Why have I taken up astronomy/astrophotography as hobbies and what equipment do I use?

First time to this blog? Why not visit the introductory page first at https://undersouthwestskies.blogspot.com/2025/01/welcome-to-my-new-astronomyastrophotogr.html

Why astronomy and astrophotography?

In this post, a 5-minute read, I

·       Expand a little more on why I chose astronomy and astrophotography

·       Outline why I am fascinated by all things to do with space

·       Detail the equipment I own and use

If you haven’t yet read my first welcome post, you can find it here:

 

1.      Why astronomy and astrophotography?

It was the pandemic lockdown that really moved me forward on astronomy and astrophotography. No travelling, I dusted off my old DSLR and tried to get some images of the moon one night, from the back garden! And then some star constellations the following night.

Out under the skies for a few nights, I decided it was time for a telescope. I mean how long might we be on COVID lockdown restrictions for? A little research and a skywatcher Discovery 150i WIFI GOTO along with some basic but good value eyepieces and a x2 Barlow duly arrived via DPD.  

So many more lockdown nights out in the garden exploring the heavens. Planets, nebulae, galaxies and star clusters. I was besotted with it. My new love.  The telescope came with us when we finally escaped to do more motorhoming; living in a huge plastic box protectively wrapped in bubble wrap and stored in the shower!

But visually exploring, observing the heavens, as fascinating and exhilarating as it was, something was missing!

And then one day, on YouTube, I came across videos by Trevor Jones, Alyn Wallace and Peter Zelinka. And that was that! Complete revelation! That missing ‘gap’, filled, just like that! I was a closeted imaging astronomer – who knew? Astrophotography, the art of capturing images of our beautiful celestial bodies with the help of a camera and telescope.  Oh my! Fantastic stuff. Go figure! Of course, it was only then that I realised the current telescope I had couldn’t be used for imaging without some radical surgery! That took a little explaining to my financial boss, aka my wife.

I have since spent countless hours researching and learning about both fields, astronomy AND astrophotography. Techniques, settings, equipment needed; such a steep learning curve. My first successful astronomical viewing and astrophotography photo other than the moon? The Orion nebula! Followed by M45 Pleiades. Mesmerizing! Pure joy! A new, challenging and rewarding hobby. A new lifelong passion emerging.

Did it truly start just like that during lockdown? Or were the ‘seeds’ sown decades ago in my psyche suddenly allowed to emerge?

My current lightweight, easy travel set up

It all packs down into one plastic crate - with plenty of bubble wrap between.

The crate can be stored in the shower in the motorhome or fits into a large rucksack destination 

1.      Why am I fascinated with all things to do with ‘space’?

Any interest in space didn’t just suddenly start three years ago. Of course it didn’t. After all, I’m a child of the early ‘60’s. Nuff said then! If you know, you know! 

It started with the moon landings in 1969. I was seven. One morning, at my small primary school, we were brought up to the main hall by our excited teachers. Older students were animated and had all moved to the front; sat at the foot of the stage, on which was one black and white TV, on a table. In my seven-year-old head I remember thinking something very important was about to happen on that TV and I needed to be at the front to see it. And so, I spent 15 minutes pretending to be a snake. I literally slithered on my belly through the throng of cross-legged other children sat on the cold floor. Desperate to get to the front and equally desperate not to be caught by the teachers, alas, I was rumbled early on. The Headteacher spotting me, stepped over the assembled throng, and cut into the crowded floor space. Grabbing me by my shorts belt and lifting me upwards, I was parallel to the floor, hovering above the heads of the older children ahead of me. Crushed and so miserable, I knew I was about to be returned to the very back of the hall from whence I’d started my slither ten minutes earlier.

But sometimes we get surprised in life. Instead of heading backwards, I was propelled forwards, flying like a de-caped Superman; lifted over the heads of those in front of me and unceremoniously plonked right at the front. A kindly headteacher smile and winking eye, his finger to his lips, a very slight perceptible nod of his head and he was gone; away to admonish an unruly older boy who clearly had failed to grasp the historical significance of the unfolding moment.

Right at the front, those grainy black and white shadowy flickering images, so difficult for my seven-year-old brain to make out and interpret. Was that a man descending a ladder? Why were teachers gasping as he jumped to the ground? Teachers in tears as the man uttered a sentence I found difficult to hear or comprehend? 

But I knew! There and then, I knew something significant was happening. Something world changing. Men had landed on our moon. People had left our planet. We were exploring our night skies! My seven-year-old brain could process that. I knew this was history in the making!  ‘Star Trek’. ‘Lost in Space’, ‘Thunderbirds’.  ‘Captain Scarlett’ and ‘Dr. Who’. I watched them all. Cult viewing! The Apollo missions of the early ‘70’s? Annuals, sticker books, Airfix kits, got them all.  I was hooked! Officially a sci-fi space geek! And, I’ve been a ‘space geek’ ever since.

I think back to when I did my first solo night under canvas as a 9-year-old, deep within the Llanberis Pass in Snowdonia. I spent most of that night with my head out of the tent, staring up at the skies above. How many stars were out there? How did space form? How far could I go before I reached the edge of space? What was beyond the edge? Who was out there, who was watching me watching them watching me? Why did stars shoot across the sky? Simple childhood curiosity, it has never left me. And, I fervently hope it never will! 

Failing my Maths ‘O’ level several times was heart breaking. Getting a ‘C’ for physics, similarly so. Any dreams of a career at NASA or in the space industry, cruelly dashed! So, I studied Biology, Geography, Geology and ended up teaching geography, the alternative ‘best thing ever’, for thirty-five years until I took early retirement in 2017. During this time’, expeditions to various parts of Africa, climbing various mountains and ranges, family off road driving holidays in places ranging from Costa Rica to Crete and from Namibia to New Zealand. So many holidays spent sleeping under BIG open, star-studded skies.

And then came that lockdown. The pandemic. No travelling, no sailing. House bound for so long. I dusted off my old DSLR and tried to get some images of the moon on clear nights from the back garden! The start of my astronomy and astrophotography adventure! I researched and brought a telescope. All that space geekery stuff finally let loose!

My first astronomy purchase during lockdown - the Skywatcher Star Discovery 150 i GOTO telescope

1.      What equipment do I now own?

My current astrophotography and astronomy equipment, fours year on:

“And what kit have you now amassed, four years on”, I hear you ask?

This is my kit now in January 2025: visual astronomy

• ·        Skywatcher star discovery Newtonian telescope 150i WIFI GOTO
• ·        Skywatcher 12v 7amp Power Tank and power cable
• ·        Stainless steel tripod for above telescope
• ·        Various eyepieces – Starguider ED at 8mm, 12mm, 25mm
•           Various size Barlow lenses
• ·        M48 mm adapter ring for DSLR along with T adapter 1.25mm
• ·        Red dot finder
• ·        Celestron adjustable smartphone holder clamp
• ·        Table top skywatcher 100mm dobsonian telescope

Taking flat frames at the end of an imaging session 

Astrophotography:

• ·        Canon 800D astro-modified camera
• ·        Samyang lenses – 14mm F/2 and 135mm F/2
• ·        Canon 24mm F/2.8 and 50mm F/1.8
• ·        Zenithstar 61ii refractor telescope
•          Skywatcher dobsonian 100mm – with DSLR for moon astrophotography
• ·        Skywatcher star adventurer 2i, spare counterweight/William Optics wedge
• ·        Ioptron Skytracker pro camera mount
•           Skywatcher EQM-35-PRO mount and stainless-steel tripod
• ·        ASIair mini and ZWO guide cam 120mm mini
• ·        RVO 32mm F/4 guide scope
• ·        MSM laser guide
•          Skywatcher Right angled viewer for tracker
• ·        Power banks
•           Celestron Lithium Pro PowerTank
• ·        Intervalometer
• ·        Canon dummy battery pack
• ·        Carbon fibre Benro tripod
• ·        GoPro Hero’s 5 and 9
• ·        Optolong L-Pro filter and L-enHance filter 

My first ever milky way selfie under the stars of the Mesa Verde in USA

Below, my first ever composite tracked image of the milky way, taken at the Broken Spur Motel in USA

A tracked sky and a separate foreground shot

This image reflects my then poorly developed post editing skills - too much colour cast and blue/magenta in the night sky.

And if you look at the tree on the left hand side closely, you can see where I didn't get my first attempt at masking quite right. 

 In post three, I

·       Outline why astronomy and astrophotography are so interesting

·       ‘Sketch out’ my thinking behind the blog and how I hope it will evolve over the next few years

 

Meanwhile, don’t forget, this blog also relies on input from you, so feel free to chip in via the comment box below.

·       What got you interested in astronomy and/or astrophotography?

·       Where have you got to on your learning journey in these hobbies?

·       What equipment do you use? Have you got a favourite piece; why?

·       Have you got an astro-image that you are particularly please/proud of and why?

Take care now and clear skies

Steve 

PS, I will leave you with a recent milky way image. I am making progress. The above images were taken in 2023. The images below in 2024.