Duke the Nuke

Grandson is interested in getting into astrophotography. Looking for suggestions on equipment.

walkurie Loc: East Stroudsburg, PA

Both Meade and Celestron make affordable "Go To" telescopes. It all depends on the budget and features desired.

SonnyE Loc: Communist California, USA

Hi Duke!
Well, I've got some good links for you to take a gander at.
Forrest Tanaka can take you from A to Z in Astrophotography.
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3,
Or in a Group, https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0OGNfrXpueepNJNVDkrKK5f8EpMeu_jb

I spent a month deciding IF I wanted to go into this madness.
Then another 4 months making my "Wish List's". I made 3, then picked the one I thought best.
But I had equipment problems right off the bat.

I've finally corrected those. This is an entirely different animal, and it takes a lot of perseverance and determination. But the rewards can be as big as the sky above you.
Picking a goal is one way to avoid an entire garage or room full of trial and error,error,error....
Planets and inter solar system takes one kind of telescope. Deep Space Objects takes a different type.
And not all telescopes are good at imaging. It can be quite an education.

I hung out here and looked at what others were doing. My hook was The Great Orion Nebula. When I found it in my 60x spotting scope I knew I wanted to find Nebula in Deep Space.
You guys can get started right away with Stellarium. It's FREE, just download the version that fits your type of computer.
Or not. You can check out the web version with just a link: https://stellarium-web.org/

There are many things that are tools to Astrophotography, like PHD2, that are also free to download and use.
This sport can tie up thousands of dollars. No kidding!
So it is best approached with caution, and learning what you want to accomplish.

In closing, I'll share a link to my trials, and tribulations. I started in December of 2014, I began to see fruit in July of 2017. In between was a lot of troubles and frustrations.
Perseverance. When a night became frustrating, I'd quit and comeback the next night.
Don't get lost, but do enjoy. https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=sonny+edmonds

Duke the Nuke

Thanks

bwana Loc: Bergen, Alberta, Canada

Oh wow, what an open ended question...

It all depends on the targets your grandson wants to shoot?

If planets, think a 3000-4000mm telescope for good results; a heavy configuration.

If the Sun/Moon, think a 500-600mm lens/telescope; intermediate weight configuration.

As for deep space targets, could be anything from a 14mm lens (Milky Way) to a 2000mm telescope (galaxies). Nebulas can normally get captured with a 100-500mm lens/telescope.

Each of the above has to be taken into consideration when looking at computerized mounts.

I have three Celestron mounts that almost cover the above.

1. My Evolution (Alt/Az) mount is my grab 'n go mount for camera/lens configurations. It is NOT an EQ mount so will have field rotation on long exposures. However, an Alt/Az is easy to setup, i.e.: no polar alignment required. The mount is not really meant for astrophotography but is adequate for shooting 30 second subs (images). It is the mount I most often take to star parties and on holiday.

2. My deck mount is an AVX (EQ) mount; easily handles a camera and anything up to about a 600mm lens/telescope. If it is accurately polar aligned, it is good for about one minute subs w/o guiding and 15-30+ minute subs with guiding. It is also relatively easy to relocate and get operational.

3. My observatory mount is a pier mounted CGEM DX (EQ) mount; quite capable of handling a 2000mm telescope, camera, guiding setup, etc. It is normally configured with a 1000mm telescope and mono camera w/ filterwheel. With proper polar alignment and PEC training the mount is good for up to two minute subs w/o guiding and 30+ minute subs with guiding.

I also have Celestron's StarSense hardware on each of the mounts for automatic star alignment. I also use QHY's PoleMaster hardware for polar alignment on the AVX and CGEM DX mounts.

Of course, a good low light camera and lens on a tripod is great way to get started in astrophotography. If you abide by the 500+/- Rule, you can shoot some great astrophotography on the cheap!

And don't forget that shooting the subs (images) is only a small part of astrophotography. Postprocessing is probably far more important than actually capturing the subs. In astrophotography you can actually 'make a silk purse out of a sow's ear'! I suspect it is the lack of postprocessing skills that kills a budding astrophotographer's interest in astrophotography. It takes considerably skill to get something nice out of an astro-imaging session. If you're looking for instant gratification, don't expect it from astrophotography!!

Once you jump into the deep end of astrophotography you've actually jumped into a money pit! You'll be looking for a better camera (or cameras), a guiding setup, maybe a mono camera with LRGB and narrowband filters (and a filter wheel), yet another telescope, plus all the accessories to bring it all together, ad nauseam.

But it is a great hobby!

Enjoy!

bwa

P.S.: One father I talked to had the right idea, "If you get your kids interested in astrophotography, they won't have any money left over to buy drugs!".