Telescope

If I were to start over again….

If I were to start the astrophotography hobby over again, I'd start here. This video explains why I think a small refractor on a Wedged AZ-GTi (now the Star Adventurer GTi) is one of the best setups for basic astrophotography.

Sky Watcher Star Adventurer Latitude (EQ) Base

    • Equatorial wedge for easier polar alignment

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Sharpstar 61 Telescope

    • 61mm aperture

    • 360mm focal length

    • 1.93 arc second resolution

    • f/5.9

Field Flattener for Sharpstar 61

    • Minimizes aberrations and haloing in images

    • Provides a flatter field for astrophotography

    • 3-element, air-spaced triplet configuration

Mount

ZWO ASI 294MC-PRO

    • 11.7 megapixel CMOS sensor

    • Integrated TEC cooling

    • Connects to 1.25” and 2” telescope focusers

    • Compatible with Mac OS X and Windows (32-bit and 64-bit) XP

Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer GTi mount kit

    • GoTo capability

    • 11 pound payload capacity

    • Built in Wifi

    • Built-in illuminated polar scope

    • Can be powered by 8 AA batteries or external powerbank

or…

M8 to M12 Adapter

    • Thread adapter

    • Used to go from M8 thread to M12 thread

Camera and Finder

Star Adventurer Counterweight Kit

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Extra Counterweight

    • 2.2 pound (1kg) counterweight

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Spacer for achieving 55mm back focus

    • Kit which includes 5mm, 10mm, 20mm, and 30mm spacer options

ZWO ASIair Plus

    • Simple and intuitive astrophotography computer

    • Control your mount, camera, and more wirelessly

    • Automatically stack and process images

ZWO ASI174 Mini Guide Camera

    • Sensor: Sony 1/1.2″ CMOS IMX174LLJ/IMX174LQJ

    • 2.3 MP (1936 x 1216) resolution

    • Capable of 300 second exposures

Orion Mini 50mm Guide Scope

    • Small and compact autoguiding system

    • Bright, wide-field optics

    • installs on virtually any astrophotography telescope

Other

Lightbox

    • Ensures precise focus on telescope optics or camera lenses

    • Checks for sensor or mirror imperfections before shooting

    • Evaluates lens or telescope performance for image quality assurance

Sky Watcher AZ GTi Mount

    • Controlled with SynScan Pro app for iOS and Android

    • Freedom Find dual-encoder technology

    • 11 pound payload capacity

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Fast Refractor Basic Setup

Camera: ZWOASI294mc Pro

Telescope: SharpStar 61

New Mount: Star Adventurer GTi

Old Mount: Skywatcher AZ-GTi (with Star Adventurer Wedge & counterweights)

Computer: ASIair mini

Guidescope: StarField 50mm Guide Scope

Guide Camera: ASI120MM Mini (mono)

Focal Reducer: Sharpstar - 0.8x Reducer and Field Flattener

Power: Celestron Power Tank (Lithium Ion Version)

 

Deep Sky Imaging on a $5k Budget

Once you’ve grown beyond the small telescope, and you’re ready to go up in aperture, everything changes. Telescope above 80mm, no longer fit on a simple star tracker. Now we’re looking at serious mounts. Fortunately, improvements in auto guiding (like with the DUO series camera), make setup a breeze, and ASIair makes capturing epic images of deep space easier than ever before.