Dobsonian Astrophotography

Question: I have a 14 inch dob and interested in taking photos with it. Do I really need tracking?

I have a Dobsonian Meade Lightbridge 16-inch and I am also trying to do astrophotography with it. This is a challenge. The Moon is the easiest target for a Dob. Tracking is not compulsory to take good images of the Moon. Next target may be planets. Here it is my last image of Saturn through my Dob:

Saturn improved

Next target would be bright stars and clusters. And the most difficult target of all is deep-sky astrophotography. With no tracking system you have to use some tricks to get deep sky images. I am using shift-and-add technique with moderate results.

My focuser does not let me to use my DSLR camera at prime focus, so I am using afocal method through low power eyepieces. You don’t have to spend much money to do this kind of photographic experiments. Patience and effort sometimes give more satisfaction that a lot of money expended in sophisticated equipment.

Tycho and the South Pole

A sequence of shots to the Moon taken with the Dob Meade Lightbridge 16″ telescope has been integrated into one final image, thanks again to Registax and Paint Shop Pro. This mosaic of Tycho crater and the South Pole region is composed of 30 individual frames. The biggest crater in the terminator is Clavius. Inside it there a lot of small craters.