4 ms·

Thierry Legault does some of the best solar system astrophotography I'm aware of (or at least the stuff I'm most interested in). Many amazing images of ISS and

by jcims 5y ago

Thierry Legault does some of the best solar system astrophotography I'm aware of (or at least the stuff I'm most interested in). Many amazing images of ISS and other spacecraft, images of the surface of the sun, lunar images, lunar occultation of other planets, etc etc. This is just another example of his excellent work. More examples here: http://www.astrophoto.fr/ http://www.astrophoto.fr/ Edit: That said there are some amazing amateur astrophotographers quietly going about their art. https://astrobin.com https://astrobin.com is their Flickr.

FpUser 5y ago
Thanks for mentioning the site. I just checked his HR Moon. Incredible.
MisterTea 5y ago
Thank you for pointing this out. After reading the opening line of "Thierry Legault pointed his camera up at the night sky..." I thought to myself "Man, that must be some camera." Turns out he very much does this professionally and a telescope is also involved.
- jcims 5y ago
  Some details on his equipment here: http://www.astrophoto.fr/info.html http://www.astrophoto.fr/info.html. For reference, the first tube and mount he lists: Celestron C14 Edge HD - The telescope 'tube' alone (aka OTA) ~$8k USD Takahashi EM400 - Equatorial mount, ~$9kUSD This doesn't include any additional optics, filters, cameras, etc. Solar imaging is technically challenging and gets ridiculously expensive very quickly because of the contrast benefits of extremely narrowband filtering. He references using a Takahashi FSQ-106 (~$7k), Coronado double stack (also ~$7k) and a .5 angstrom Daystar filter (~$4k). Massive massive investment in equipment. Hard to say if he has everything he lists but easily $100k total, probably closer to $200k. I would hazard that if you tried to start today, you couldn't find any of the above in stock. You're going to be scrounging the used market (which is fortunately quite active) and/or waiting 2-3 years for order fulfillment. I started into this hobby last fall and it is quite frustrating just getting your hands on what you want.
  - mikeInAlaska 5y ago
    Alternatively, you could use a $2000 - $4000 (used price) C14 telescope on a $4000 AP900 (used price) mount, with a $1000 planetary camera. Still a chunk of change. The only thing you can't buy used is the apparently killer atmospheric conditions he enjoys wherever he shoots.
    - jcims 5y ago
      Totally agree. I've got the CPC1100 version of the C11 sitting behind me that I bought minus the tripod through an Amazon pallet liquidation. Had to buy the tripod for a total outlay of ~$2k for basically a new scope. I can easily get Tycho in that same field of view, but the contrast is going to suck and relative clarity be pretty laughable. The fun part is there's a lot to learn, the sucky part is there's a lot to learn :)

by jcims 5y ago

FpUser 5y ago

Thanks for mentioning the site. I just checked his HR Moon. Incredible.

MisterTea 5y ago

Thank you for pointing this out. After reading the opening line of "Thierry Legault pointed his camera up at the night sky..." I thought to myself "Man, that must be some camera." Turns out he very much does this professionally and a telescope is also involved.

jcims 5y ago
Some details on his equipment here: http://www.astrophoto.fr/info.html http://www.astrophoto.fr/info.html. For reference, the first tube and mount he lists: Celestron C14 Edge HD - The telescope 'tube' alone (aka OTA) ~$8k USD Takahashi EM400 - Equatorial mount, ~$9kUSD This doesn't include any additional optics, filters, cameras, etc. Solar imaging is technically challenging and gets ridiculously expensive very quickly because of the contrast benefits of extremely narrowband filtering. He references using a Takahashi FSQ-106 (~$7k), Coronado double stack (also ~$7k) and a .5 angstrom Daystar filter (~$4k). Massive massive investment in equipment. Hard to say if he has everything he lists but easily $100k total, probably closer to $200k. I would hazard that if you tried to start today, you couldn't find any of the above in stock. You're going to be scrounging the used market (which is fortunately quite active) and/or waiting 2-3 years for order fulfillment. I started into this hobby last fall and it is quite frustrating just getting your hands on what you want.
- mikeInAlaska 5y ago
  Alternatively, you could use a $2000 - $4000 (used price) C14 telescope on a $4000 AP900 (used price) mount, with a $1000 planetary camera. Still a chunk of change. The only thing you can't buy used is the apparently killer atmospheric conditions he enjoys wherever he shoots.
  - jcims 5y ago
    Totally agree. I've got the CPC1100 version of the C11 sitting behind me that I bought minus the tripod through an Amazon pallet liquidation. Had to buy the tripod for a total outlay of ~$2k for basically a new scope. I can easily get Tycho in that same field of view, but the contrast is going to suck and relative clarity be pretty laughable. The fun part is there's a lot to learn, the sucky part is there's a lot to learn :)