EnglishDetailed list as of June 2020
This page contains the complete description of my equipment: I will try to keep it up-to-date gradually as my setup evolves. When time allows, I will provide links to product pages and reviews, either written by myself or by others (off-site links).
Optical Tube Assemblies
- Celestron 11-inch SCT tube with 8×50 finderscope
- Celestron 8-inch Edge HD SCT tube with 6×30 finderscope
- Tecnosky 130 mm f/7 refractor
- Pentax 75 SDHF f/6.7 refractor
Mounts and tripods
- 10 Micron GM2000 HPS mount
- Gemini G42 Observatory+ mount
- Skywatcher EQ6R mount
- Skywatcher EQ5 mount
- 10 Micron Centaurus Tripod
- Berlebach PLANET tripod
- Skywatcher Star Adventurer tracker
- Skywatcher Star Adventurer Mini tracker
- Astromeccanica TL-110 tripod with custom-made adapters for GM-8 and EQ-6 mounts
- Manfrotto 055C photographic tripod with head
- Slik photographic tripod
- Cullmann compact tripod
Cameras and scanners
- Moravian G2-8300 CCD camera
- SBIG ST10-XME CCD camera
- ASI 071 MC Pro OSC CMOS camera
- Baader-modified Canon EOS 6D DSLR
- Canon EOS 760D DSLR
- Canon EOS 90D DSLR
- Praktica MTL-3 SLR
- Olympus OM-1 SLR with 1-8 focusing screen
- Nikon F-3 SLR with clear focusing screen and DW-4 magnifier
- Canon EOS 350D (aka Digital Rebel XT) DSLR camera
- Nikon LS-30 slide and negative scanner
CCDs, webcams, filters and focusers
- QHY290M
- QHY174M
- ASI 120MM
- QHY 5L II
- ASI 178MC
- ASI 224 MC
- iNova PLA-Mx
- Microfocuser Analogic PC for SCTs
- FeatherTouch manual focuser for C11
- JMI Motofocus for Celestron C11
- Atik manual filter wheel
- 4-filter manual selector from Coma
- Baader IR-cut filter
- Schott RG695 IR-pass filter
- Set of three color dichroic filters (R, G, B) from Astromeccanica
- Schott BG-12 violet filter (for Venus imaging)
- Baader U-filter (for Venus imaging)
- Astronomik LRGB CCD filter set (31.8 mm)
- Astronomik H-alpha 13 nm bandpass filter (31.8 mm)
- Baader Filters for CCD narrowband imaging (31.8 mm): H-alpha 6 nm bandbass, OIII, SII
- Solar filters: MTO 1000 (Mylar), SW ED80
- Tiffen 58 mm 8-point star filter
- Tiffen 58 mm fog filter
- COMA 1.25-inch filter slider
Photo Lenses
- For Praktica MTL3 (M42 thread): 24 mm f/3.5 (Pentax), 50 mm f/1.8 (Pentacon), 135 mm f/2.8 (Petri), 200 mm f/4 (Jupiter), 300 mm f/4
- For Nikon: 50 mm f/1.8 AF (Nikon), 28-210 zoon lens (Tokina)
- MTO 1000 mm f/10 catadioptic lens
- Pentax 500 mm f/4.5 telephoto lens (with bayonet for Nikon lenses)
Motors and drivers
- Astromeccanica Losmandy motor kit
- Losmandy motor drive
- Astromeccanica DA-1 dual axis drive
- Astromeccanica DA-2 GoTo drive
- Astro Electronic FS-2 GoTo drive (with Astromeccanica motors)
Eyepieces, barlows and optical accessories
- Meade 6.7 mm OR
- Lumicon 25 mm Plossl
- Unitron 4 mm
- Meade series 4000 31 mm
- Baader Hyperion 21 mm
- TeleVue 20mm Plossl
- Celestron Ultima LX 20 mm (2-inch) eyepiece
- COMA 14 mm and 40 mm eyepieces with thread for Nikon Coolpix 995
- Lumicon Cassegrain Easy Guider with extension tubes
- Meade 12 mm illuminated reticle eyepiece
- Meade f/6.3 SCT focal reducer and field flattener
- TeleVue 2.5x and 5x Powermates
- COMA 3x Apo barlow
- Televue 3X Barlow
- Celestron el-cheapo 31.8 mm diagonal
- Lumicon LumiBrite 2-inch diagonal
Adapters
- Homemade 1.25″ Philips webcam adapter
- COMA 1.25″ Philips webcam adapter with filter thread
- COMA T-ring/Philips webcam adapter
- T-Rings for: M42 (Praktica), Olympus, Nikon
- Meade Variable tele-extender
- M42 female thread / 1.25″ female (for using eyepieces with the MTO and other M42 lenses)
- Nikon bayonet-1.25″ female for using eyepieces with Nikon lenses
- Several Vixen and Losmandy (older GM-8 and G11 type) dovetail bars (both custom-made and bought off-the-shelf)
- 2-inch->T2 adapter ring from scopestuff. It unscrews into half, thereby revealing a matching male/female SCT thread (2-inch, 24TPI). Useful for attaching common SCT accessories, such as a f/6.3 focal reducer
Miscellaneous accessories
- Custom-made double-side plate for GM-8
- 90 mm internal diameter custom-made guidescope rings
- 12V DC/220V AC 300 W power inverter
- 12Vin / 12-24 Vout switching power supply for field laptop operation
- Trust USB2 A/V editor (for grabbing images from analog sources)
- Several step-up and step-down rings for photo lens filters
- 15-mW green laser, used only for educational purposes in public sessions (e.g. with my astronomy club)
Stuff I’ve used / owned
- Meade 8-inch LX50 SCT (my first “serious” scope: optically good, mechanically poor)
- Meade 8-inch OTA (white-painted LXD version: a real lemon!)
- Celestron Nexstar 8 SCT tube (very good quality optics)
- Skymaster 4.5 Newtonian reflector. I no longer own it, but I remember the beautiful views it offered of many planetary and deep-sky objects. An entry-level instrument that helped boost my knowledge of the heavens.
- Lumicon deep sky filter (48-mm diameter)Meade OR 10 mm eyepieceIanus M-Foto mountCelestron 40-mm Plossl eyepiece
- Skymaster 60/700 mm altazimuthal refractor (my very first scope ever!)
- Synta EQ6 mount
- SBIG ST4 CCD: considered to be one of the best autoguiders out there, I never managed to get it working. Finally replaced with a Mintron Camera-USB2 video grabber combo.
Myself in my backyard (February 2011) with part of my imaging rig: 8″ RC OTA from GSO + ST-10XME CCD, Night Technology NT80 guidescope + SX Lodestar guiding camera, Losmandy G11 mount with FS2 motor drive, RP Astro pier.