Astrophotography From £1200

People usually recommend to get a cooled camera for Deep sky astrophotography. This is because camera sensors can get hot when taking long exposures. However we are on a budget here and cooled cameras are expensive. Provided you use calibration frames, you can still achieve excellent results with an uncooled camera. If you want to learn more about calibration frames, click here. 

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Bear in mind that the suggested Astronomy cameras have a small sensor. Capturing large targets like the Andromeda galaxy will be cropped using this setup, you can use a DSLR with this setup though!

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• Altair GPCAM3 178C £300

• ZWOASI178MC £300

• DSLR Alternative: Canon 60D or Canon EOS450. From £90 Secondhand

The Skywatcher Evoguide 50ED is actually intended for guiding, but it also makes an excellent imaging telescope. With a focal length of 242mm, this scope has ED glass just like the more expensive ED Telescopes. The tube rings included with the scope is limited and you are not able to immediately attach a guide scope to it.

 

There is quite a lot of field curvature on the 50ED and a field flattener is recommended. You can purchase the dedicated Sky watcher Field flattener for about £80 but it is only suitable for astronomy cameras and not DSLR's. I would recommend the EVO-FF V2 flattener. This produces a flat field and greatly improves your images.

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• Skywatcher Evoguide 50ED £210

• Starizona EVO-FF Field Flattener £110

This GOTO mount is portable and easy to use. It does not come as an equatorial mount though. You will need to purchase a wedge and counterweights. Rother Valley Optics sells the complete EQ mode set for £370 (Tripod not included) 

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You can purchase the individual components though. 

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NOTE: if you purchase the Sky watcher Wedge, you will need to replace the locking screw as it is too big and rubs against the AZ-GTI. You can purchase a small M8 bolt to replace this. 

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• AZGTI with tripod £350

• Skywatcher Wedge £70

• Skywatcher Star Adventurer Counterweight set £30

• M8 to M12 adaptor. (To allow the counterweight shaft to fit into the AZ-GTI. £5

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Guiding will get you longer exposures. You can start without guiding if you cannot make budget, but I would recommend getting guiding equipment for those long exposures. (You may be limited to about 30 seconds)

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• 30mm guide scope from £50

• ZWO120MM Guide camera £165

• Evoguide 50 Tube Rings from craftology3d on eBay £45

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