Astrophotography is the most rewarding yet the most time consuming form of photography that exists. Each photo requires several hours of data capture and even more time to process the captured data. But the results are astonishing and awe inducing. Astrophotography is all about the night sky, and the celestial objects that rule it. The best way to go about astrophotography is to do some research and get the right tools for the job.

Finding the Right Telescope

The best tool to observe the night sky is a telescope and the type of telescope that would work best for you depends on the celestial objects that you intend to observe and the kind of magnification you would need for it. You will need to take into account focal length and aperture among other things. There is a plethora of telescope types to choose from and each type has its pros and cons. You need to read up on all the technical specifications before you can decide on which type of telescope will allow you to be a good at astrophotography.

Selecting the Right Eyepiece for Your Telescope

The performance of your telescope will depend largely on the eyepiece that you pair it with, and performance of the telescope is essential to good astrophotography. The telescope itself may have the finest lens or mirror, but the intricate details that it can enlighten might not be seen by the eye or a camera if the right eyepiece is not used. There is a great chance that the eyepiece you are using is the one that came in the kit of your telescope. But using the right eyepiece increases the performance of your scope immensely and this is an under-appreciated fact.

In order to find the right scope for your telescope, you need to figure out what kind of eyepiece is best for the kind of night sky observing or astrophotography you intend to do. Asking the right questions is a huge step forward, like what kind of magnification do you want, how much imperfection can you tolerate in a photograph or image, do you want a narrow or a wide field of view, are you bespectacled, and most importantly how big is your budget.

1. Size of the Eyepiece

The most important aspect of selecting an eyepiece is considering the physical size of the eyepiece. You can find different sizes – 2 inches, 1.25 inches, and 0.965 inches. It is always good to have a size decided in your mind that will fit best with your telescope.

2. Desired Field of View

Each eyepiece has a field of view which is measured in degrees. This basically means what width of sky is presented to your eye through the eyepiece. You need to decide whether you need an eyepiece with a narrow or wide field of view before buying one.

3. Magnification

The magnification of an eyepiece is calculated based on the focal length, which is the distance of the primary lens from the point where the image is formed. The focal length of the eyepiece paired with the focal length of your telescope should give you the magnification you desire.

These are a few basics you need to keep in mind before you select the perfect eyepiece for the kind of imaging you want from your astrophotography adventures.