Astrophotography is a hugely enjoyable hobby for amateur and experienced astronomers alike, allowing you to capture the spectacular views of the heavens seen though your telescope night after night. The equipment needn’t be high end. 35mm, Schmidt and CCD or Digital telescope cameras can be used and all produce excellent results.

Other useful equipment you will need alongside your telescope is a shutter cable for the 35mm, equatorial telescope camera mount, a T mount and a guider eyepiece. The equatorial mount, T mount and guider eyepiece will all help you track and keep in frame the celestial object you have chosen to photograph as it moves across the night sky.

There are many variations on which equipment to use and how to set up your equipment. Try different methods using the equipment you have and see which is the most comfortable to use and produces the best results. One method is to set up your camera and mount it on to the side or back of the telescope. The other is to have the camera on a movable mount or tripod. Which ever method you use, your camera should be firm and steady and not affected by vibrations from you or the equipment.

Your camera should be set to pick up as much light as it possibly can, so check shutter speed, sensitivity and aperture settings to gain the highest quality picture possible. Try altering the focus and settings to see which produce the best results This is where digital cameras come into their own, as you can see the results as soon as the picture is taken. This allows you to either delete and adjust your settings to try again, if the picture hasn’t worked out or sit down and marvel at a beautiful picture that will stun astronomers and the general public world wide...

After you have transferred the pictures to a computer, you can alter them further in order to get the best possible picture. If they appear grainy, try reducing the size (zooming in rather than cropping) to get a clearer picture.

For the adventuresome, try setting up a telescope video camera that will take frames at a very slow rate...

News About Telescope Cameras

Houston Chronicle

Hubble 3D captures wonder of spaceflight Houston Chronicle Nevertheless, the crew succeeded in capturing the essential elements of the mission, including Atlantis' approach to the telescope and moments during the ... my week at the movies: 'IMAX: Hubble 3D,' 'Green Zone,' 'Remember Me,' 'She's ...Flick Filosopher (blog) all 3 news articles »

UA receives contracts to explore dark matter in space Arizona Daily Wildcat Astronomical Research Cameras, Inc., a California-based company building camera electronics for the Hobby-Eberly Telescope, awarded the contract to the ...

Big brother IS watching Israel 21C In a second model, the operator pans and zooms manually - here the value proposition is that a single telescopic camera can replace multiple units, ...

Annual San Diego Science Festival to Host Countywide "Excite Your Mind" Events ... Newswise (press release) Guest speaker Laura A. Burns will offer a first-hand account of working on the James Webb Space Telescope, the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope. ... and more »

BBC News

Ballistic chameleon tongue beats the cold BBC News Using a high speed camera called a photron, which is also used by film makers, the researchers videoed chameleons feeding in hot and cold temperatures. ... and more »

Where Do Cosmic Rays Come From? FOXNews A telescope acting like a huge digital camera can capture the gamma rays the ancient explosion emitted. WASHINGTON -- A new map of the sky made using a ... and more »