My Astrophotography Equipment


My current equipment consists of a Tele Vue NP-127 IS 5 inch aperture F/5.2 (660mm focal length) refractor and an 80mm F/11.4 Orion guide scope with 5mm illuminated reticle eyepiece.
The NP-127 and guide scope are mounted side by side using a Losmandy side by side dovetail plate.
The mount is a Losmandy G-11 equipped with digital setting circles.
My digital cameras are a Hutech modified Canon D40 and a Hutech modified Canon 350D.



This is a photograph of my equipment.





My standard exposure time using the NP-127 (and my old NP-101)and digital camera at 400ASA is 20 minutes when photographing from the farm south of Blue Knob State Park, PA; and 5 minutes when photographing from my backyard 28 miles south of Washington, D.C.
I am experimenting with 20 minute exposures at 100ASA because of the smoother image this combination produces and because the sky pollution from my yard limits me to 5 minutes at 400ASA or 20 minutes at 100ASA. The image of the Orion Nebula with the NP-127 combined three such 20 minute exposures to further yield a smoother image.