Today we would like to introduce you to Johannes Bock

Hello fellow stargazers, another week has passed, and today we'd like to introduce you to Johannes Bock.

Hello Johannes, how did you get into this hobby?

First of all, I must sincerely thank you for allowing me to participate in your interview series. I'm truly honored.

How did I get into astronomy? That's a very good question, because astronomy actually came to me. When I was still in school, my physics teacher approached me about starting a new extracurricular activity – the astronomy club. My first thought was, "Well, it can't hurt to go." It was 1996, and our first project was photographing the Pillars of Creation with the Hubble Telescope. That was it for me, and many interesting years in the club followed. During this time, I got a decent pair of binoculars, which I still own today, and saved up for my first telescope. In 1998, I was finally able to afford my Vixen Newtonian telescope on a manual equatorial mount. From then on, I was able to observe visually from home much more often. This continued for the next 20 years...

In July 2018, during the lunar eclipse, I rather "unintentionally" got into astrophotography. My wife, Nina, said she was going to take a picture of the blood moon with her cell phone through the eyepiece. Despite my protests that it wouldn't work, she took our first astrophoto. I was absolutely blown away. It exceeded my previous imagination, as astrophotography had always been unaffordable for me and the ultimate discipline of photography.

As it had to happen:

Due to increasing technological advancements, the equipment became affordable. The first astrophotography setup followed in November 2018, and since then, I—or rather, we—have been constantly learning new things. To exchange ideas with like-minded people, I am a member of the Bad Kreuznach Observatory and the Vulkaneifel Astronomical Association at the Hoher List Observatory.

2) What equipment do you use?

My first telescope for astrophotography was a 6-inch Ritchey-Chrétien with a matching reducer. It's still in use today and has been continuously optimized over the years. I also have two apochromatic refractors: the TSAPOCF80 with a 3-inch reducer and a William Optics Blackcat 51 (a Redcat in a special finish). I also own a Lunt LS60THa, as the sun is incredibly fascinating. All my cameras are DSLRs, except for my solar photography (a ZWO ASI 178mm). My flagship camera is a Nikon D810 astrocool from CentralDS, followed by a Nikon D5500 fullspectrum from Astrolab Service. For time-lapse photography, I have a Canon 700Da. We also have various filters in our collection, such as an IDAS NBZ. To also be able to photograph the Milky Way, I have two Samyang prime lenses, 24mm and 50mm, both f/1.4.

I mainly photograph from our balcony, where a fixed pier with a Skywatcher AZ-EQ5 GT Pro mounted on it is always ready for use. For mobile use, I also have a Skywatcher EQM-35 Pro. Both mounts were tuned by my friend Chris Peter of CG-5 Mounting Service and work like clockwork.

That should be roughly the equipment I use. CLEAR SKIES