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EQUIPMENT INTRODUCTION
Telescopes :
Lets first review some of the terminologies which
are used while discussing telescopes for
astrophotography .
1) Aperture : A telescopes aperture is the diameter
of the main lens or mirror . Apertures are
important for two reasons :
a) Light gathering ability : the larger the aperture
the more light is gathered and concenterated
and dimmer targets can be observed .
b) Resolution effect : the diameter of the main lens
also determines the resolving power of the
telescope ( the smallest or closest objects that
can be distinguished from one another )
TYPES OF TELESCOPES
1) Refractor telescopes : refractors use lenses to
focus light . there are two types of refractor
telescopes
a) Achromatic refractors : in this two different
wavelengths of light of the visible spectrum are
brought to correct , aligned focus .
b) Apochromatic refractors : in this three different
wavelengths of light of the visible spectrum are
brought to correct , aligned focus .
Cameras :
Basic terminologies :
1)Pixels : Cameras for astrophotography capture
the image on an array of small light sensitive
dots , called pixels . The number of pixels is
one important factor .
The hubble space telescope initially had a
camera which was only 640000 pixels less
than one mega pixel ( currently it has been
upgraded to multiple megapixels )
There are two reasons behind this :
a) The raw number of pixels is not that
important has compared to other attributes
such as size of the pixel , that determines
how large a field of sky you can image and
how fine a level of detail you can record .
b) Since high end astrophotography requires
and extremely stable and accurate mount , it
is quite practical to use multiple exposures
of small side by side sections of the sky to
make up a mosaic image .
Guiding softwares :
Once images from the guide camera reach the
computer , special software is needed to track the
guide star , calculate errors and calculate
appropriate corrections .
There are several excellent softwares like PHD
( Push Here Dummy ) , Guide Dog , The SkyX(Pro) and
Maxim DL .
Summary :
So in summary what you need for Autoguiding is :
CONCLUSION
Astrophotography is a very unique and interesting
form of photography and involves a lot of technical
as well as scientific knowledge . Astronomy
enthusiasts can take up this as their hobbies and
can explore the vast universe .