Wizard Astro Photography

How to focus your telescope and camera for astrophotography.   In this article I will share how you can bring deep sky objects into focus for astrophotography using a Bahtinov Mask with your telescope and DSLR camera or dedicated astrophotography camera. So what is a Bahtinov Mask anyway? The Bahtinov mask was invented by Russian amateur astrophotographer Pavel Bahtinov  in 2005. Simply put the light passing through the slots in the mask create diffraction spikes that move in relation to to the focus of your telescope.  Using the Bahtinov Mask with your telescope. Simply place the mask over the objective lens of your telescope. If you have a dew shield it can be place over that as well. It is a good idea to get as close to focus as possible first by looking through the view finder on a DSLR or your computer screen if using a dedicated astrophotography camera. This will make the final focus much easier as you should already see the diffraction pattern on the screen through the mask. You

M42 The Orion Nebula Taken with: Svbony 70ED Explore Scientific  iEXOS-100-2 PMC-Eight Canon Rebel XT

 Saturn with Celestron Neximage Taken with the Orion 8" reflector and Celestron Neximage camera with a 3X barlow lens.

Ganymede transits Jupter. This image was taken with a Orion 8" reflector and Celestron Neximage camera with a 3X barlow. Taken on November 13th 2009.  

 I thought I would start with the first "real" astro photo I captured. This was taken with my first telescope, a 60mm Meade refractor alt-az in the mid 90s. I bought an old DSLR body and made an adapter from abs plastic to fit the focuser then used a shoe box lid over the objective, opened the shutter and waited for the vibrations to settle and quickly moved the lid away and then back. Next it was off to the photo store for processing and a few days later, Wow!   And so my love of astronomy and astrophotography began. Over the years I have stepped away from it but I keep coming back. I hope by sharing my experiences and things I learn along the way you will be inspired to get out there and enjoy this wonderful hobby.