The Gear I Use to Make My Images

In order to “do” astrophotography, you can’t get around the need for gear!

On this page, I will document the Telescope Rigs that I use to capture my images. One thing to keep in mind is that these rigs are never static. They change and evolve over time. I will try to document those changes here. This has a few practical goals. First - it will document what state the rig was in when a given set of images were taken. Second, it will give you a feel for how things evolved as I progressed on this journey. Finally, it may give you ideas for your own rig!

In General, I am running three telescope Platforms - typically all at the same time - to enable my imaging Projects. The first is the William Optics 132mm Platform. This is based on the first scope I used for imaging. The second platform is the Astro-Physics 130mm Platform. This second platform was unplanned and came about through a unique and fortuitous set of circumstances The third and most recent platform is the Askar FRA400 Platform - which was put together to enable both portable operations and more wide-field capability.

The stories of these telescope platforms are found in this blog - along with other pieces of equipment that greatly facilitate my astrophotography endeavors.