My Astrophotography

Occasionally I will shoot images of interesting objects in the night sky. Sometimes the images are taken in my backyard in Wildomar, CA… sometimes the images are taken at the San Diego Astronomy Association’s observing site in Tierra del Sol (TDS) located far east of San Diego, California. If I use a telescope at home, it is usually a Meade LX200 GPS 8-inch. In 2009, I started with a Canon XSi mounted on the LX200 and eventually moved up to a Canon EOS Rebel T3i, and now I currently use a Canon 80D. Some images are taken with the Canon and a telephoto lens on a tripod.

I built a deck with a dedicated telescope pier in 2009 and it stayed that way for years. In early 2021, I finally completed the project by building the structure to permanently house the telescope. The design is original although it was inspired by others on the internet. The roof panel flaps are hinged at the base and are counterbalanced by garage door springs (two on each side) that make manual opening and closing an easy task. In the middle is the permanent pier that currenly has the LX200 mounted on it.

The observatory all closed up and hiding as a garden shed
Opened up and ready for work
The control desk for the telescope
The LX200 with my Canon 80D piggybacked
Target – the Orion complex
Me and my friend Brian in his roll-off roof observatory located at SDAA’s Tierra del Sol observing site. This picture is a bit dated … my hair is more gray now, and he has different telescopes in his observatory.

Here are some of my astroimages (in no particular grouping or order).
Click on any image for a larger version and description