Most people tend not to get excited about mirrors. But astronomers aren’t most people. In telescopes, mirrors have an almost magical power, gathering light which has travelled for thousands, millions, or even billions of years, rendering the invisible visible. A … Read More
There are many things which surprise and confound newcomers to astronomy: the challenge of setting up and aiming a telescope; the tendency of objects to rapidly drift through the field of view; how much the telescope will shake at the … Read More
Telescopes come in many sizes, but in terms of shape they are pretty much all tubular. That is, until you get to the optics. Depending on the design, telescope optics can be concave or convex while also incorporating flat elements. … Read More
Like most serious hobbies, astronomy is notoriously expensive. There are telescopes, eyepieces, filters, cameras, and a seemingly endless array of accessories to separate you from your hard-earned money. But does it have to be this way? Are there cheap telescopes … Read More
Astrophotography has gained immense popularity among photography enthusiasts in recent years, and with the rapid advancements in smartphone camera technology, capturing the night sky has never been more accessible. As smartphones continue to push the boundaries of low-light photography, users … Read More
As with all things in astrophotography, there are many different ways you can approach building a deep sky astrophotography rig. As a starter you will need a camera, a telescope/lens, a mount with tripod, a power source, and a laptop with software to process your images.
Want to get into astrophotography but the cost of all the gear is holding you back? This post should help. I’ll be going through my cheap, beginners widefield setup for astrophotography. I hesitate to use the word cheap because astrophotography is expensive, which is why I’ll include prices.
I think power is a topic that’s often over looked and not something you see spoken about very much in this hobby. Maybe that’s because it’s obvious, but like everything in astrophotography, I think it’s anything but obvious because there are multiple ways to approach this.
In this post I’m going to break down how I power my gear at home and then explain other options that are available to you.
The Sky-Watcher EvoGuide 50ED and ZWO ASI120MM Mini auto guiding bundle is a popular choice among astrophotographers. Not only is the price reasonable, but the quality of the guide scope and camera are second to none. As a 2-inch refractor with FPL53 glass, the EvoGuide 50ED could also double as an astrophotography telescope if you purchased the dedicated field flattener to give that nice flat field from corner to corner! I’ve been using this guide scope and camera since Summer 2020 so I thought it was time to let you know my thoughts on this auto guiding bundle.
The Optolong L-eXtreme filter has narrow 7nm band passes in the Hydrogen alpha (Ha) and Oxygen III (OIII) lines, unlike the older Optolong L-eNhance, which also has a band pass at the Hydrogen beta (Hb) line. The Optolong L-eXtreme will block out that extra bit of light pollution by omitting the Hb line, while retaining all the detail from emission nebulae by capturing the targets in Ha and OIII.
