Tracking mounts

College student-teenager with no money for a nice mount. Just want to toy around with something though . Honest opinions, are the "barn door" mounts worth playing around with, and say I have a 50mm lens, whats the longest time I should be able to get?

I understand my results will not be the same as a tru guided mount.

Thank, Ryan

Hi Ryan,

I'm new to the forum, but have been an astronomer for 17 years. It's definitely worth playing with, but you should be able to get some good photos just with a tripod. Assuming you're photographing from a really dark sky, star trails will start to appear after about 30 seconds of exposure. A 50mm lens will show a lot of sky; the wider the field, the longer you can expose without seeing star trails.

Ryan, I have been doing some research and have come to the conclusion that stacking is where it's at if you don't have the money for a decent mount ($400+). I found this website that will tell you the max shutter speed you can use before you get star trails: http://www.sceneplanne​r.com/tool3.php

Then here is a good video on taking astrophotos without a tacking mount and stacking them: http://www.youtube.com​/watch?v=e0JSTF8SGi4

As soon as I get some time I will be trying this with an 85mm f1.8 lens to see what I get.

You can get very good results from a barndoor tacker - well worth playing around with.

Barn door and a 50mm. should give some nice results. Stacking does help to be sure.....Good luck.

This was done on a budget...100 bucks for the scope from criagslist

and then a few parts that were laying around or are cheap to buy

http://www.youtube.com​/watch?v=l28bMljhs1o