My astrophotography kit

Telescope: Askar 130PHQ Flatfield Astrograph

My main imaging telescope is the fantastic Askar 130PHQ. It has an aperture of 130mm and a focal length of 1000mm. Its focal ratio is a fairly slow f/7.7. Click here for my full review.

Camera: ZWO ASI 2600MC-PRO

This is a brilliant bit of kit and a big step up from the venerable 1600-series. Click here for my full review.

If you have this camera and are considering which settings to use, I set the gain to 100 and just leave it there. I take sub-exposures of 120 seconds, but lots of them, and set the cooling to -10 degrees C. That all seems to work well, but of course it’s always good to experiment for yourself.

Filters: Optolong L-Ultimate, Askar D2, and Optolong L-Quad Enhance

I consider a dualband filter to be essential if you’re imaging from a city using an OSC camera as they allow you to image hydrogen-rich targets such as nebulae. For more about these filters, check out my article on OSC vs Mono from a city.

I’m currently using two dualband filters: an Optolong L-Ultimate, and Askar D2. The L-Ultimate captures Hydrogen-alpha and Oxygen III; while the D2 captures Sulphur II and Oxygen III. I combine these during processing in PixInsight to create SHO images.

For more details about the Optolong L-Ultimate, check out my Dualband Filter Shootout. For more about the Askar D2 filter, check out my review here.

As of 2024, I’ve started using an Optolong L-Quad Enhance for broadband targets. See my review here.

Filter drawer: ZWO 2″ Filter Drawer (M42 / M48)

Very useful for using 2″ mounted filters.

Mount: Sky-Watcher EQ6-R PRO on a pier

I upgraded to an EQ6-R PRO when my previous mount died and I decided to get a heavier telescope. It’s been good so far, and fingers crossed it stays that way!

The mount is permanently installed on a DIY pier. This video from AstroStace was the inspiration. I saw a neighbour was getting rid of some hollow concrete blocks, so offered to save them the hassle! Most of the actual construction was done by the fantastic AndyCan who offers handyman services around Bristol and Bath. If you’re in that area and want a DIY pier, make things easy for yourself and just ask him!

To attach the mount to the concrete blocks, I use this adapter from Altair. It’s the single most expensive part of the pier but does the job well.

I use a Cygnus Astro Cover for protection against the rain. I’ve written a full review here. It works perfectly and is a lot cheaper than the TeleGizmo 365 covers that many people use. I keep my telescope in the shed when not in use, so the cover just goes over the mount. When the telescope is outside and not under the cover, I use an app called Rain Alarm on my phone. If it starts raining nearby, the app beeps (waking me up if I’m asleep).

My set-up routine takes literally four or five minutes. Because the mount head is fixed, everything’s polar aligned already. And the ASIAIR Plus plate solves to find targets, so there’s no fiddly alignment routine to run through.

For more details about how I power this system and connect everything together, check out my article on How to Use Mains Power For Your ASIAIR Plus.

Guidescope: William Optics 50mm Guidescope with 1.25″ ROTO Lock

This is a good choice of guidescope for mid-focal length telescopes. (I use it to guide my 1000mm refractor). Click here for my full review.

Guidecam: ZWO ASI 120MM Mini

Compact, lightweight, affordable. What’s not to like? Click here for my full review.

Control: ASIAIR Plus

This little device has a well-deserved reputation for taking a lot of the pain out of astrophotography. It automates many processes and lets me control everything using an app on my phone. Data is saved to a USB flash drive, which I then plug into my home PC for transfer. It even works as a power hub, meaning that devices like heated dew bands can be hooked up to it.

Read my review of the ASIAIR Plus here.

Focus: ZWO EAF

This little gadget takes the frustration out of focussing. No more fiddling with a Bahtinov mask or similar device, twiddling the telescope’s focus knob to get everything just right. The push of a button on the ASIAIR Plus’ app is all that’s needed to set this off on an autofocus routine.

I’ve found it to be quite reliable, but not flawless. Any passing clouds during the autofocus process can mess things up. I set mine up to autofocus at the beginning of an imaging run; and then again after every hour. This compensates for any temperate changes shifting focus over the course of a night; and is a safety net in case the previous focus attempt failed due to clouds.

Flats Panel

I use a tracing light available on Amazon (click here for an example) as an effective but cheap Flats panels. 

Software: PixInsight, Lightroom

About 80 – 90% of my processing work is done using PixInsight. This is fantastic software designed from the ground-up with astrophotography in mind. It’s famously difficult to learn though, so if you’re a new user be prepared to spend quite some time looking up tutorials online! It’s really excellent once you get into the flow though. And you could argue that it’s actually no harder to learn than something like Photoshop; it’s just that more people have a basic understanding of Photoshop, so naturally find that a bit easier. Click here for my full review of PixInsight.

The second piece of software I use is Lightroom. I’m a dab hand at this having used it for many years as a professional photographer. It’s not suitable for every stage of processing an astroimage, but I bring it in at the end, making minor adjustments to make the picture pop.