My Astrophotography Equipment

Over the last couple of days I've been asked many times on various Facebook posts what equipment I use to take my photographs.  As I can't possibly answer everybody individually,  I've decided to do a post on it here. I hope I missed nothing out, but if I have I'll update it as necessary.

Hardware

• Nikon D500 crop sensor camera for shots of the moon, planets, galaxies and nebulae
• Nikon D810 full frame camera for widefield shots of stars and constellations
• Nikon 500mm f/4E FL lens for the moon, planets, galaxies and nebulae
• Nikon TC-20E II 2x teleconverter for magnification where necessary
• Nikon TC-14E III 1.4x teleconverter  for magnification where necessary
• Nikon intervalometer for taking sequences of shots
• SkyWatcher HEQ5 Pro GOTO mount with SynScan controller and tripod for tracking the stars
• Neewer right-angled viewed for polar alignment
• Bahtinov mask to aid focusing on stars
• SkyWatcher 12v 17Ah battery power pack to power the mount
• Red headlight to see in the dark without losing night vision
• Compass to align the tripod north
• Spirit level to level the tripod
• Laptop computer for processing and uploading to Facebook

Software

• Deep Sky Stacker (free) to stack shots together
• Adobe PhotoShop Elements 14 (paid, cheapish) to process the stacked shots and bring out detail
• Adobe PhotoShop CC (paid, expensive) to process the stacked shots and bring out detail

Sustenance on cold nights

• Lots of cups of tea
• A packet of biscuits or crisps
• The occasional single malt whisky

Set up procedure

• Level the tripod and point it north
• Attach the mount and counterbalance weights
• Attach the camera and balance in two axes on the mount
• Polar align the mount (make it point at Polaris, the north star)
• Setup SynScan controller with time, date, location coordinates etc
• Use Syncs to do a 'Two Star' align - move the mount to two known stars to calibrate it

Finding a target and taking shots (quick version)

• Select a target using the SynScan controller
• Move the mount to the target's position
• Put the camera in manual mode and chose the aperture and ISO
• Take a test shot to see if the target is centred in the frame
• Check the focus using the Bahtinov mask
• Use the hand controller to adjust the mount position if necessary
• Set the exposure time and number of shots, e.g. 30 shots (known as subframes or subs)
• Start the sequence of shots - usually at least 20 and as many as 50
• Go inside and have a cup of tea

Processing and Sharing

• Copy the finished subs off the camera and onto the laptop computer
• Stack the shots using Deep Sky Stacker
• Process the final stacked shot to bring out the fine detail and colours
• Upload the finished shot to Facebook or a similar internet site
• Wait to see the response

I will add some posts shortly outlining the following processing techniques:

• Stacking for increasing the detail and reducing image noise
• Taking darks, flats and bias frames for noise reduction and better detail
• Image processing

Hope that helps