“Space… the Final Frontier”
Before these words were first spoken by Captain Kirk in the classic television series “Star Trek, I was already a huge space fan. SInce childhood, I have been fascinated by the beauty and mystery of the night sky.
Ironically, my interest in space developed simultaneously with my love of photography. Although I could observe objects such as the Moon and the larger planets such as Jupiter and Saturn, my ultimate dream was to be able to photograph them in all of their glory, just like the great observatories across the world.
However, the time was not yet right for me to jump into astrophotography. My spirit was willing, but technology and my budget were not.
Over the decades, life happened. I went to college, married, started my career and raised two sons. There was just little room in my life for space – until 2017, the year of the great Middle Tennessee total solar eclipse.
Seizing upon the opportunity, I started preparing. I purchased telescopes, tracking mounts, solar filters and more to be ready. Fortunately, my hard work paid off, and I was able to capture and share some great images of the eclipse.
After the eclipse, I decided to continue my celestial journey by learning to photograph the Moon, planets and deep sky objects such as galaxies, star clusters and nebulae. At first, it was fun. However, I soon began to grow weary of dealing with light pollution, heavy equipment and long set up/tear down times. As a result, I found myself imaging less and less.
During fall 2023, I learned about a new generation of small, lightweight and inexpensive “smart” telescopes that promised to deliver high quality astrophotography with significantly less effort and expense. After doing some research, I purchased two of the units in early 2024 – the ZWO Seestar S50 and the Dwarf Labs Dwarf II. Each telescope was only about $500, which is considerably less than traditional astrophotography gear. They are available at many telescope retailers, including Amazon and Agena Astro.
Although skeptical at first, I soon learned that these telescopes live up to their hype. Driven by smartphone apps, both devices set up in just minutes, and they deliver beautiful results. Since January, I have captured dozens of objects, including the Andromeda Galaxy, the Orion Nebula, the Pleiades Star Cluster and the Horsehead Nebula. In addition, I was able to capture my second total solar eclipse in Metropolis, IL on Apr. 8.
Thanks to the innovation of smart telescopes, my voyage into the cosmos continues.
Successful imaging of celestial objects has traditionally been dependent upon several key factors, including expensive telescopes and cameras, complicated set up and alignment procedures, complex learning curves, long exposure times and the presence of clear, dark skies at the observation site. As a result, these requirements have deterred many would-be space buffs from pursuing astronomy as a hobby.
Over the past few years, a new generation of “smart” telescopes have appeared have overcome most of these issues. By leveraging sophisticated computing and imaging technologies, these telescopes are able to deliver amazing space images with much less cost and effort than in the past.
In this article, Hendersonville Lifestyle’s editor shows how astrophotography can be easy, affordable and fun.