Astrophotography - Some Quick Help

[CoolToolGuy]

The college where my wife works is having a Star Party this evening, and I am going. When I asked about the possibility of connecting the Drebel to the telescope, my wife told me that they haven't had time to figure out how to use the camera, and if I had some expertise in it, they would REALLY appreciate it. :shock:

So now I'm trying to figure it out. I know nothing about astrophotography, so any quick lessons in how to hook up the camera would be greatly appreciated. I don't know what kind of camera they have, but apparently they have everything they need. Here is a link to the model telescope they have.
http://www.meade.com/catalog/lx/16_lx200gps.html

My first goal is to get them up and running (camera-wise) with what they have. If I can hook the Drebel up to it, so much the better. I don't want to disturb the star party, which is from 8-10, so if there is significant setup time for the camera, I would go early. Also, if it normally takes much time to switch between camera and eyepiece that would not be a good thing for a two-hour event. :?

Thanks in advance for any assistance y'all can give. :D

Have Fun
Rick 8)

[Scottes]

I always thought that you needed some type of coupler. And for big cameras - SLRs - they are very uncommon (I think).

Here's one page about 10D + Meade...
http://www.jatobservatory.org/imaging.html

[CoolToolGuy]

Scott,

Thanks for the link. I scanned it (with my eyes) and printed it to read up on later. I saw some interesting info in there about the 10D, and I think it it will pertain to the Drebel.

I think the college has all they need, including a camera. I'm trying to get a crash course in telescopes. The Meade web site talks about microfocusers and de-rotaters, and stuff I've never heard of. I'll try to get there early and see if we can get one good brain out of two.

The telescope was given to the college via a 'corporate citizen' program of one of the large retailers. They basically called up one day and said 'Guess what we have for you if you want it' and the college had to jump or miss out. They sent a faculty member away for a week to learn about it and they built a special building for it (about the size of a lawn shed, but made for the telescope). It has been up and running for a couple years, and is being used for classes, etc. The person who deals with it says he hasn't had the time to try and get the camera to work. I'd like to give it a shot (pun intended). If I go for hooking up the Drebel, it looks like I'll need a 'T' mount. The local camera store has one, so we'll see.

Thanks for the link, any other hints would be appreciated.

Have Fun
Rick 8)

[Scottes]

I wish I had more.

Oh, I do have one more tip then:
Volunteer for a while to get the camera fully up and running right, and train the guy. With a setup like it sounds, you'll get some *incredible* shots. I'm sure it will be worth your time. You may even get a key to the shack. :)

[CoolToolGuy]

I wish I had more.

Oh, I do have one more tip then:
Volunteer for a while to get the camera fully up and running right, and train the guy. With a setup like it sounds, you'll get some *incredible* shots. I'm sure it will be worth your time. You may even get a key to the shack. :)

Walking in fresh tonight, I will be very careful not to upset the apple cart for the event. I don't want to distract him from preparing for it, or keep another visitor from enjoying the event. That said, if attendance is low, perhaps I'll get to fool with it for a while. In either case, its got my interest enough to try and see it through (setting up the camera for the college). :)

The link you passed on was interesting. It seems that when using a normal DSLR for this type of stuff you need to take multiple exposures and 'stack' them due to heat in the sensor on long exposures. Tonight's event is planetary in nature (Saturn, Mars, Jupiter, Venus), so I don't know what sort of exposures would be required. Perhaps this is one of those cases where film would be the better choice (FILM, did he really say FILM? How 20th century). If so, I'll get out the ELAN 7 and give it a spin around the block. :D

My wife does PR and related things for the college and if I get this thing going I'm sure I can get access when I want. I'm not a big astronomy fan, but I might become one starting tonight. :roll:

Thanks again. I hope I have some documentation or something that will help guide me through this.

Have Fun
Rick 8)

[iwatkins]

Rick,

I've had a fiddle with astro work on the 10D and one thing I can say is that it (and I guess the 300D) don't have a lot of problems with noise with long exposures (1-3 minutes). One a cold night, I get fairly noiseless images at 10 minutes with the 10D at ISO100. Of course, hooked up to a telescope, I'd get a lot closer than with the Sigma 12-24mm. :lol:

But image stacking seems to be the thing to do, low ISO, lots of shots using a telescope that automatically tracks the sky. This way you get lots of noiseless images, stack them up to bring out the detail.

Of course, with the 10D (not sure on the 300D), you could do the shot taking via remote with it hooked up to a computer/laptop via USB. This way you will all be able to see what the telescope sees as each exposure is completed. Great teaching aid if nothing else.

There is plenty of stuff on the 'net about hooking a Canon EOS up to telescopes, just needs some good searches. I looked into it a while back and there was a site somewhere (can't find it now) that explained exactly what the options were to hook up to the LX200, i.e. the scope you are talking about. Just can't find it now... (I'll have a dig about again later)

Cheers

Ian

[CoolToolGuy]

Thanks Ian and Scott,

I got a 'T' mount adapter and a roll of Velvia 100, so if I get to set up on the scope I have both sides (digital and film) covered.

The rule for these Star Parties is that if you can see stars at 7:00 its a go. I just poked my head out, and it looks like we're on. We'll see how it goes.

Have Fun
Rick 8)