Today's interview features Andre Rachwalski.

Hi Andre, thanks for the interview. Tell us how you got into astrophotography.

Hi Rudi, hello fellow astrophotographers!

Our hobby, to begin with, is often associated with a lot of pain and patience. We have to endure that. So, my utmost respect goes to everyone who creates images of planets, deep-sky objects, and other subjects. It's important to understand that we do all this just for ourselves, but we're happy when our work also appeals to other like-minded people. Now, I'd like to briefly describe how I got into astrophotography.

In the summer of 2018, I visited the observatory in St. Andreasberg (Harz Mountains). That was my dear wife Livia's wish. So we made an appointment and then drove there. The observatory in St. Andreasberg is one of the darkest places in Germany. Yes, we admired the telescopes, were able to see the sun live, and later Saturn, Jupiter… All very impressive. That's how the bug bit me… The On (Off) Equipment. It all started with a small Skywatcher tracking mount using my Panasonic camera and various lenses. Of course, that didn't really work out. Now, I should mention that up until then, I had absolutely no idea about image editing and the processes involved. Completely new territory.

It took me ages to learn how to manage file saving, formats, and so on. But back to the main point: eventually, my first telescope arrived. A Skywatcher Startravel 120/600. What a feeling, my first telescope—what a feeling when you realize you can see the moon so close and it's moving out of the frame! It was on a tripod that could only be tracked manually. Honestly, finding the moon—OK! But then!!! Well, you can see that it wasn't going to last. So, after consulting my dear wife, I considered… What should I do??? The result—the Rasa 11 it would be.


Now, some of you might be wondering why I'd upgrade from a telescope costing around €400 to one costing around €4000. Well, I thought, why not go all in and try something good? And it worked out very well for me. I haven't regretted it. A few years have passed, and now the Rasa 11 is going to find someone else, so I want to try something different. Currently, I'm using two telescopes, although I have little to no experience with them. There's my Red Cat 71, and now NEW!!!... the ASKAR 130 with reducer and FFC Barlov. So now I'm covering the 350mm, 700mm, 1000mm focal lengths, as well as several longer ones.

The mount for both telescopes is the Losmandy G11GT. The Eagle 3S and 4 handle the control. I use the Mgen3 as a guider. New challenges await. But that's what makes this hobby so diverse. I've told you a little about myself now. If anyone has any questions, I'd be happy to try and answer them, even though my knowledge of the subject is still quite limited.

I'd like to thank my wife Livia, who always says YES when I'm having a crazy idea, and also our dear Karl Kloss. He always gives advice as if he doesn't want to make any money. (I should have bought my mount somewhere else!) Thanks, Rudi, for having this little chat with you…

Best regards from Bad Harzburg and always C.S. Andre Rachwalski