Today we would like to introduce you to Mario Zauner

Hello fellow stargazers, today we'd like to introduce you to Mario Zauner. Mario, tell us, how did you get into astrophotography?

Hello Rudi,

thank you so much for the interview, it's a great pleasure and an honor!

I got into astrophotography through my profession. I'm an optician, and in vocational and master school, we worked a lot with telescopes, especially Galilean and Keplerian systems. The universe has always fascinated me, too. The infinite expanse and, of course, which brings us back to my profession, the light, or rather the light emissions of the stars, and their sheer abundance. Well, one thing led to another, and at some point, I just had to have my own telescope… That was about seven years ago.

Simply observing quickly became too boring for me, so I bought books on astrophotography and got started. I mounted an old Canon EOS 1000D, an heirloom from my father, on my SW 120/900 telescope. Mounted on the AZ EQ6 GT, I immediately tackled M13, the Hercules Cluster. Twenty minutes later, my first real deep-sky image was born. Quite green, no round stars, and the focus wasn't quite perfect. But I was incredibly happy about it. 🙂 Next, I removed the IR filter from the Canon and moved on to veil nebulae, etc. A few weeks later, I got a 100/550 Esprit from Skywatcher, a second 1000D, and an adapter to attach two apochromatic refractors to the EQ. I shot as many dual exposures as I could. Some of you might still remember those botched attempts... 🫣
Eventually, I had three EOS 1000Ds, all of which I astro-modified myself, and a fourth that I even debayered myself! Then the challenge was missing again... Luckily, the Zwo ASI 1600mmc came onto the market. 3-2-1, mine! Now it was time to tackle narrowband. A series of shots in SHO and HOO followed... but I wasn't really thrilled... A CCD would be something... thought it, done it, bought a Moravian G3 16200 and a Riccardi reducer for the Esprit, and now things really got going! 20-30 hours of integration time, a superb field of view, and finally usable data—that was wonderful! One or two AAPOD2s (image of the day) followed, and then in January 2019, a NASA Apod for my mosaic of heart and soul. For me, the ultimate achievement! Only surpassed by March 2019 with the second NASA Apod and April 2019 with the third NASA Apod. :-)) Then I met Christoph Kaltseis, and a new challenge was needed! A C11 EDGE HD, with a slightly shorter focal length! 2800mm was quite a statement, and the learning curve started all over again...🫣😂 ...and it continues to this day.

Currently, I'm working with the C11 and a Rasa11 on an EQ8. My camera is a QHY367cPro, a full-frame CMOS camera and pretty much the coolest piece of equipment I've ever held!!! But we'll see what the future holds... 😉 Best regards and many thanks, Mario

Here are two links for you: to Mario's shop www.optik-aichinger.com and his photography website www.dielichterdernacht.at