Equipment

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Ronald Huyps

Astronomy Equipment

Telescopes

I started with the Celestron C102 refractor on a EQ3 mount, no GoTo and no motordrives. Then the Meade LX10, also without GoTo or any motordrives. My big improvement came with the purchase of the Celestron C11 (11 inch=280mm, F10, f=2800mm) on a computerized CGE1100 mount. No lost time with searching for the objects, just press the buttons and there the scope slewed to the object (most of the times..). In 2010 I purchased the William Optics FLT132 (apochromatic refractor; 132 mm F7,f=925 mm), which is now my main telescope (used on the CGE mount). As guide scope I use a William Optics Zenithstar ZS66 apo (66 mm F5.9 f=388mm).

Celestron C11 on CGE
C11 on CGE-mount next to my old LX10, venus transit 2004
Saclentse (CH): WO-FLT132 on CGE-mount, WO-ZS66 and as camera a modified Canon 40D

 

Cameras

My very first astropictures were taken on diafilm with a Canon Eos 100 (..without the 'D' extension...). H-alpha sensitivity was good, the horsehead nebula showed up unexpectedly on one of the pictures. In the digital age, Canon 300D was the first one, quickly followed by a for astrophotography modified Canon 40D (hence the inofficial name 40Da). The normal filter in front of the sensor is replaced by a UV-IR filter glass, allowing more light of the H-alpha band (656 nm) passing through. In 2013 I purchased a modified Canon 600D, in which even the UV-IR filter is missing, allowing besides astrophotography also nice daylight infrared photography. The 600D has an articulated screen which is very useful for astrophotography:it avoids the 'astronomers neck' syndrome...

For normal photography I owned a Canon 5D (sold) and nowadays a Canon 5Dm3. The 5Dm3 has superb low noise light sensitivity but lacks good H-alpha capability (and modification would ruin the normal day light capability).