astrophotography

I've a 125ec with autostar and LPI. Only starting to try out the imager. How effective is it : and any tips on getting some results. p.s. My mount is alt/az and I've a laptop with a very unpredictable battery. Flood me with suggestions please ( sensible ones only :!: p.p.s Is it any good for DSI's :

William - the LPI is what it is - a good lunar/planetary imager.

Luckily for you, the moon and mars are out at the moment! The LPI will be good enough for you to image these objects. You *may* be able to capture DSO's but I'm not certain.

Tips on getting images:

1. Polar align, polar align, polar align...
2. Make sure your tracking is OK (an image stays on Autostar screen for a least 30 seconds) - if it doeasn't, see 1 above
3. Focus, focus, focus!
4. Take an image and post it here.

The best advice is to get out there and have a go - post up whatever you come up with - however rubbish it seems. We'll be kind

Cheers

Dave

PS - can you plug the laptop into the mains power?

William,
Some good advice there from Dave, I cant over emphasise the focusing, do spend alot of time at this, when you get more experianced it will come to you much faster.
Start off on easy objects first of all, the moon is big and high at the moment, as is Mars, put the LPI in the etx and try the moon.
If you're having trouble focusing, try a bright start like aldebaran, when the star point is smallest, its then focused, the moon and mars are not necessarily the easiest objects to achieve focus.

If you post your results here, we'll all try to help you out.

Some reassuring advice there. Unfortunately its 4 below and foggy at the moment but I'll get some shots up during the next couple of days (probably terrestrial trial runs). :idea: Never thought of a simple solution like a 10 metre extension cable for the laptop :idea: Look out for my groundbreaking "image of garden shed"

Shame about the fog... Look forward to the garden shed pic

4 below ?? :shock: are you in northern scotland ?