Guidance for an Amazing Hobby
Patrick 
Manufacturer: Sharpstar/Askar Price: $1695 SharpStar is a Chinese telescope manufacturer known for producing high-quality astrophotography refractor telescopes. They offer a range of refractor telescopes for astronomy enthusiasts ranging from deep-sky observers or imagers to planetary observers, all the way to wide-field imagers. Sharpstar produces a number of high-quality refractors under the Askar label. the Askar … Read more
Manufacturer: ZWO Current Price: $3799 The ZWO ASI6200MM Pro is a cooled monochrome Astrophotography camera. It is manufactured by ZWO Optical, well-known in the astronomy community for producing affordable, quality equipment. The ASI6200MM Pro offers advanced features and a full-frame sensor, making it a popular choice among astrophotographers. Key Features: Sensor: The ASI6200MM Pro features … Read more
The M42 thread, also known as the T-thread, is a standard thread size widely used in astrophotography and camera lens connections. It is named after its metric size, which is M42x0.75. The “M” stands for metric, indicating the thread is measured in millimeters, while “42” represents the major diameter of the thread in millimeters. The … Read more
ZWO ASIAir Plus Wireless Camera Controller Manufacturer: ZWO Price $299 Astrophotography can be a very rewarding hobby, capturing beautiful images of the night sky. But the learning curve can be quite high, causing many people to give up. I remember when I started in this hobby in the mid 1990’s. Digital cameras were just starting … Read more
Do you really even need autoguiding? Serious astrophotographers know that autoguiding, although very useful is not always necessary. There are some mounts that are extremely accurate at tracking for short periods of time, even up to 5 minutes without the need for autoguiding. There are also some who would argue that dozens or even hundreds … Read more
Price: $1999 (smaller FRA300 available for $1199) What is an astrograph? The Askar FRA500 (Flat field Refractive Astrographs) is a top-of-the-line refractor telescope that is specifically designed for intermediate and advanced level astronomy enthusiasts. As the name implies, astrographs are designed specifically for astrophotography. The telescope has a 90 mm aperture and a focal length … Read more
HAE43EC (enhanced encoders) Product: iOptron HAE43 Strain Wave AZ/EQ Mount with High Precision Encoders Manufacturer: iOptron Current Price: $4248 What are Strain Wave Mounts? Strain wave telescope mounts, also known as harmonic drive telescope mounts, are a type of motorized mount used to control the movement of telescopes. This type of mount is rapidly … Read more
Why do astronomers use red lights at night? It is because of the complexity of the human eye. Unlike a digital camera which has pixels of relatively equal light sensitivity, the human eye is composed of two types of light sensitive cells, rods and cones. Cones allow us to see color in bright light. Rods … Read more
Unistellar eQuinox2 Smart Tracking Telescope Price: $2499 (now includes smart solar filter, a $249 value!) Have you ever looked through a telescope expecting to see beautiful celestial objects in full and vivid color? Have you been disappointed when everything looks dim and fuzzy with no real color? Do you live in a city with … Read more
How do we find objects in the sky? Right Ascension (RA) and Declination (Dec) are two important celestial coordinates used to do this. What is Right Ascension? Right Ascension (RA) is similar to longitude on the Earth’s surface, except that it is measured in hours, minutes, and seconds rather than degrees of angle. RA is … Read more