My Journey into Astrophotography: A Personal Story
After my wife passed away, my son suggested I get a telescope. For Christmas 2022, he gave me money to buy one. I added to it and purchased a Celestron 8âł StarSense Explorer Dobsonian. This scope captures a surprising amount of light! For visual astronomy, itâs a fantastic instrument. You simply use a smartphone to align the telescope, then observe celestial objects through a 2âł eyepiece.
Stargazing brought back childhood memories. In many ways my love for space started in the 1960’s. I grew up about 100 miles south Cape Canaveral. We never missed an Apollo flight, nor and space shuttle flight. My first telescope was something my parents probably paid $10 for. I loved it. I always enjoyed going to the planetarium and learning about the universe. I used to follow one of the best stargazers: Jack Horkheimer. He made space fun. He was the lead astronomer at the planetarium near my house. He also had a TV show on PBS where he would tell us what to look for, when to look, and how.
The Dobsonian telescope was fun. My desire to capture what I was seeing was growing strong, I wanted to take pictures. The Dobsonian lacked the ability to track the stars.
Thatâs when I bought the Celestron 8âł Evolution and the SVBONY 405CC camera. It didnât take long to realize the importance of tracking. The Evolutionâs mount could track decentlyâif my exposures were 30 seconds or less. Even with that limitation, I managed to capture some excellent images of stars like Arcturus, Polaris, Antares, Vega, and Spica. I still have that mountâjust in case.
Next, I upgraded to the Celestron AVX mount. Tracking improved, but it still wasnât quite good enough for longer exposures. Everything changed when I added the Celestron StarSense Autoguider to the setup. That combination finally allowed me to track accurately and start capturing some satisfying deep-sky object (DSO) images. Of course, the learning curve was steep, and I made plenty of mistakes along the way.
As my imaging skills improved, I made one misstep: I bought a Celestron 0.63Ă reducer. I wasnât impressed. Maybe the problem was me, but either way, I didnât get the results I was hoping for. I later made up for it by purchasing the SVBONY 405CC cooled color camera. It has the same specifications as the ASI1204 and proved to be a solid investment. With that setup, my imaging frequency increasedâand while I still experienced plenty of failures (and still do!), the successes started to outweigh them.
My next purchase was the Starizona HyperStar 4âan absolute game changer. This tool took my imaging to a new level. With a focal ratio of f/1.9, a 30-second subframe became roughly equivalent to a 5-minute exposure at f/10. The wider field of view was another bonus.
Unfortunately, things took a turn when I accidentally damaged the USB 3.0 port on my camera. SVBONYâs customer support was outstanding; they agreed to repair it under warranty. The catch? I had to ship it to China, and the turnaround time was three to four months. I was finally starting to build momentum, and I wasnât ready to take such a long break.
So, I made another big decision: I bought the ZWO ASI2600MC Pro. That, too, was a winner. Some of my best images have come from the HyperStar + ASI2600 combination. With this setup, the technical struggles lessened considerably, and my confidence grew.
Just as I thought I was finished upgrading, I picked up a used Celestron 9.25âł SCTâcomplete with another StarSense Autoguider. Of course that meant another mount. I picked up a used Celestron CGEM II. Since these new additions, this is the only equipment I have been using.
And now the NexDome Observatory. The iOptron permanent pier. At this point in time, I am still awaiting delivery of the personal observatory. But the pier is cemented in, the CGEM is mounted and the 9.25 has picked up some fantastic images.
đȘ Final Thoughts
Astrophotography is not an easy hobby. Itâs expensive, time-consuming, and full of setbacks. But every time I capture a detailed image of a nebula, a star cluster, or a distant galaxy, all the frustration fades away. The sense of wonder returns. And for me, thatâs what keeps it all worth it.