Index of Astrophotos
Imaging Equipment
- Takahashi FSQ-106ED at f/5, or at f/8 with Extender-Q.
- EM-200 mount.
- STT-8300M camera with filter wheel and internal guider.
- Nikon D-7000 DSLR.
- Processed 100% in PixInsight.
Photos by:
Rob Friefeld
Long Beach, California
- Takahashi FSQ-106ED at f/5, or at f/8 with Extender-Q.
- EM-200 mount.
- STT-8300M camera with filter wheel and internal guider.
- Nikon D-7000 DSLR.
- Processed 100% in PixInsight.
Photos by:
Rob Friefeld
Long Beach, California
I can't fully explain my recent obsessive interest in astronomy, and I don't want to.
I was always fascinated by the stars, which were always frighteningly visible in the pitch dark South Dakota skies. I suppose I projected feeling from the science fiction I was reading. Just knowing they are distant suns, imagining what might be going on there was primal, like sitting by a campfire or by the surf. I also loved physics, of course, hence astronomy. I bought some books. I finally got a 3" reflector telescope from Edmond Scientific for $30 (in about 1960), but I couldn't get much use out of it. Everything jiggled too much. I did make out a few craters on the moon and the phases of Venus, but the thing was basically useless. I had a whole bunch more fun with my Gilbert's chemistry set.
In college, my interest in science was finally given full scope, culminating in a year working on real astronomy with real scientists, and my thesis on pulsar observations.
In medical school, it was back to amateur time. But in 1975, I did buy a real telescope, the Celestron 8. First thing I checked was the rings of Saturn. Amazing! When I moved to California, I took this scope on my trips to Mt. Palomar. I saw a lot, but was often plagued by dew and fog. You can't see that much by eye without a really really big telescope, and even then you won't see color. Reading Sky and Telescope was actually more satisfying.
Now I have a fascination with astrophotograpy. It is logical. I need something sedentary, I love a steep learning curve, the results are awesome, the equipment delightful. I am connecting to something infinitely larger than I am, and of a scale which makes our life-span seem puny. But the time is tight. This is a 5 years to learn hobby. I need to do it in 6 months, 2 of which have gone by waiting for my camera.
...Well, it wasn't that bad. Been out only a few times, though. Take a look.