XT8 bad for astrophotography?

I'm a bit discouraged by the post that said this was not a good scope for astrophotography. I had just about decided on the XT8 but now it appears I'm back to square one. Of course I want to see as much as I can out there, but I'd ultimately like to take picture of planets/nebuals, etc. Can anybody recommend a good scope for astrophotography in the $400-$500 range? Thanks,

tc

The rule of thumb is that the total cost of an astrophotography setup is at least 3 times the cost of the OTA. The XT8 is not good for astrophotography because to get a picture that looks any better than what you are seeing visually, you need long exposures. Therefore, you need a scope that can track against the earth's rotation. If you wanted to take pictures of planets, the moon, and the sun, you could get a fast achromat refractor on an equatorial mount with an RA drive, and hook a digital camera to the eyepiece. Unless you got all of these things used, or you already have a digital camera, that is already over your budget. Anything dimmer than a planet is going to take a longer exposure. For long exposures that look good, there are some people who have made nice pictures with digital cameras such as the Nikon Coolpix 995, but that requires a lot of know-how (like surrounding your camera with ice to reduce noise, or stacking many photos into one with software like Astrostack). Really you need a dedicated CCD camera, some sort of guiding system for manual corrections, and a mount that is rated for at least double the weight of your telescope, to take the weight of the added CCD equipment and to hold steady for long pictures. The drive system has to be a well-oiled machine - most good astrophotographers make alterations to the mechanics to reduce "periodic error". A lot of people use film for astrophotography - I don't know much about that, but I do know their exposures are even longer (i.e. they need even better mount/tripod performance).

The best way to learn something is to do it, so don't be discouraged, but know that the costs will be well higher than for visual observing.

Ryan O

Hi - right after posting, the Astronomy Magazine "Explore the Universe" arrived in the mail. It lists the top 50 telescopes (in their opinion), separated into use-type. The cheapest scope in the Astrophotographic telescope section is the LX-10 deluxe (deluxe comes with the Dec drive), at $1150, although you could pay less than that used (I just bought one yesterday right here on Astromart, and was happy to see it on the list!). The XT8 did not make it, but probably because the XT6 made it in Beginner Scopes and the XT10 made it in Deep Sky scopes. The XT8 is also an excellent scope.

Ryan O