Today's interview: Frank Sackenheim

Hi Frank, how did you get into astrophotography?

I got into astrophotography as a child in the 80s. Ever since the first Space Shuttle launch in the 1980s, I've been fascinated by space. In the books I read, I saw a photo of the Orion Nebula and wondered why I'd never seen this red and blue glowing nebula in the sky. Then I realized that it was only possible through photography. My dream was to have a DSLR camera and an equatorial mount to take photos of the Milky Way.

As a teenager, I got a Praktica MTL5B and took my first star trail photos on a tripod. But I never had the means to buy a mount. At 16, I started an apprenticeship and played music every night on weekends. Later, I studied music, and my astrophotography hobby faded away. It wasn't until 2001, after I finished my studies, that I became interested in astrophotography again. The first thing I bought was a mount. I was then able to take my first astrophotographs, just like I had always imagined as a child. With my first digital SLR camera and an 8" Newtonian telescope, I really got into it in 2006. From then on, I was completely hooked on astrophotography again.

My first CCD camera followed, and I was allowed to use a private observatory. In 2011, I traveled to Namibia for the first time to photograph the southern sky, and further trips to La Palma and Tenerife followed. Unfortunately, in 2015, my entire high-quality astrophotography equipment was stolen in Tenerife, and I was close to giving up the hobby altogether.

Luckily, I didn't, because the best time followed. I became part of the Capella Observatory, which operates a 24" telescope on the island of Crete, and I became an astro-guide at an astro-farm in Namibia, where I now travel once a year. In 2019, I started regularly posting videos on YouTube, which has allowed me to inspire many people with the hobby and help them with their hardware and software problems.

Many of my images have been published, for example, in Sterne und Weltraum (Stars and Space) and Sky & Telescope. Just two weeks ago, one of my images was chosen as NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD). Astrophotography, along with music, is my greatest passion, and I am very grateful to be able to pursue this hobby with such enthusiasm. The fact that I can also help others take amazing astrophotographs fills me with pride and gratitude.

My equipment:

Takahashi FSQ106-ED
Takahashi Epsilon 130
QHY600M Monochrome CMOS Camera
Omegon veTec571 Color CMOS Camera
Skywatcher EQ6-R Mount
Alt AD6/7 Observatory Mount
Ganymede Telescope on Crete, robotically operated 24" Hypergraph

Here are two links for you: to Frank's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/astrophotocologne and to his photography website: https://www.astrophotocologne.de/