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My Astro Equipment |
It's no secret. Astrophotography (beyond tripod and wide field imaging) requires some intense gear. My equipment can be considered middle-of-the-road in terms of expense and sophistication.
- Scopes
- Takahashi FSQ-106ED Flatfield Super Quadruplet apochromatic refractor
- Stellarvue SV80S triplet super apochromatic refractor
- Celestron 9.25" Schmidt-Cassegrain catadioptric (aluminum tube)
- Mounts
- Mountain Instruments MI-250 German Equatorial with Gemini
- Losmandy GM-8 German Equatorial with Gemini
- Advanced Telescope Systems 8"x36" portable pier
- Cameras
- Canon EOS 40D digital SLR camera (w/Hap Griffin UV/IR filter replacement)
- Canon EF 200mm f/2.8 L II USM lens
- Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 macro USM lens
- Canon EF-S 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM lens
- Sigma 8mm EXDG f/3.5 Fisheye lens
- Canon TC-80N3 Timer Remote Control
- Canon Angle Finder C
- SBIG ST-10XME Self-Guiding CCD Imager
- SBIG CFW-10 Color Filter Wheel
- Astrodon C/L/R/G/B/Ha/OIII/SII "E" series filters
- SBIG AO-8 Adaptive Optics System
- Meade DSI Pro
- Orion StarShoot Autoguider
- Computer hardware and software
- Image acquisition (in the field): Gateway MX6931 laptop (Intel Core 2 Duo T5500 @ 1.66GHz, 2GB RAM, 160GB hard drive, 15.4" widescreen, Windows XP Pro)
- Image processing (at home): Custom built PC (Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 @ 2.8GHz, 8GB RAM, EVGA GeForce 9800GTX+ video card, dual Dell 2408WFP 24" LCD panels, Windows Vista Ultimate x64)
- CCDSoft and TheSky by Software Bisque
- Maxim DL/CCD by Diffraction Limited
- ImagesPlus by Mike Unsold
- Photoshop CS4 by Adobe
- Accessories
- Tele Vue eyepieces, Powermates, and 0.8x Reducer/Flattener (TRF-2008)
- Edmund Optics RKE eyepieces
- Takahashi 0.73x Reducer-QE for the FSQ-106ED
- Celestron 0.63x Reducer/Corrector in Ted Agos adapter
- Technical Innovations RoboFocus
- Optec TCF-S 2" temperature compensating focuser
- IDAS 48mm LPS filter
- Losmandy dovetail plates, counterweights, and rings
- Robin Casady AP-style counterweight shaft and counterweights
- SocalAstro dovetail plates and rings
- Pelican cases for mount, cameras, eyepieces, and accessories
- Scopeguard case for FSQ-106ED
- Pacific Design soft case for C9.25"
- Mogg adapter to connect EOS lenses to DSI Pro (without filter slider holder) and StarShoot Autoguider
- AC AstroBox (Internal: AC power strip, DC power supply set to 15v for Gemini, USB hubs, and USB-to-serial adapters; External: AC and DC sockets, serial and USB ports, USB out, and AC input)
- DC AstroBox (Internal: Inverter, variable voltage DC power supply set to 16v for Gemini, USB hubs, USB-to-serial adapters; External: AC and DC sockets, serial and USB ports, USB out, and Molex connector for battery input)
- 100AH 12v marine deep cycle AGM battery (Sears)
- 55AH 12v marine deep cycle AGM battery (Optima)
- 18AH 12v SLA battery (Kendrick)
- Stuff from back in the day
- Tasco 50mm achromatic refractor (1983-1984)
- Jason Comet Chaser 76mm Schmidt-Newtonian (1985-1987) — photo
- Coulter Optics 10" f/4.5 Dobsonian (original blue tube) (1987-1997)
- Meade LX200 10" f/10 (1999-2002) — photo
- Meade LX200GPS 10" f/10 (2003-2005) — photo
- William Optics Megrez 80mm Super APO Triplet (2002-2005) — photo
- SBIG ST-7E CCD camera (2002-2004)
- SBIG ST-2000XM CCD camera and AO-7 (2004-2007) — photo
- Canon EOS 20DH (Hutech Type Ia modification) (2005-2007)
- Takahashi TOA-130F APO Triplet Refractor (2006-2007) — photo
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Equipment Images
Click an image below for a larger view.
MI-250, FSQ-106ED, SV80S
MI-250, Celestron 9.25 SCT, SV80S
GM-8, FSQ-106ED, Canon 40D
Astro PC at Home
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