Astrophotography for Advanced Photographers by Gabriele Gutekunst

Hello fellow stargazers, after introducing you to beginners, we're now turning our attention to more advanced astrophotographers. First up is Gabriele Gutekunst.

Hello Gabi, how did you get into this hobby?

Many thanks to Rudi and Karl for letting me participate in your posts.

Even as a child, I had a huge star chart pinned to the wall in my bedroom. Every night, I admired the astronomical objects on the chart. I marveled at the Crab Nebula, the Horsehead Nebula, and the other beautiful objects and galaxies. But I never would have imagined that I would one day get to the point where I could photograph these wonders of the universe myself.

However, my childhood dream didn't quite come to fruition at first.

For a long time, I worked as an instrumental music teacher at a music school. During that time, I acquired a Canon EOS 600D.

Of course, even back then, I didn't just start snapping photos like most people do; instead, I immediately bought a macro lens. I photographed flowers, butterflies, and insects. I also started stacking the insect photos and magnifying them microscopically. I was even considering buying a macro lens, but then things changed. Because I dislike insects due to allergies, and they look like the worst monsters under a microscope, I had a complete reversal.

I remembered my childhood dream. I bought the small Vixen Polarie travel mount and initially photographed astrophotography landscapes with the Canon EOS 6D and a wide-angle lens. I then had the EOS 600D astro-modified. I also got the Star Adventurer, which allowed me to use the heavy Canon 70-200mm L IS II USM lens with a teleconverter.

A little later, I bought the EQ5 mount with the Skywatcher 150/750mm Newtonian telescope.

After an initial learning curve, I realized I wanted longer exposures and needed a tracking mount. So I decided on the MGEN 2. Unfortunately, that's when my troubles began. The MGEN didn't work with the EQ 5 mount. The declination didn't respond to the MGEN's settings. Since I'm a member of the Trier Observatory, I received all sorts of help from them.

https://www.sternwarte-trier.de/

But the experienced expert could do whatever he wanted—remove, replace, and reinstall the worm gear, etc. I knew I was doing everything right and that the problem wasn't with me. After 11 months of telescope woe, they finally replaced the mount with the HEQ 5 Pro.

And what can I say? It worked perfectly right away. So my first mount was defective.

It's a miracle I stuck with it and, thanks to the observatory's help, rediscovered the joy of observing. I've been taking deep-sky photographs with a telescope for about three years now. I'd love to expand my equipment with a CMOS or CCD camera. However, several factors come into play. Not least of all, it's an expensive hobby.

Thank you for the interesting post, Gabi.