Astrophotography

by Manuel Peitsch

Latest images

Un petit voyage à travers l'univers

Chemin didactique en trois parties.

Informations

About me

I am a scientist (Computational biology/Bioinformatics as well as Systems biology and toxicology) and have been fascinated by astronomy from a young age. I started astrophotography in 2020. I am now part of the Roboscopes Team, focusing on observatory automation. I am also hosting two telescopes in the facility.

Equipment

I use a diverse set of equipment and software, outlined below:

Backyard equipment

Optics: Celestron 9.25″ EdgeHD and Askar ACL200 Gen. 2 – 200 mm f/4 APO

Mounts: 10Micron GM1000HPS, Celestron CGX-L, fixed pier.

Cameras: ZWO ASI2600MC-Pro (2x), ASI178MM, ASI178MC

Filters: Optolong L-Pro, L-eNhance, L-eXtreme and Antlia ALP-T Dual Band 5nm Highspeed, Askar Color Magic D1&D2 (HaOiii and SiiOiii)

Accessories: 0.7x focal reducer, Starizona Hyperstar 4.0, filter drawers

Guiding: Tecnosky Sharp Guide 70 (FL=400 mm), ZWO ASI290MM Mini, Lacerta MGEN-II

Hosted equipment

Facility: Roboscopes

Optics: 14″ corrected Newtonian built by 656 Telescopes, FL=1204mm, f/3.4. Installed in June 2023.

Mount: ASA DDM100 (Load capacity up to 100Kg; Tracking accuracy 0.025″ within 5′; 0.05″ RMS/min over 5′).  Installed end of October 2022.

Camera: PlayerOne Zeus Mono (16 bits Full Frame IMX 455 CMOS: 62 Mpx [9576*6388], Px size 3.76μm, QE 91%, FW 51400e)

Rotator/focuser: PrimaLuceLab ARCO 3″

Filters: Astronomik LRGB – HaOIIISII (3nm)

Remote telescope facility

 

In early 2022, I started using the remote telescope facility Roboscopes in Spain. This allowed me to increase the amount of imaging and access more southern targets.

Click here

Software

Image acquisition: Distinct Solutions Ltd Astro Photography Tool (APT), N.I.N.A, MaxIm-DL, ASA Autoslew & Sequence, FocusMax, TheSkyX, etc.

Guiding: Open PHD Guiding project PHD2, Lacerta MGEN-II

Integration: Aries Productions Astro Pixel Processor (APP), PixInsight

Plate solving and asteroid identification: Han K. Astrometric STAcking Program (ASTAP) and other plate solving tools

Image processing: Pleiades Astrophoto PixInsight, GIMP, Photoshop. I also use the following PixInsight plug-ins: RC-astro’s AI-powered StarXterminator, NoiseXterminator and BlurXterminator