My Takahashi TOA-130 FS includes:
Feathertouch FTF3545B Dual Speed Large Format Focuser
MicroTouch MKIT35 Focusing system with stepper motor
Takahashi TOA-35 0.7 reducer Takahashi TOA-130F 67 Flattener
Mine rides on a Takahashi NJP Equatorial Mount – powder coated in Apollo 11 anniversary colours
Starlight Express Lodestar X2 Autoguider
Chroma 5nm Ha, S2 & 3nm O3 Narrowband & LRGB Filters
This is the Stellarvue SV70t 70 mm f-6 apo triplet with dual speed, rack and pinion focuser. The focuser is set up to accept a dedicated .8X photographic field flattener/reducer converting the telescope into a 336 mm f-4.8 astrograph.
Customised Takahashi NJP Equatorial Mount
My well loved former QSI 683 WSG8 camera
Starlight Express Lodestar X2 Autoguider
This is the my camera, the QSI 6162 WSG-8 and it’s awesome!
I was fortunate enough to win this in a competition, so it’s now replaced my trusty QSI683 wsg8 with which I have taken all the images and APOD’s on this website.
I love the fully integrated design with the 8 position filter wheel and guide camera prism built in to a single unit. It’s APS-H format 35mm across the diagonal so it produces truly remarkable, crystal clear images approx 12×16″ in size at 300dpi.
It cools easily to -30C in Summer and yields crisp clean images.
It’s loaded with Chroma 3nm Ha, O3, S2 Narrowband and LRGB Filters.
Here is the Unboxing video of my latest camera : The mighty full frame QSI 6162 wsg8
Preferred Software
Andy uses Astropixel Processor & Photoshop CC2020 to process his images.
Nebulosity 4.0 and EKOS are his capture programs.
Guiding by PHD2
Mount controlled by EKOS and Sky Safari 5.0
Andy is a Mac user, and he finds these applications very successful. He is not currently endorsed by any of the above, but is open to offers!
(At Snake Valley Astronomy Camp 2016 with the SV70t on my former Skywatcher EQ6)