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Refracter Telescopes

Astrophotography M31 with rebel xs?
I'm out right now using a 4inch refracter telescope. How should I take a picture of M31? I have a canon rebel XS, got the right utilities (not sure about filters. I have O-IIl and a UHC/LPR) and a for it as well. But what mm eyepiece should I use and how long exposure should I have on it? I've tried 2 mins already but its just a redlike color with 2 stars only.
for taking pictures I use a t-ring and the other thing to put the camera in the eyepiece socket.
The eyepiece you have is irrelevant, unless you are trying to take a photo using your DSLR directly through your eyepiece. I'm not quite clear on how you are set up and what equipment you are using. The reddish-brown color is a result of too much stray light coming into the telescope. If you are in a light-polluted area, taking long exposures is simply out of the question.
I've been breaking into astrophotography for about a year. One thing I've found is that to do it in a way that brings high-quality photos is not going to be cheap. You need a good mount that tracks your target, but does so precisely. There is a technique called “prime focus” (which from your description I assume that is what you are doing) where you attach your DSLR to your telescope using adapters. If you are not “guiding”, then 2 minutes is a bit of a stretch and you’ll probably wind up with stars beginning to trail or look oblong. To avoid that, you need some kind of guiding system on either a wedge or preferably a German Equatorial mount. Just to give you an idea of my "basic" setup:
Celestron CGEM mount
William Optics 110 APO Megrez
Orion Starshoot CCD camera (for guiding)
Orion 80 ShortTube (for guiding)
Canon Xsi DSLR
That's just a base setup which doesn't include other little odds-and-ends that you need to get yourself going and does not include a laptop (which I already had). You’ll also need software to process the images.
There is no CHEAP way to do real astrophotography. And there are no shortcuts; it takes a long time to learn how to do it right and it takes money. I'm still eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for dinner b/c after buying all this stuff, it's all I can afford to eat.
Take your time and do some research into what it takes to do astrophotography. Two things you need are patience and funding. Research, research, research before you buy anything! Once you've bought it, more than likely you are stuck with it. You want to make sure you get WHAT YOU NEED to accomplish WHAT YOU WANT to do. It took me OVER a year to acquire all the equipment I needed b/c of the cost. For me, it was about $6000.
If you have an interest in astrophotography, I suggest you look at a book on CD by Jerry Lodriguss called “A Beginner’s Guide to DSLR Astrophotography.” You can get it at
http://www.astropix.com/BGDA/BGDA.HTM or
http://www.amazon.com/Beginners-Guide-DSLR-Astrophotography/dp/0972973761/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1312732068&sr=8-1
It will give you some great insight into the subject and Mr. Lodriguss is also a member of one of Yahoo!’s groups in which he answers questions.
I wish you the best and Clear Skies!
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Saturn through apochromatic refractor telescope




















































































