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...

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