Astrophotography

[Godfrey I of Leuven]

So I just bought me a Canon EOS 500D that I intend to use mainly for astrophotography. Now, I already own a telescope (203/1000 newtonian), but I was wondering if it is possible to take pictures (with the DSLR directly hooked up to the telescope) without the use of a motorised equatorial mount.

I ask this because 1. I'm short on money and 2. I read somewhere that it is possible, but with the maximum exposure limited to about 30 seconds.

Thanks in advance

[So Much Fire]

Depends on what you want to do. If you want to photograph small/distant/darker objects in detail then additional equipment is pretty much needed. You'll need something to track the stars obviously but another way around using long exposures is to just take a series of 30 second exposures and blend them in post (which is probably one of the better methods regardless).