DonVA Loc: British Columbia and New Mexico

Taken Jan. 6 from Animas, New Mexico.
SBIG STL 1100 camera on a 14" Ritchie Chretien scope on an AP 1200 mount.
Clear sky, good transparency, fair seeing.
10 x 10 minutes in LRGB.

(Download)

scooter1 Loc: Yacolt, Wa.

Beautiful.

CindyHouk Loc: Nw MT

What an amazing thing to be able to capture...thanks for sharing.

alberio Loc: Casa Grande AZ

Wow, nice work. Oh and really nice equipment.

bwana Loc: Bergen, Alberta, Canada

Very nice M33!

bwa

WIHorseman

Nice shot. I’ve just recently decided to purchase a telescope with the eventual thought of taking up Astrophotography. How long have you been at it and if you were just starting out would you start with a refractor or something like a 9.25 Edge HD? I know there is nothing easy about astrophotography but after some 50 years in film and digital photography I want to take a leap into something new and exciting.

WIHorseman

Nice shot. I’ve just recently decided to purchase a telescope with the eventual thought of taking up Astrophotography. How long have you been at it and if you were just starting out would you start with a refractor or something like a 9.25 Edge HD? I know there is nothing easy about astrophotography but after some 50 years in film and digital photography I want to take a leap into something new and exciting.

Marc G Loc: East Grinstead, West Sussex, England

Nicely done Don

bwana Loc: Bergen, Alberta, Canada

Start simple.

As for the equipment, first you have to decide what you want to shoot. Normal camera lenses in the range of 28-500mm will work for a large number of stellar targets.

Consider a good EQ tracking mount. The size of tracking mount you acquire also depends on what you plan on shooting, i.e.: load rating of the mount. I have three EQ tracking mounts with load ratings of 12 lbs, 25 lbs and 60 lbs (and a couple of Alt-Az mounts).

To get started take a look at the Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer 2i Pro Pack. It will handle a load up to about 15 lbs; think a Sony 200-600mm with Sony A7R III camera (see picture). This a great mount for a camera and lenses, or a small telescope and camera. I've added a Benro 3D tripod head to this mount for fine framing adjustment.

However, the above mount is not a GoTo mount. You have to manually find your targets in the sky which can be quite difficult for a beginning astrophotographer.

My favorite GoTo EQ mount is the Celestron AVX mount. It has a load rating of about 25 lbs, is still easy enough to move around and solidly built.

From the above the sky's the limit with all sorts of money pit add-ons such as a PoleMaster for polar alignment, a StarSense unit for autoalignment, etc., ad nauseam.

Most of all, have FUN!

And remember, in astrophotography the golden rule is "Focus, Focus, Focus"!

bwa

WIHorseman

Thank i really appreciate the advice.
Tony

bwana Loc: Bergen, Alberta, Canada

And when you've worked out all the bugs with a small setup you can graduate to a backyard observatory, heavy duty pier mounted GoTo EQ mount, larger telescope (for those closeup galaxy, planetary nebula, planet pix), PoleMaster and StarSense units, guiding, computer control, etc. Or simply use your camera and lenses off a larger, more stable setup.

Good luck.

Astrophotography is a lot like golf... Sometimes the weather / skies cooperate and you have a great night... Sometimes not.

bwa

DonVA Loc: British Columbia and New Mexico

Astronomy, both visual and photographic is all about gathering very dim light. Generally speaking that means bigger is better. That means, in turn, that for photography the Celestron Edge 9.25 would probably work out better for you than a refractor. For visual you might be best off with a Newtonian (primary mirror at the bottom of a tube with a flat secondary at the top of the tube that reflects into an eyepiece mounted on the side) in a Dobsonian mount. Relatively cheap and capable of superb viewing. You cannot do astrophotography with that rig however.
Refractors are good for both visual and photography but are expensive and are limited in aperture, thus slower.
DO NOT buy a cheap refractor!
Ironically, for astrophotography, the most important piece of equipment is not your telescope, nor even your camera but your mount. Bear in mind that your mount has to be a rock steady platform that must follow the motion of the stars to with +/- 1 second of arc and it must do that for hours with a lot of heavy gear on it.
Do a lot of research before you start this. 'Cloudy Nights' is a good place to begin. It is the astro equivalent of Ugly Hedgehog.
Finally, and I'm really not trying to talk you out of it, the learning curve on this is very steep, you will experience frustration. As well much depends on how much you can spend. Astrophotography can be done with a $40 cell phone or it can be done with the Hubble (and now the James Webb). You will probably never image with those but there is much superb equipment out there for amateurs.
All that said however, when you get a good image, it feels pretty good.

bwana Loc: Bergen, Alberta, Canada

It does indeed!

bwa

alberio Loc: Casa Grande AZ

I finally decided astrophotography is very much like a black hole...duh. The closer you get the more it sucks the life out of your wallet. On a serious note I can't think of a more challenging and rewarding hobby.

bwana Loc: Bergen, Alberta, Canada

It can definitely be a money pit!

bwa