed via WiFi using the SA Console app (iOS or Android). The motor stops tracking when any programmed sequence ends.
However, the 2i should come pre-programmed to take an endless series of 2-minute exposures. So setting it to the Star mode should start the tracking at the Sidereal (star) rate. Test that indoors:
If you see no or insufficient motion over a few hours, follow these steps:
Daunting at first, polar alignment becomes easy after a few nights. Here are the steps:
Start by using a wide-angle lens and camera with a ball head on the Ball Head Adapter. Aim the camera at a bright star. Use the camera’s Live View to zoom in on the star and focus it so it is as pinpoint as possible, just as you did for tripod nightscapes.
Unlock the polar axis collar if needed, to reposition the camera over a large area of sky. Be sure to tighten it again. If you use the Fine-Tuning Assembly (with the Counterweight), the same applies. Loose fittings will spoil your images.
Then use the ball head to frame the field you want as best you can.
Bump the camera up to a very high ISO such as 12,800 or 25,600, and set the lens to the widest aperture possible. Now take short 8- or 10-second exposures to check your framing. It takes a few trial-and-error test shots to get it right.
Now set the camera back down to ISO 800 or 1600, and the lens to f/2.8, and use your intervalometer take a single 1-, 2-, or 3-minute exposure. Check that it looks well exposed. Don’t make the exposures too dark. You want to see lots of detail!
Settle on an exposure time and set the intervalometer to take several such exposures (at least four — we show eight here) for later stacking.
Start by using your wide-angle lens. Once you are able to get images consistently well-exposed with the stars in focus and not trailed, try a longer lens, like an 85mm or 135mm. Use it with the Fine-Tuning Assembly and Counterweight, as shown. While a ball head provides more freedom to frame the field as you wish, be sure it is locked down solidly. If not, it can slowly shift during exposures, causing trailed stars.
Frame targets like Milky Way star clouds, the Andromeda Galaxy, the Pleiades, or Orion’s Belt.
Take lots of multi-minute shots – at longer focal lengths some images (perhaps 30% to 50%) will be trailed slightly due to minor tracking errors from the gears and motor. Use only the best frames for any final stack.
Note: Using lenses longer than 135mm to 200mm with any tracker might not yield enough good shots to be useful. Trackers are designed to work best with shorter lenses.
]]>This post is part of a larger 4 step series, check them all out:
Step 1: Using the Star Adventurer Tracker
Step 2: How to Shoot the Moon
Step 3: Choosing Gear for Deep-Sky Imaging
Step 4: Shooting Deep-Sky Images
Close-ups of the Moon are rewarding, and an easy way to learn to shoot through your telescope. While good results are possible with a phone camera clamped to an eyepiece (as shown below), this tutorial concentrates on using a DSLR camera body, as a step toward shooting deep-sky images later..
DSLR camera bodies (with the lens removed) can attach to the focusers of most telescopes using a specialized adapter tube that replaces the eyepiece.
We stock adapters for both 1.25-inch and 2-inch focusers, with most also requiring the purchase of a T-Ring to go from either the M42 or M48 diameter T-threads on the camera adapter to the lens mount specific to your camera, such as Canon or Nikon.
T-Rings made for mirrorless camera bodies are rare. Instead, you will have to use an additional adapter made by your camera manufacturer for attaching older DSLR lenses to your camera body. This goes between the T-Ring and your camera.
Schmidt-Cassegrain telescopes can be fitted with their own T-Adapter tubes that thread onto the telescope, replacing the Visual Back.
Most refractors and all Maksutov- and Schmidt-Cassegrain telescopes will reach focus with a DSLR camera attached using such an adapter.
However, many Newtonian reflectors are designed just for visual use and will not reach focus with a DSLR camera. The focuser will not rack in far enough. A solution is to insert a 2X Barlow into the focuser, and then slide the camera adapter into the Barlow.
The Moon’s image will be double the size, but that might be an advantage. As we show above, it takes a whopping 1,500mm of focal length to fill a full-frame camera sensor with the Moon’s disk.
While a telescope with a non-tracking mount will work, you will have to keep re-centering the Moon every few seconds. A GoTo mount is preferable.
As with all astrophotography, focus is critical. Poor exposures can be fixed, to a point, later in processing. But not poor focus.
Use Live View to zoom in on the limb of the Moon or the rim of craters or mountain peaks along the line between light and dark, the “terminator.” Focus until the features look as sharp as possible.
Our wobbly atmosphere and vibration from touching the telescope will make it hard to nail the point of best focus, but practice makes perfect.
When shooting with a DSLR, try using Mirror Lockup (left), to avoid vibration from the reflex mirror blurring the image. With a mirrorless camera, use Silent Shooting or Electronic First Curtain Shutter (right), to avoid vibration from just the shutter itself.
Windy nights will be a challenge! After all, you are effectively shooting with a 500mm to 2000mm telephoto lens, so any vibration, even from nearby traffic, can spoil the image.
Despite its presence in our night sky, the Moon is surprisingly bright. It is essentially a sunlit rock, so exposures are snapshot length, just a fraction of a second.
Exact exposures will depend on the focal ratio of your telescope, the altitude of the Moon, and the clarity of the sky. Take a range of exposures to pick from later at the computer. Aim for images that don’t overexpose the bright areas toward the limb, while not underexposing the dark areas along the terminator.
Exposures need to shorten as the Moon waxes from crescent toward Full. But 1/8-second for a crescent Moon, 1/60-second for a quarter Moon, and 1/500-second for a Full Moon are typical.
Use a low ISO (100 to 400) for the least noise and highest dynamic range.
Take lots of images, as some will be sharper than others, those caught by chance when the air was steadiest (during moments of good “seeing”).
To frame just small areas of the Moon the best option is to employ a Barlow lens (perhaps up to a 4X model) between the camera and telescope, using a nosepiece style adapter to slide the camera into the Barlow.
Focusing will be tougher, and the image darker, requiring exposures much longer (perhaps a second or more), risking blurring from seeing turbulence and vibration.
The more common practice of lunar and planetary photographers is to use either a DSLR in movie mode or a dedicated planetary camera (such as models by ZWO) to capture a movie.
Free Windows software such as AstroStakkert! or Registax extracts the sharpest frames from the movie, then stacks and aligns them for a final still image. Multiple but overlapping closeup images of the Moon can be stitched into a high resolution full-disk image using Photoshop or the free panorama software Hugin.
The sharpest images of planets require the same techniques outlined above for lunar closeups. A DSLR can be used, but achieving the results you see on the web demands good seeing and a specialized high-frame-rate camera.
For example, using a ZWO planetary camera (shown above), the little ZWO ASiair control computer can record a movie, and select, stack and sharpen frames right in the field, greatly simplifying post-processing.
]]>“I placed a $450 eyepiece in a $200 telescope and it transformed it into an amazing space discovery instrument.”
This comment illustrates how better telescope eyepieces will be the single most important upgrade to almost any telescope. All manufacturers mostly include a basic eyepiece or two in order to keep the cost of the telescope down and often a set of good eyepieces will exceed the original cost of the telescope. Photographers understand this about cameras and camera lenses. If you're trying to learn about telescope eyepieces and how to pick the best telescope eyepiece or eyepieces for your needs, read on.
“I’d like an eyepiece to see Saturn clearer and better.”
This comment expresses the hope that a telescope eyepiece with more magnification and better optical qualities will produce a better view of planets. Unfortunately sky conditions and the position of the celestial body in the sky will determine the “sharpness” or “clarity” of the view. When viewing objects closer to the horizon, you are looking through two or three times as much atmosphere as higher in the sky. That atmosphere is often turbulent as the air warms and cools from the heat of the earth and may have more haze or low cloud. Amateur astronomers use the term, “steady skies” for the best viewing.
“I saw a YouTube video with the same scope as I purchased with much better views than what I’m getting.”
This comment from someone in northern Alberta is comparing views with someone in southern Arizona where the planet will be higher in the sky, experiencing less turbulence and less water vapor in the air. The solution is not a better telescope eyepiece but better viewing location where the celestial object will be higher in the sky with less atmospheric interference. A moonless night, no light pollution and higher elevation with thinner air will contribute to better viewing. If you have the opportunity to visit Hawaii’s Mauna Kea or Haleakala you will quickly experience the advantage of higher elevation with less atmosphere for stargazing. In fact we’ve been confused by the abundance of stars that are not normally visible from home.
It’s not all about magnification: The best way to understand magnification is to use your telescope regularly for several nights on several types of celestial objects - the moon, planets, nebulas, star clusters and galaxies. Manufacturers include a telescope eyepiece or two that are usable - start with the eyepiece marked with the higher number - often 25 or 20. Unfortunately if you have a “department store trash scope” it may have come with one or two unusable, high power eyepieces in addition to a useless barlow lens (these are not sold by All-Star Telescope). While the conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter in December 2020 drew a lot of attention to viewing the planets which can benefit from higher magnification, 75% of your viewing likely will be at lower magnification. Why? Many celestial objects such as the Pleiades star cluster, the double cluster in Perseus, the Orion nebula, the twin galaxies M81 & M82 and Andromeda galaxy are large. The Andromeda galaxy is 4 or 5 times the diameter of the full moon. For best views you will want low magnification and large light gathering.
For most amateur astronomers, it is not about “how far” you can see. It’s about “how bright” those deep sky objects (nebulas, galaxies and star clusters) and how much detail you can see. While 75% of your viewing will be at the lowest power, 10% may be at high power for viewing the planets and lunar features with 15% of your viewing at medium power. Each telescope, telescope eyepiece and nightly sky conditions will determine how much you can magnify. If you double the magnification you spread the same amount of light over a larger area and the object will be dimmer. This is not noticeable on brighter objects like the moon and planets but will be apparent on many deep sky objects. As you increase magnification you also magnify imperfections in our atmosphere and the celestial object can begin to look like a hockey puck at the bottom of a swimming pool. You will almost always have a sharper, clearer view of Saturn at a lower magnification and can increase the magnification until the planet begins to “swim” and offers a blurry view. To determine magnification, you divide the focal length of the telescope by the focal length of the eyepiece. Thus the 2000mm focal length of Celestron’s popular C-8 - (NexStar 8SE, etc.) comes with a 25mm eyepiece that results in 80X magnification. A 10mm telescope eyepiece results in 200X magnification. Ignore the manufacturer’s “maximum magnification” which might apply if you are on the space station or moon where there is no atmosphere to contend with.
While it is tempting to buy a telescope eyepiece offering higher magnification, we recommend firstly buying one with lower magnification since 75% of your viewing will be done with that eyepiece. Terence Dickinson, author of NightWatch, co-author of Backyard Astronomer’s Guide and author of dozens of astronomy books once asked what he recommended. His answer was:
“The only way you are going to get sharp performance edge-to-edge across the field is by spending big bucks for top-of-the line glass.” He continues, “As for eyepieces, TeleVue Panoptics are superb, as are TeleVue Naglers and Ethos.” And, “Anything else is second rate... Expensive? Yes. But if you want to smile every time you look in the eyepiece, that's the answer. For more, see my book Backyard Astronomer’s Guide, 3rd Edition (2008), which has an entire chapter on eyepieces with comments about many brands.”
There’s a saying in astronomy, “Don’t look through an eyepiece more expensive than what you can afford.” Yes, quality telescope eyepieces make a huge difference in your viewing.
On magnification, here’s what I recommend:
For a Celestron C11 or C925 (CPC, Evolution 11” and 9.25”) purchase
For the popular Celestron C8 on the NexStar 8SE with a focal length of 2000mm I recommend:
When we move to the Newtonian style telescope such as the Dobsonians or many short focal length refractors:
If you add TeleVue eyepieces to your telescope eyepiece selection you not only will have a smile on your face every time you look in the eyepiece, you will have invested in eyepieces for a lifetime that will hold their value if you ever need to sell them or trade them in.
But some brands offer the same magnification and “field of view” of the TeleVue eyepieces. Yes, but there are other qualities in an eyepiece to consider.
Conclusion: Cheaper eyepieces may offer similar specifications to the better and best eyepieces. But they definitely will not offer similar viewing.
OK, I can’t afford the TeleVue eyepieces that Terence Dickinson recommends. What should I purchase? In the lower power eyepieces, from 30mm to 40mm you can consider the Baader Hyperion 36mm and 31mm as a good second choice to the top choice TeleVue eyepieces. In the 20mm to 30mm range you may be able to afford the TeleVue Panoptic eyepieces or consider the Baader Hyperion 24mm and 21mm eyepieces. From the 17mm and higher power, you can consider the Morpheus17, TeleVue Delos, or Baader Morpheus telescope eyepieces. These are excellent. And in the higher power eyepieces, if you can’t afford the TeleVue 13mm, 9mm or 7mm or the TeleVue Delos 12mm, 10mm, 8mm or 6mm, take a look at the Baader Morpheus as a good second choice.
Unfortunately this question is difficult or impossible to answer. However, getting out with the telescope under the nighttime sky can become a lifelong hobby and passion. In his book, Seeing in the Dark, Timothy Ferris says, “The universe is accessible to all, and can inform one’s existence with a sense of beauty, reason and awe as enriching as anything to be found in music, art of poetry.”
]]>