Strongly Celestial

Looking outward; looking backward in time...

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Equipment

Here I will describe (and picture, when it makes sense) the equipment I am using. I will also try to indicate why I got certain pieces, what works for me, and what does not. I'll also provide links where appropriate (though to be clear, I am not getting paid by anyone to refer people to them!). In most cases, I will provide the primary link to the manufacturer, and you can look for the specific piece from there (so I don't have to keep managing links as they move items around!).

Mount

Model: Orion SkyView Pro with GoTo
Link: Orion Telescopes

Key Specifications
German equitorial mount
Weight = 36.5 lbs
Equipment capacity = 20 lbs
Tracking rates: sidereal, lunar, solar
GoTo database = 42,000+ celestial objects

Comments
I would call this a mid-range mount in terms of capability. It is very sturdy and easily holds the 20 lb equipment rating with no issue. It is not as beefy as some of the other Orion (and Celestron) mounts, but what attracted me to this one was the reasonable price and (more importantly) its manageable weight. I do not have a location for a fixed set-up, so every observing session involves hauling the mount outside. I did not want a mount so heavy that it became a barrier to my willingness to carry it around!

Note: This mount has an optional polar scope which is a HUGE help with polar alignment! I bought it and would recommend it to anyone considering this or a comparable mount.

Telescopes

Model: Orion Maksutov-Cassegrain 180mm
Link: Orion Telescopes

Key Specifications
Aperture = 180mm (~7 inch)
Focal length = 2,700mm
Focal ratio = f/15
Weight = 15.9 lbs
Lowest useful mag = 26x
Highest useful mag = 300x

Comments
This is a mid-range (price wise), narrow field telescope. I find that it does a very nice job on solar system objects (sun, moon, planets), but it is so far untested on deep space objects. Because of its long focal length (and resulting narrow field view), a focal reducer is almost a must, to generate the flexibility to pick up larger objects (or bigger portions of the sun or moon).

Even with a focal reducer and a long focal length imager (like the Canon T2i I use), this telescope is incapable of picking up large objects like Andromeda galaxy or the Great Orion nebula (unless I mosaic a bunch of pictures together, which I have not yet tried).

Model: Coronado SolarMax II 60mm
Link: Meade Instruments (owners of Coronado)

Key Specifications
Aperture = 60mm
Focal length = 400mm
Focal ratio = f/6.6
Bandwidth < 0.7 angstrom (single stacked)

Comments
I am not a night owl (I know, a nasty handicap for this hobby!), so I invested in a telescope I can use and enjoy during the day: the Coronado SolarMax II. I have a solar filter for my Orion Mak-Cass (above), but it transmits "white light" (all wave lengths) and is useful on sun spots but not to pick up other features. This SolarMax provides absolutely stunning views of the sun, in terms of surface mottling, sun spot "turbulence", and solar prominences. It does this by only transmitting light in a very narrow band (the hydrogen-alpha or Ha band), which provides better visual contrast.

I am still learning how best to capture them in pictures, but even my early attempts are fun to look at. See my Sun Gallery for examples.

Model: Orion Short Tube 80-A Refractor
Link: Orion Telescopes

Key Specifications
Aperture = 80mm (~3.1 inch)
Focal length = 400mm
Focal ratio = f/5
Weight = 3.5 lbs
Lowest useful mag = 12x
Highest useful mag = 160x

Comments
To be honest, this is a very inexpensive (read "cheap") wide field, fast telescope which I bought to learn how to image large deep space objects like Andromeda Galaxy. Andromeda is so large, it has no hope of fitting in the field of view of my large Mak-Cass telescope (above), whereas it fits perfectly in the field of this one. I would say the optics in this are "fair", but you get what you pay for (you can spend 3x or more on premium optics for a refractor with similar specs).

My plan is to learn with this scope and perhaps some day move up to a scope with better optics (and re-purpose this one as a guide scope).

Imagers

Model: Canon T2i DSLR
Link: Canon Cameras

Key Specifications
Sensor type = CMOS
Sensor dimensions = 22.3 x 14.9 mm
Size = 5,184 x 3,456 (18.1 megapixels)
Output = Still images and movie (640x480)

Comments
This camera has a large sensor with very high pixel capacity for a relatively inexpensive DSLR (you can easily spend 2-3x as much on higher end Canon DSLR's). The one downside (for any DSLR, actually) is the relatively long focal length. When mounted directly to a telescope, the effective magnification is similar to a 30mm eyepiece, making your target appear a bit smaller in the image as compared to looking with a short focal length eyepiece.

This camera has an IR cut filter in it which can be removed to improve astrophotography. I have not pursued this option, though.

Model: Imaging Source DBK 21AU618.AS
Link: Imaging Source Astronomy Cameras

Key Specifications
Sensor type = CCD
Sensor = 1/4"color Sony ICX618AQA
Size = 4.46mm x 3.80mm
Image = 640 x 480 pixels
Pixel size = 5.6 x 5.6 micron
Output = 60 frames/sec .avi (at full resolution)

Comments
I bought this camera to replace the Orion Starshoot Solar System IV webcam. Although it has lower pixel count, the fact that it can reach 60 frames/sec is a big bonus when imaging planets or the sun during marginal seeing conditions. Plus I wanted to try the lower noise CCD chip as compared to the entry level CMOS in the Starshoot IV.

Model: Orion Starshoot Solar System IV
Link: Orion Telescopes

Key Specifications
Sensor type = CMOS
Sensor dimensions = 1/3"
Size = 1,280 x 1,024 (1.3 megapixels)
Pixel size = 3.6 x 3.6 micron
Output = 15 frames/sec .avi (at full resolution)

Comments
This is a good, inexpensive beginner "webcam" for solar system work (sun, moon, planets). Its drawback is that at full resolution (1,280x1,024), the frame rate drops to 15/sec which can be a bit slow to catch lots of those fleeting, clear frames as your target image bobs in the atmospheric distortion. It also has a very short focal length (equivalent to about a 5mm eyepiece), so in a long FL telescope, the magnification immediately gets very high.... often too high for effective imaging if the seeing conditions are not perfect. A 0.5x focal reducer is a must-have accessory for this imager in such situations.