Welcome

This is a record of a little of my journey into the world of astronomy and astrophotography. By recording my thoughts and experiences I hope to help reinforce my own learning and understanding as well as help others that may want to follow a similar path into the field.

Everyone has their own path into this hobby and each is unique, if my experience inspires another to take their first steps then it is more than I could hope for this little site to achieve.

Background

Despite a deep fascination in the universe for as long as I can remember, my journey into 'proper' astronomy began relatively recently with a pair of Celestron binoculars in 2018. When I first set them up on a tripod looking through a bedroom window at a very bright Jupiter low to the horizon I saw that previously bright point of light become a more obvious blob with detectable structure and a faint yellow-beige glow. To experience your first views of a planet with your own eyes is a moment that leaves many with a profound sense of awe that is hard to describe without seeing it yourself.

This was the first time I had ever really seen another planet with my own eyes. A few moments later I noticed a few more bright points of light surrounding it, previously invisible without the aid of the binoculars, then I suddenly realised that I was watching the moons of Jupiter, a moment that is etched onto my memory.

It wasn't long before I got hold of aSkywatcher 200Pand what followed were equally astonishing moments: the Great Red Spot of Jupiter, the Rings of Saturn, the deep orange-red of the surface of Mars, sharp shadows cast along crater walls of a waxing gibbous Moon, every one magnificent, almost unbelievable that this was something you could actually see and experience.

It was from here I started experimenting: attaching a red dot finder, making small modifications and eventually building custom Arduino based 'Digital Setting Circles' that let me point the Dobsonian with relative accuracy to help find faint targets.

My thoughts then turned to taking a photo through the telescope, difficult with a Dobsonian so I started experimenting: first with a DSLR and T-ring adapter on easy targets like the Moon, then onto static tripod, realtively short focal length lenses with short exposures and my first attempts at stacking images. Next I had built aDIY 'barn door' tracker using wood, a stepper motor, an Arduino, some threaded rod and hinges.

This culminated in my most recent project a low cost fully capable astrophotography rig from a relatively inexpensive mount, telescope and DIY solutions based on microcontrollers and a wealth of resources from the community.