Astronomy - Starry Night

[remedyworld]

My Telescope Setup for Astrophotography

When I setup my telescope, I found it important to be accurate with the initial steps.

My telescope setup begins with finding north.
The tripod and mount must have good polar alignment. I use a smartphone app to identify where north is located.

The second step is leveling the tripod. The mount I have is a GEM (German Equatorial Mount) so it has to sit on a level tripod on order to begin to come close to tracking the night sky. I use a traditional level I purchased from the hardware store.

Next the setup must be balanced after I install the mount, telescope, weights and camera. For this in each direction of motion I unlock the mount and adjust the weights or telescope assembly till it doesn't move without a push.

In long exposure astrophotography, I installed a motor to the RA of the mount. No I don't have a fancy electronic GoTo mount. This hobby can be very expensive. In order to complete the final steps, this motor is needed to dial in the polar alignment accuracy of the setup.

All of these steps will give you pictures like this:



M42 The Great Orion Nebula and Running Man Nebula