Astrophotography 🔭🌌 with the Celestron 8-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain Nexstar 8SE

Описание: An assortment of Astrophotography images taken over the last two years with my 7-yr old trusty Celestron 8-inch Nexstar 8SE OTA (orange tube 8C, out of the Amazon box) with the Celestron f/6.3 reducer-corrector with correct backfocus at ~78mm. Set on the original Celestron Nexstar 8SE (Alt-AZ) mount, and later on a newly acquired Celestron Advanced VX (EQ) mount. Canon EOS T6i (24Mp) and RisingCam Sony IMX571 (26Mp) cameras with supplied software.

Recent USA Today feature article :
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/n...

Recent images featured on FOX NEWS CH5 SD : https://fox5sandiego.com/news/local-n...

Another recent article : https://www.kiksee.com/exploring-cosm...

More recent images here :    • The Cosmos through the Celestron 8SE 8-inc...  

The scope was collimated on the optical bench by Celestron in Torrance six years ago (2017), never touched since then.

No guiding, no filters, no wifi, no apps, no wedge, no gadgets, stock red dot finder, kiss 110ac power cord, manual focus with paper printed Bahtinov mask. No software-added stars, no removed stars, no shrunk stars, no re-colored stars. All images stacked in DSS (free) and minimally edited in Gimp (also free).

Some possibly helpful links :

Celestron Nexstar 8SE with Alt-Az GoTo mount : https://www.amazon.com/Celestron-NexS...

Celestron AVX EQ GoTo mount : https://www.amazon.com/Celestron-Adva...

Canon EOS T6i (body only) bought used on Amazon : https://www.amazon.com/Canon-Rebel-Di...

Celestron 0.63x focal reducer/flattener : https://www.amazon.com/Celestron-6-3-...

T-adapter for Canon EOS : https://www.amazon.com/Celestron-T-Ad...

T-adapter for 1.25" eyepiece holder : https://www.amazon.com/SVBONY-Telesco...

90 degree diagonal for use with 1.25" adapter : https://www.amazon.com/SVBONY-Dielect...

Inexpensive timed shutter release for EOS camera : https://www.amazon.com/JJC-Control-Sh...

Backyard EOS software for Canon : https://www.otelescope.com/store/prod...

RisingCam cooled color camera with Sony IMX571 26Mp sensor, https://www.aliexpress.us/item/225580...

Deep Sky Stacker (DSS) free software : http://deepskystacker.free.fr/english...

GIMP image manipulation software, also free : https://www.gimp.org/

Accurate 3-star SkyAlign routine (as suggested by Celestron 8SE manual, page 12) :    • Celestron Nexstar 8SE Telescope SkyAlign (...  

Schmidt-Cassegrain SCT collimation video from a guy that - for once - actually knows what he's talking about :    • Collimating your Schmidt-Cassegrain telesc...  

More detailed images of my setup here on CN : https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/82...

My 8 inch SCT images on Astrobin : https://www.astrobin.com/search/?q=Ce...

Disclaimer : I am not sponsored by anybody, nor do I receive any free or discounted merchandise.

#astronomy #astrophotography #telescope

0:00 Introduction
1:13 Eagle Nebula
1:21 Great Star Cluster M13 in Hercules
1:28 Needle Galaxy NGC 4565 in Coma Berenices
1:42 Lagoon Nebula M8 in Sagittarius
1:51 Whirlpool Galaxy M51 in Canes Venatici
2:03 Whirlpool Galaxy M51 in Canes Venatici (Canon EOS)
2:31 Star Cluster M2 in Aquarius
2:21 Wild Duck Cluster M11 in Scutum
2:31 Pinwheel Galaxy M101 in Ursa Major
2:40 Globular Cluster M3 in Canes Venatici
2:49 Globular Cluster M5 in Serpens
2:58 Sombrero Galaxy M104 in Virgo
3:12 Orion Nebula M42
3:23 Orion Nebula M42 (Canon EOS)
3:29 Globular Cluster M10 in Ophiuchus
3:38 Globular Cluster M15 in Pegasus
3:47 Globular Cluster M22 in Sagittarius
3:56 Trifid Nebula in Sagittarius
4:06 Sculptor Galaxy NGC 253
4:15 Cigar Galaxy M82 in Ursa Major
4:24 Andromeda Galaxy M31 core
4:55 Hale Telescope 200 inch