I had a strong interest in astronomy when I was a teenager growing up in Fort Worth, Texas. However, I put it away for about 50 years until I retired in 2007 from my position as Professor of Physics and Provost at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, PA. Shortly thereafter I met Dan Good and John Yecker, who encouraged me to try astrophotography. I began imaging from my back yard with an SBIG ST-8 camera, loaned to me by Dan, on my 8" Meade LX200R telescope. In January, 2010, I acquired a 14" Meade LX200GPS telescope mounted on a Milburn wedge and installed it in Dan Good's observatory in the Chiefland Astronomy Village, Chiefland, FL. I make 3 visits to Chiefland each winter with Dan and John. Images from Chiefland are made with the 14" scope, and I image in Mastersonville, PA, near my home using the 8" Meade LX200R.
The cameras used are, early on, an SBIG ST-2000XM, again on loan from Dan Good, and, now, my own SBIG ST-8300C and ZWO ASI533MC Pro one-shot color cameras. Scope control is done with Astroplanner, camera control with Nebulosity and autoguiding with PHD2 and a Lodestar X2 on a Starlight Xpress Off-Axis Guider. The images are processed with Nebulosity and Photoshop using Noel Carboni's Astronomy Tools Action Set.
In March, 2011, I added a Hyperstar 3 to the 14" scope. On this setup autoguiding is done with a Lodestar X2/Orion ST-80 combination.
I want to thank Dan Good and John Yecker for their encouragement that got me started in astrophotography and for their many tips on telescopes, imaging and image processing.
Please click here or click on "Images" on the upper left to view my images.
The cameras used are, early on, an SBIG ST-2000XM, again on loan from Dan Good, and, now, my own SBIG ST-8300C and ZWO ASI533MC Pro one-shot color cameras. Scope control is done with Astroplanner, camera control with Nebulosity and autoguiding with PHD2 and a Lodestar X2 on a Starlight Xpress Off-Axis Guider. The images are processed with Nebulosity and Photoshop using Noel Carboni's Astronomy Tools Action Set.
In March, 2011, I added a Hyperstar 3 to the 14" scope. On this setup autoguiding is done with a Lodestar X2/Orion ST-80 combination.
I want to thank Dan Good and John Yecker for their encouragement that got me started in astrophotography and for their many tips on telescopes, imaging and image processing.
Please click here or click on "Images" on the upper left to view my images.