A few years ago I got a telescope as a a gift for Christmas, a Sky-Watcher 8 inch Flextube Dobsonian. At the time I didn’t know much about astronomy. I didn’t know anything about the constellations, I didn’t know the names of any stars and I really didn’t know much about the planets in our own solar system, other than I did feel bad for Pluto.

​

That night I put it together and I took it out. I pointed it to the sky, I looked through one of the kit eye pieces that it came with, and I saw...ab-so-lute-ly nothing. The moon was out, but It was very cloudy, and a lot of people had their fireplaces going, so it was also very hazy. I was pretty disappointed, but I did walk away with a new resolve, I wanted to learn how to use that thing.

​

I did some research over the next few days and learned that I needed to collimate (align) the telescope’s mirrors, so I hopped online and ordered the tool for it. I also learned that I should start out with a lower power eyepiece, which actually has a larger focal length number, so that my field of view would be larger, therefore giving me a better chance of finding my target. Once found, I could use eyepieces with more power, and even barlow lenses, to add magnification, and see my target in greater detail. So, a few nights later, with a freshly collimated telescope, and a 25mm eye piece, I went out on my patio, and pointed it towards the moon. What I saw...blew me away.

​

I had seen the moon in photos, on TV, in movies, but I had never seen it like this with my own eyes. I'd never seen such detail, like the details of its face, and in the craters around its edge. It became more real to me that night than ever before, and the first thing I wanted to do was to share the experience with everyone I knew. I wanted to photograph exactly what I was seeing. Could I even do that? Was it possible to connect a camera to my focuser? I got online, and started doing more research. First, I learned that my focuser accepted 2 inch accessories, which is a standard size in astronomy. Then I learned that I could connect a t-ring to my DSLR, which would then connect to a t-adapter that would connect directly to my focuser. It took me a couple of tries, but I finally got the correct t-ring for my specific camera. A few nights later the moon was full again, and I was ready to go. After a few minutes of tweaking the settings on my camera I took my first ever astro-photograph, and I was hooked. I knew right then I was going to spend a lot of time doing this. I had no idea how much money I was going to spend, but I knew, what ever it took, I had to have more.

​

In 2019 I bought my first setup designed around astrophotography. That was an interesting year, full of long nights, a ton of mistakes, but enough success to keep me going. I still consider myself a novice, I still have a lot to learn, and that is what this website is all about. There’s a lot of resources already out there for astronomy and astrophotography. There’s online forums, some really good YouTube channels, and even a few live Twitch streams that are extremely helpful. My plan is to document my journey in a way that it can be used as one of those resource for people who are new to the hobby. Maybe even help them avoid some of the mistakes I make along the way. I hope it is beneficial to you, and helps you on your journey to photographing everything OvertheSun.

 

~ Wade Prunty

​