Astrophotography on a Shoe String

Astronomy on a shoe string. Yes it is possible for you to take great astrophotography with a digital camera and stacking software that is free and very available on the internet. If your camera has a manual setting and you are able to take exposures with the lens cap on then you can do it. You will need a program such as "Deep Sky Stacker".

Just mount your camera on a tripod you need to take one exposure with the lens cap on for every two with the lens cap off. All exposures must be taken with identical parameters, iso of all exposure must be the same, shutter speed and focal length too. Its fun enjoyable and its kind of like waiting to open a Christmas present. you never know what you have until you have stacked and processed all the images.

This is also a wonderful way to introduce the hobby of astronomy and photography to the children and young adults. A modest digital camera will run about 400 usd and a decent tripod about 50 usd. The camera can also be used for terrestrial photography. And if you want to delve into astronomy further you can connect the camera to a telescope and take long exposure of a hour or more.

However I recommend keeping exposures with a digital camera under 30 minutes. There are three types of telescope photography. Prime focus. Where the telescope is the camera lens. Projection method where you use a eyepiece as a projector and the object you are viewing is the light source. And piggyback, you mount the camera on top of the telescope. So give it a try and enjoy.