Astrophotography

As with many amateur photographers, my enthusiasm for astronomy began with photographing nocturnal landscapes under our Milky Way. Against light pollution, (see light pollution map) it often only helps to move to dark rural areas or the use of light pollution filters.

Because of the little light the stars give off, many pictures have to be taken for a single picture - the little light of the stars or galactic gas nebulae has to be collected in many pictures.

The following pictures were taken with a special ZWO astro cameras (ASI533MC Pro ASI2600MC Pro) and a DSLR Full Format reflex camera. Telephoto lenses (200mm, 500mm 1.4x Extender), a Hyperbolic Newtonian Takahashi 130 and a 8" Ritchey Chetrien telescope were used, see corresponding captions.

In order to compensate for the earth's rotation during this long exposure time, the telescope / lens must track the stars / galaxies very closely. This is done using a special motorized device (mount, Wikipedia).

The individual recordings are then combined on the computer with special software, e.g. PixInsight, for the final astro record.