Beginners problems and pragmatic solutions

 

After my retirement I started with astronomy early 2001 and in October 2001 I captured my first image, which was followed by a lot more: moon mosaics, planets, double stars and recently even deep-sky!

 

I have a low cost Russian Newtonian telescope (a TAL-2M), aperture 150 mm, 1200mm focal length, f/8. No GOTO: that is where I come in!

 

It took me a nice portion of patience to get me where I am now, and of course I am still learning.

Fortunately, during my struggles I got a lot of help from numerous QCUIAG members and in order to save their valuable help and to record my own solutions I have dedicated some pages of my website to ‘my road towards imaging’ so that others might benefit from my experiences.

 

Of course not ALL my solutions are applicable to your situation, but some might be of assistance to you.

 

My website address: http://home.hetnet.nl/~dukoyy/firmament

 

The following issues are covered on my 'hints-and-tips' pages:

1.        Aiming your telescope with CCD camera

2.        Mastering your camera and imaging software

3.        Mini course Post Processing

4.        How I collimated my Newtonian telescope

5.        Polar alignment with your webcam

6.        How to use the setting circles of your scope

7.        My Battle with the Periodic Error

8.        Field-Of-View Determination

9.        How to image and construct a Moon mosaic

10.     How to remove noise from a black & white image (e.g. Moon mosaic)

11.     How to trick the Philips Vesta Pro 675/680/690 into 1/5 second exposure

12.     How to prepare and make an Animated Gif

13.     How to set up your RAW and FINAL images archive

14.     Adjusting Windows for night vision

15.     How to log your camera settings

 

And on the 'my equipment' pages you can find:

1.        Philips Vesta Pro SC COOLED

2.        My Mogg and home made camera adapters and piggy-back mounting

3.        Slow motion control

4.        Home made electric focuser

5.        The set of eye piece holders I use for imaging

6.        Motor Corrector

7.        Observatory with roll-on/roll-off roof

8.        Illuminated Crosshairs

9.        Home made Parfocal Adapter

 

For the technical background I suggest you visit the website of my good friend and QCUIAG member Peter Katreniak: http://www.pk3.org/Astro/

 

I wish you lots of success and ‘sky-high’ results!

 

Clear skies!

 

Jan Timmermans