- Pictured above with the prior visual setup, an SCT and H-Alpha solar scope used to capture the lunar, planetary and solar images on these pages -
35mm film and SCT
Today, my automated dome resides in a Bortle 5 location which houses a 11" Celestron RASA Astrograph and ZWO 1600MM cooled CMOS camera. The combination is used for astro-imaging as the telescope is not capable of bringing light to focus at the human eye. It is, however, a high power research grade astrophotography setup that is used for narrow band imaging at an extremely fast f-ratio of F2.2.
Narrowband imaging isolates specific wavelengths using filters such as H-alpha,O-111 and S-II. When combined with a high speed imaging train, the results can be powerful.
The Hubble Palette technique, used to create those beautiful Hubble images, is my preferred technique as it allows for greater detail and the ability to image in light-polluted areas. In the coming weeks, examples of my recently acquired images will be posted along with updates on my Instagram feed @interstellar_images .