Rich's Astrophotography

My Story

I first got into astronomy back in 1972. In 1974, I bought my first scope. A Criterion RV-6 Dynascope 6" Newtonian with a clock drive. For the next few years, I watched the skies, learning how to align the scope so the clock drive would track pretty well. Then in the late 70's I bought my first SLR camera (a Miranda Auto Sensorex EE) and my t'ring adapter. I then started learning how to take pictures with film. Wow, what a process. My scope then became used less and less as I was not thrilled with using film and all that went with it. A few years back, when Canon came out with the Rebel T3i, I finally broke into the DSLR world. Another t'ring and pulled my scope out of mothballs. Wow, what a difference! I now started actually having fun taking exposures. However, the clock drive aligning would only net me about 1 to 2 minute exposures. Maybe 3 minute if I was real lucky. Next, I purchased an Atlas EQ-G mount, and now the fun began! Many pictures were taken over the following year. Then, I decided I needed more light, so I purchased a Celestron C-11 SCT. Now the following few pictures show my current setups with either my 6" or my 11" set up on the Atlas.

My RV-6 Dynascope

My Celestron C-11