![]() ![]() Optical amplifiers such as a Barlow lens can effectively increase it, while focal reducers effectively lessen it. As a telescope’s focal length is fixed, you might think that it can only give one magnification, but this isn’t the case. This is determined by the focal length of your telescope. To see more detail, you need to increase the magnification or image scale (how big an object appears in the image frame). ![]() You need a telescope with quite a bit of magnification to photograph surface details on your chosen planet. Keith used a ZWO ASI 290MM mono camera and Celestron 9.25-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain on a Sky-Watcher EQ6 Pro mount. Telescopes for photographing planets Keith Johnson captured this image of Mars before, during and after opposition from Ferryhill, County Durham, UK between 31 August – 30 October 2020. Make sure the drives are tracking at the lunar rate, not the rate at which the stars move across the sky. Your mount should be stable and sturdy and the ability to track the Moon with a motor drive or with a Go-To mount is a must when using a high frame rate camera. Whatever type of telescope you use to photograph the Moon, make sure it’s well collimated if need be. Their longer focal lengths are suited to close-up imaging of the Moon, and compared to a high-quality refractor telescope you get a much larger aperture for your money. You can use any good quality telescope to photograph the Moon, but large aperture Schmidt-Cassegrains and Maksutov-Cassegrains are popular choices with lunar photographers. Avani Soares captured amazing close detail on the lunar south pole by using a C14 Edge telescope with a ZWO ASI 290 camera. The ring mounts on your DSLR and screws into the adapter, which then attaches to your telescope.įor high-resolution lunar imaging, you may want to use a high frame rate planetary camera. Telescopes for photographing the Moon This view of the Moon was captured by John Tipping from Cheshire, UK, using a Canon EOS 700D DSLR camera and Sky-Watcher 178mm Maksutov-Cassegrain.ĭSLR cameras are a great choice for photographing the Moon, and because they have detachable lenses they can be connected directly to a telescope, turning the scope into the camera lens. So if you have a 100mm refractor with a focal length of 900mm, its f-ratio is said to be f/9.Īdding a 2x Barlow lens increases the effective focal length to 1,800mm and doubles the f-ratio to f/18, but there is a limit to how much focal length is useful. The f-ratio is defined by dividing your telescope’s focal length by its aperture, using the same units. So f-ratio is a key value that will help you choose which telescope to use for a specific type of astronomical target. When choosing a telescope for astrophotography – or, indeed, for visual observing – it pays to consider the focal ratio of the instruments available.įocal ratio (f-ratio) gives an indication of the ‘speed’ of an optical system: the time it takes your telescope to deliver a set amount of light.Īs the f-ratio goes up, so the image scale increases: the object appears larger and consequently dimmer. Understanding focal ratio The PrimaLuceLab Airy APO 65F’s 420mm focal length makes it a relatively fast (f/6.5) instrument. Read on for our guide to everything you need to know to photograph the Moon, the planets and deep-sky objects like galaxies and nebulae, and our pick of some of the best telescopes for astrophotography. You will also need to consider what you’re going to mount your telescope on, as it will need to track your object as it moves across the sky, and this is especially the case for deep-sky astrophotography where longer exposures are required.įor more on this, read our guide to telescope mounts. What do you want your astrophotography telescope to do? Credit: Tony Rowell / Getty ImagesĪnd as is the case with visual observing, the best astrophotography telescope for you will depend on what sort of targets you want to photograph. Take time to research which sort of telescope is best for your needs. Whether you’re a beginner or a seasoned astronomer, it pays to do a bit of research as to what type of telescope you’ll need to photograph the night sky. When setting out to capture images of the night sky for the first time, most people probably start by thinking what sort of camera they need, when in fact making sure you have the right sort of telescope for astrophotography is just as important, if not more so. ![]() 27 best telescopes for astrophotography 2023 ![]()
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