Astrofoundry Astrophotography

I am a retired United Methodist clergy, for 25 years was Director of Communication at the National Council of Churches in New York City, then taught Communication and Cultural Studies at Yale Divinity School. I have written five books, including Mythmakers: Gospel, Culture and the Media (Friendship Press). In retirement I maintain a web site at www.religion-online.org that provides full-text articles and books by recognized religious scholars.

My real joy these days is doing astrophotography. I decided to see what could be done using low-end (that is, inexpensive) technology. We will discover how great a contrast there is between my nephew's state-of-the art equipment and my modest stuff. Mostly I shoot in my back yard in Escondido, CA, and use the following equipment (about $2,200):

Celestron C8-N -- 8 " Newtonian Reflector, f/5
Canon Digital Rebel (300D)
Celestron Advanced Series with GoTo mount -- (AS-GT)
Celestron 80 mm. Guide Scope with ToUCam to guide the C8-N
DSLRfocus, GuideDog, ImagePlus, and Photoshop CS.