Altair Hypercam 183C Review
Thanks to my friends at Ontario Telescope and Accessories, a brand new Altair Hypercam 183C arrived at my door last week. The striking purple exterior color of this one-shot color CMOS camera makes a bold statement, but it's the deep sky imaging capabilities of the cooled sensor that have captured my attention. There are many options available for deep sky astrophotography these days, and traditional DSLR images such as myself are left with some tough decisions. One look at the data captured using a cooled CMOS sensor, and you will notice the astonishing difference this can make. Vie…
Astro Photography Tool for Camera Control
I have recently installed Astro Photography Tool on my dedicated astrophotography laptop. From my very first imaging sequence, I knew I was going to like this application. There is no better way to learn a new imaging application than to put it to use for a night of deep sky imaging. With clear night ahead of me, I dive into Astro Photography Tool to plan my Whale Galaxy astrophotography project. In the video below, I also discuss my ongoing transition from a DSLR camera to a cooled CMOS camera. The process of controlling a dedicated astronomy camera like the ZWO ASI071MC Cool is much…
60mm Starwave Guide Scope Package for Autoguiding
My friends over at Ontario Telescope & Accessories have sent me a new Altair GPCAM2 AR0130 Mono autoguiding camera and 60mm Starwave guide scope to use with my astrophotography setup. In this post, I'll give you an early look at this practical autoguiding solution for deep sky astrophotography. If you are looking to implement an autoguiding package to your imaging rig, the Starwave 60mm Autoguiding Package is an excellent option. I have used this guide scope and camera on a number of deep sky astrophotography projects, including the Soul Nebula (Image Below). Having the ability…
Better Focus using a Bahtinov Mask
Achieving sharp focus is an essential step of any deep-sky astrophotography session. With so much time and effort put into your polar alignment and autoguiding accuracy, it would be a shame to spoil a photo due to poor focus. Over the years, I've had my fair share of deep-sky astrophotography focus mishaps. In many cases, I did not realize how bad the focus of my image was until I attempted to process the final image. Avoid this unfortunate circumstance by using a simple tool that effectively confirms that your focus is as sharp as can be, every time. No matter which type of camera you use,…
