See below for the equipment used to take the astrophotos on this site.

Equatorial Platform + ToUcam

	Click to Enlarge Equatorial Platform + Toucam

I did a lot of ToUcam astrophotography of the moon and planets with the undriven dobm, and had some reasonable success. But due to the planet moving so fast through the field-of-view, there was always some motion blurring which was preventing me from getting the sharpest images.

I invested in an EQ platform from Round Table Platforms and now I have tracking!

It takes a little while to align it accurately, but hopefully soon i'll make some marks in the ground or something which allows me to put it in the same spot each time, and know that it's aligned.

It has variable speed control for fine adjustment of tracking, adjustable legs to get it level (and to adjust for small changes in latitude), and runs off 8AA batteries, or a 12v power with auto plug.

It's a great investment and is used for visual observing as well, which is great for studying fine detail and also for public gatherings, so there's no need to continually get the object back in the FOV between observers.

Sony DSC-P100

I upgraded from the Kodak DX3600 to this nice compact Sony DSC-P100. It's a great little camera with enough manual controls to use for astronomical imaging. It's lightweight, very portable, and easy for my wife to use for photos of the family etc.

It has exposure times of up to 30 seconds, manual settings for ISO (up to 400), exposure compensation, focus, sharpening, white balance, etc.

All the photos in the IceInSpace images section were taken using this camera. I'm sure there's better digital cameras for use with astrophotography, but this camera has to be a daytime, portable, easy-to-use camera as well so it does the job nicely for both myself and my wife.

Specifications

• 5 megapixels
• 3x Optical zoom
• 2x Digital zoom
• 640x480 mpeg vx movie mode

Tripod

	Click to Enlarge Optex T-660

I bought this Tripod off ebay for about AU$70 for use with my binoculars before I had a telescope. It now serves as a tripod for holding the camera steady at the eyepiece.

Specifications

• Optex T-660
• Fully extended height is about 1.65m
• Folded up and collapsed height is about 50cm
• Has a bubble level and adjusts in tilts in all directions

Software

To get the best picture available, post-processing is a must. I use the following software for all my post-processing needs.

• Registax - for aligning and stacking images
• Paint Shop Pro - for levels, adjustments, cropping, etc