The following shows some of the equipment
I have used or owned

My main instrument was an 8", (200mm) reflector. It was mounted on the Vixen GP with pedestal. It had the Sky Sensor 2000PC hand controller. The SS2K gives automatic tracking and GOTO capability. This means that after a short setup time, the scope can slew/move to any object. I have two cameras, both SLR type bodies. One is a Canon EOS 500 with a 100-400mm zoom lens. The other is a manual Fujica ST650N with a 55mm lens.

I have a couple of extra X2 and X3 tele-extender. The tele-extenders will effectively double or treble the magnification of the lens. I currently use 400 ISO negative film and Kodak 200 ISO colour slide film. Once I have had the film developed, I use a dedicated negative/slide scanner to digitize the image. Once I have the image on the computer, I can manipulate it in drawing packages such as "Paintshop Pro" and clean up any imperfections.

I started using this equipment back in late October 1999. I have not taken many pictures yet and am not fully familiar with all the software. When my photography techniques improve, as well my imaging techniques, hopefully my range and quality of images will increase.

As of February 2001 I bought a Meade LX200, 10" f/10 Schmidt-Cassegrian. I wanted to upgrade my scope and get something a little better for planetary work. The LX200 has a 10" primary instead of 8", so objects will be brighter. The LX 200 has GOTO capability like the SS2K, and makes observing more enjoyable (especially when you do not get very many clear, cloud free nights)!!

At the end of 2001 I bought an MX916 CCD camera from Starlight Express. This camera has a much larger chip than the old SX camera, so it covers more of the sky. The camera can also be used to guide its self through the telescope and the Starlight "STAR 2000" interface. The camera can guide and image using the same chip at the expense of being slightly less sensitive. This is not a problem because all you need is a longer exposure. This does not matter, since the camera can guide its self anyway!

My new CCD camera

Click on the camera to go to web site for Starlight Express cameras

The 'MX916' is a brand new introduction to the Starlight Xpress 'X' range of cameras and is designed to offer an exceptionally high sensitivity across the entire visible spectrum and into the near UV. The latest in 'microlens' technology from Sony has almost eliminated the 'dead area' from this CCD and has increased the quantum efficiency to more than 60% over much of the visible spectrum. This compares very favourably with the low values (< 40%) offered by many commonly used full-frame CCDs in astronomical cameras. In addition, the exceptionally low dark signal of less than 0.1 electrons per pixel per second, gives a very flat background on even long exposure images. This large format CCD (8.7 x 6.5mm) is well suited to longer focal length optical assemblies, and the large (23.2 x 22.4 uM) near-square pixels in binned mode are ideal for very deep-sky supernova and asteroid searches.

My current scope

Click on the scope to go to Meade's web site

I now use a Meade LX200. I find this scope very easy to use. All that needs to be done is level the tripod and carry out a one or two star alignment. You basically point the scope at a bright star, tell the hand controller which star it is, then the computer knows where it is. The scope can then be used in the GOTO mode which enables the scope to slew across the sky at a rate of around 8 degrees per second! The GOTO is sometimes considered as cheating. But where I live in the South of England, I do not get many times when the sky is clear for long enough to search for objects manually. The LX200 can be used manually though, so if you feel as if you are not a real amerture astronomer, you can switch off the electronics, and run the scope using star-hopping.

CCD Camera

Click on the camera to go to web site for Starlight Express cameras

During summer 2000, I bought a second hand CCD (Charge Coupled Device) camera. It is made by Starlight Express who do a lot of very good CCD cameras for different imaging situations. It is designed to be used with telescopes and camera lenses to take digital images. There are many advantages of CCD cameras over 35mm slide or print film. There are also some disadvantages, and these have to be thought about before you start in astrophotography.

The main advantage of CCD is the higher sensitivity compared to 35mm film. This means that short exposure times can be used. One of the main problems with astrophotography is that you need to start tracking the stars due to the Earths rotation. The shorter the exposure, the less you need to have accurate tracking. For example, an exposure using 35mm film might need to be 30 minutes or more. The same exposure with a CCD will only need to be a couple of minutes.

My first large scope

Click on the scope to go to Orion Optic's web site

This scope is a GPX200 Schmidt Newtonian. It is ideally suited for astrophotography because it has an 8" primary mirror which works at f/4. This means that wide fields of view can imaged and shorter exposure times can be used. There are a few down falls to a fast, (short f/no.) scope. Collimation needs to be very good. I have managed to get it as close as possible using a sight tube. This can easily be made using a 35mm film canister with a small hole drilled in the top. A very good page by Nils Olof Carlin has all you need to know about collimation, including information on tools which can be made to help.

To get better collimation I bought a Cheshire eyepiece. This tool is like a basic sight tube but has a reflective surface and cross hair inside the tube. The reflective part is like a mirror which is positioned at 45 degrees and reflects light from outside of the tube, into the telescope, and illuminates the view inside the Cheshire eyepiece. The cross hair lets you line up the optics with better accuracy than just a normal sight tube.

The Sky Sensor 2000PC is the GOTO hand controller for the Vixen SP/GP/DX mounts and uses two high speed DC motors to drive the scope in both axis. Once a basic setup procedure has been carried out, the SS2K will slew to and track all astronomical objects. Elements can be entered for new comets as well as Earth orbiting satellites. The position of the object is constantly being re-calculated and updated to give the correct tracking speed.

Scanner

Click on the scanner to go to Nikon's web site

I bought the slide scanner to scan the slide and print film negatives of the images I have taken. This means that I could have a digital copy of my images to process like CCD images. My original plan was to do 35mm imaging, as this can be done away from the light pollution of where I live. This also meant that I only needed to take minimum equipment to dark sky sites.

After using the scanner, I am very happy with it. I have not had much of a chance to do a lot of imaging since I bought it, but most of what I have done is on these webpages.

This page is located at <http://astrodave.no-ip.com/>