Astronomy Equipment
It's no secret. Taking high resolution photos of objects buried deep in the night sky requires some pretty serious equipment. Here's what I use to do it.
As of late 2010, my imaging sessions take place primarily from my observatory at the Riverside Astronomical Society's dark sky site, GMARS, in Landers, California. It's a 10' x 12' manual roll-off roof observatory.
- Mounts and Piers
- Observatory
- Astro-Physics 900GTO-CP3 German Equatorial Mount
- Le Sueur permanent pier 8.25" x 46" with 1/4" thick wall
- Mobile
- Astro-Physics Mach1GTO-CP3 German Equatorial Mount
- Astro-Physics Eagle adjustable folding pier
- Telescopes
- AG Optical N10a 10" f/3.8 Newtonian Astrograph (On order)
- Takahashi FSQ-106ED X-III Flatfield Super Quadruplet Apochromatic refractor
- Takahashi FS-60C Doublet ED refractor
- Stellarvue SV80S Triplet Super Apochromatic refractor
- Cameras
- FLI ML11002-1-C camera with 65mm shutter and ADT
- Canon EOS 5D Mark II DSLR camera (unmodified)
- Canon EOS 60Da DSLR camera
- SBIG ST-i Autoguider (monochrome)
- Orion StarShoot Autoguider
- Lenses and Camera Accessories
- Canon EF 200mm f/2.8 L II USM lens
- Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8 L USM lens
- Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM lens
- Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8 L II USM lens
- Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM lens
- Canon EF 2x Telextender II
- Sigma 8mm EXDG f/3.5 fisheye lens
- Sigma 15mm EXDG f/2.8 lens
- Satechi TR-A Timer Remote Control
- Canon Angle Finder C
- Computer Hardware & Software
- Observatory: Dell Inspiron ONE 2330—Intel i7-3770S 3.1GHz CPU, 8GB RAM, 2TB hard drive, AMD Radeon HD 7650A 1GB, Blu-ray drive, 23" HD screen, Windows 8 x64
- Mobile: Sony VAIO VGN-FW590 laptop—Intel Core 2 Duo P8800 2.66GHz CPU, 6GB RAM, AMD Mobility Radeon HD 4650 1GB, 500GB hard drive, Blu-ray drive, 16.4" widescreen, Windows 7 Professional x64
- Desktop: Dell Studio XPS 9100—Intel i7-930 2.80GHz CPU, 8GB RAM, AMD Radeon HD 5670, dual Dell 2408WFP 24" LCD monitors, Windows 7 Home Premium x64
- TheSkyX Pro by Software Bisque
- MaxIm DL Pro by Diffraction Limited
- ImagesPlus by Mike Unsold
- Photoshop CS4 Extended by Adobe
- PhD Guiding by Stark Labs
- Other Accessories
- Takahashi 0.73x Reducer QE for FSQ-106ED X-III
- Technical Innovations RoboFocus
- Astrodon Monster MOAG Off-Axis Guider
- Gerd Neumann Jr. Aurora 12.5" Flatfield Panel
- Adapters from Precise Parts
- Tele Vue eyepieces, Powermates, and 0.8x Reducer/Flattener (TRF-2008)
- Edmund Optics RKE eyepieces
- Rings, plates, and saddles by SocalAstro, Losmandy, Parallax Instruments, and Robin Casady
- Cases by Pelican & Scopeguard
- Mogg adapter to connect EOS lenses to the Orion StarShoot Autoguider
- Custom designed and built AC AstroBox
- Custom designed and built DC AstroBox
- 100AH 12v deep cycle AGM battery (Sears)
- 55AH 12v deep cycle AGM battery (Optima)
- 18AH 12v SLA battery
