Equipment Used For Astrophotography

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After using the HEQ5 Pro for a couple of years, I began to realize that my entry-level mount wasn't capable of helping with the direction that I was going. It served it's purpose quite well.

The next step up in the Sky Watcher brand is the 6 series, and although this model is about 5 years old, they are known to be solid work horses. The improvement in performance has been amazing, with guiding and pointing accuracy noticeably better than the 5 series. I have some plans for this beast...

This apochromatic lens from William Optics has a very large field of view compared to my other telescopes. This will allow me to (finally!) capture some of the targets that previously eluded me as they just would not fit in the frame of my camera. This, combined with a ZWO EAF and my trusty Canon T3i should open up a vast part of the sky that I wasn't able to capture before.

Specs:

Focal Length: 250mm

Focal Ratio: f/4.9

Aperture: 51mm (2 inches)

An air-spaced, apochromatic triplet refractor. This optical tube assembly (OTA) is usually my first choice for imaging as it's ready to go pretty much right out of the case. Constructed of carbon fiber for it's light weight, and also to minimize the effects of changes in temperature throughout a night of imaging.

Specs:

Focal Length: 714mm

Focal Ratio: f/7

Aperture: 102mm (4 inches)

This this motorized, go-to mount will locate and track targets in the night sky. When used with a sturdy tripod, the mount provides a rock-solid platform for long-exposure imaging.

Update: This mount is now used for observing and occasional travel to darker sites as a portable astrophotography rig

Constructed (again) using a carbon fiber tube, and a Maksutov-Newtonian (Mak-Newt) design. This scope is very versatile, whether imaging or observing the sky. My first imaging OTA, this will most likely be used more for visual use in the future, as it generally needs to be collimated regularly for imaging...extra work that I don't really want to do every time I connect my camera.

Specs:

Focal Length:731mm

Focal Ratio: f/4.8

Aperture: 152mm (5.98 inches)

My first 'real' telescope...purchased used in 2001 for $300 Canadian. Not used for astrophotography, but worthy of a mention as it's used often while imaging.

After quickly realizing the limits of my flimsy Sears refractor, this was a major step up. I still use this and it's sister regularly for observing. See my DIY section for refurb of this scope and a barn-find of it's sister, with no base, cover or focuser.

I've owned this scope for over 20 years and still use it regularly for observing...

I've graduated to a much better astro cam. This purpose-built CMOS based camera can cool down to an incredible -40 degrees below ambient temperature...making long exposures virtually noiseless. There's many more advantages to this design that I'll cover later.

Update January 2024: I've moved on from this great camera, to it's big brother the ASI2600MC Pro...better and newer technology

The newer, big brother of the ZWO 1600MM, the ZWO 2600MC Pro

Going from an older mono cam to a newer tech one shot colour (OSC), both cooled with a TEC cooling system

Will be using this as part of a dual-imaging system...wide field and long focal lengths on the same mount

The ASI183MM, with it's small pixel size, is an ideal match for the sharp, wide-field views from the Williams Optics RedCat 51

I tried the QHY version of this camera, but the ASI/ZWO version won me over with it's built-in USB3 hub

Various filters are required to capture images with a mono camera to represent the colours of the night sky. Using red, blue, green and narrow-band filters, subtle details can be detected, whereas colour cameras generally aren't as sensitive as imaging with a mono sensor

This little gizmo takes care of 12VDC power distribution to the mono camera and cooler, motorized focuser and more. I use one in the observatory and another with my portable rig, my trusty HEQ5 Pro

It also controls the dew heaters and provides power to the DSLR camera (when used), eliminating a dew heater controller and separate power supply for the DSLR.

Small and light enough to be mounted almost anywhere.

This was a few steps up from my Xsi in terms of quality of sensor. Aside from more megapixels, this newer design shows surprisingly lower noise than the Xsi. Although the older Xsi that I had was astro-modded (internal IR filter removed) this camera makes up for it with it's reduced noise and increased sensitivity. I use one of my T3i's for video, one for attaching to my scope and another being astro-modded. A great bang for the buck with these older but great Canon DSLR's.

I purchased this modified camera (internal IR filter removed) used at a great price to get started in astrophotography.

Controlling the camera is through a program called BackyardEOS. I'll soon be switching to a much more powerful and versatile program, Astrophotography Tool (APT), which will allow me to control my mount, camera,and everything else..all from one program.

Update: I have moved on from this camera to mainly cooled astro cams

Having a good variety of eyepieces allows much more flexibility for viewing. Various factors determine which eyepiece will work best for the object being viewed. This depends on seeing conditions, maximum capabilities of the telescope, size and brightness of the object, among other factors. Soon after acquiring the new mount and scope, I purchased a couple of 2" eyepieces, and the views through these are a vast improvement over all of my 1.25" eyepieces.

My first real telescope, bought gently used around 2001. As this type of mount doesn't 'track' objects through the sky, it isn't suitable for long-exposure astrophotography. However, the ease of setting up and using this telescope for observing makes it a keeper.

Update: I've upgraded the focuser of this classic with a motorized JMI unit, and used the original focuser on the recent barn find Dob

There are many free astronomy apps available for Android, and I've tried many. This free app allows you to find things in the sky easily. You tell it what you're looking for, hit search and arrows on the screen direct you which direction to move while seeing real-time names and images of the part of the sky that you're searching for until the arrows disappear and a circle pops up with your target in the center. 

Simple and brilliant.