About

🔭 About

This website is all about my new stargazing journey. This blog covers what I have learned about equipment, what I have observed, how to locate celestial objects in our skies, and how to process images into final creations.

My goal is to share my experiences, my failures, and my successes. This is not an easy hobby. It’s expensive, time-consuming, and full of letdowns. But when you capture a great image of a DSO, planet, or cluster, it makes all the letdowns seem as if they never happened.

🔭 My Stargazing Journey

Growing up in South Florida, I learned to love space. Seemingly everyone was excited about living close to the Kennedy Space Center. We watched every Apollo flight and every Space Shuttle launch. Seeing them take off was an amazing sight. Just the thought of being able to go into space was intriguing. My first telescope was something my parents probably paid $10 for. I loved it. I always enjoyed going to the planetarium and learning about the universe. When I was a kid, I used to follow one of the best stargazers: Jack Horkheimer. He made space fun. He was the lead astronomer at the planetarium near my house. He also had a TV show on PBS originally named Jack Horkheimer: Star Hustler. I was later renamed Jack Horkheimer: Star Gazer. He would tell us what to look for, when to look, and how.

🔭 My Equipment

Observatory

• NexDome 2.2m (8′) with Two Bays
  Game changer. With the telescope and mount permanently set up on an iOptron pier, I’m always just minutes away from imaging. The pier allows for quick polar alignment, and the dome provides a stable, weather-protected environment that makes year-round imaging practical and reliable.
  All I have to do is open the dome, run a star alignment, and I’m ready to go. From setup to imaging in under five minutes—it’s transformed how often and how easily I can observe.

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Telescopes

• Celestron 9.25″ Schmidt-Cassegrain Telescope (SCT)
  Native focal ratio: f/10, focal length: 2350mm
  Mounted on a Celestron CGEM II equatorial mount.
• Celestron 8″ Schmidt-Cassegrain Telescope (SCT)
  Native focal ratio: f/10, focal length: 2032mm
  Mounted on a Celestron AVX equatorial mount.
• Celestron 8″ StarSense Explorer Dobsonian
  Primarily used for visual observing; great for quick, guided sessions using a smartphone interface.

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Guiding

• Celestron StarSense Autoguider
  I use one dedicated autoguider for each SCT. Once configured, these do a solid job of maintaining accurate tracking over longer exposures.

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Imaging Accessories

• Starizona HyperStar 4
  Converts the Celestron 8″ SCT to a fast f/1.9 system with a 390mm focal length. This is a major upgrade for wide-field imaging and shorter exposure times.
• Starizona SCT Corrector 4 (0.63×)
  A focal reducer and coma corrector, bringing the f/10 SCTs down to approximately f/6.3. Handy for increasing the field of view—though I’ve had mixed results with it.

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Cameras

• ZWO ASI2600MC Pro (×2)
  I use one for each SCT. These cooled color cameras have been incredibly reliable, producing many of my best images to date.

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Software

• Imaging – SharpCap
  Great features, easy to use and understand, Live Stacking, and great support
• Image Processing – PixInsight
  Nothing compares to this product. Excellent product, excellent add-ons and excellent support.
• Scope Control – CPWI
  Great features, easy to use and understand, Live Stacking, and great support

🌌 My Journey into Astrophotography: A Personal Story

After my wife passed away, my son suggested I get a telescope. For Christmas 2022, he gave me money to buy one. I added to it and purchased a Celestron 8″ StarSense Explorer Dobsonian. This scope captures a surprising amount of light! For visual astronomy, it’s a fantastic instrument. You simply use a smartphone to align the telescope, then observe celestial objects through a 2″ eyepiece.

But soon, I wanted more. I wanted to take pictures.

That’s when I bought the Celestron 8″ Evolution and the SVBONY 405CC camera. It didn’t take long to realize the importance of tracking. The Evolution’s mount could track decently—if my exposures were 30 seconds or less. Even with that limitation, I managed to capture some excellent images of stars like Arcturus, Polaris, Antares, Vega, and Spica. I still have that mount—just in case.

Next, I upgraded to the Celestron AVX mount. Tracking improved, but it still wasn’t quite good enough for longer exposures. Everything changed when I added the Celestron StarSense Autoguider to the setup. That combination finally allowed me to track accurately and start capturing some satisfying deep-sky object (DSO) images. Of course, the learning curve was steep, and I made plenty of mistakes along the way.

As my imaging skills improved, I made one misstep: I bought a Celestron 0.63× reducer. I wasn’t impressed. Maybe the problem was me, but either way, I didn’t get the results I was hoping for. I later made up for it by purchasing the SVBONY 405CC cooled color camera. It has the same specifications as the ASI1204 and proved to be a solid investment. With that setup, my imaging frequency increased—and while I still experienced plenty of failures (and still do!), the successes started to outweigh them.

My next purchase was the Starizona HyperStar 4—an absolute game changer. This tool took my imaging to a new level. With a focal ratio of f/1.9, a 30-second subframe became roughly equivalent to a 5-minute exposure at f/10. The wider field of view was another bonus.

Unfortunately, things took a turn when I accidentally damaged the USB 3.0 port on my camera. SVBONY’s customer support was outstanding; they agreed to repair it under warranty. The catch? I had to ship it to China, and the turnaround time was three to four months. I was finally starting to build momentum, and I wasn’t ready to take such a long break.

So, I made another big decision: I bought the ZWO ASI2600MC Pro. That, too, was a winner. Some of my best images have come from the HyperStar + ASI2600 combination. With this setup, the technical struggles lessened considerably, and my confidence grew.

Just as I thought I was finished upgrading, I picked up a used Celestron 9.25″ SCT—complete with another StarSense Autoguider. And the journey continues…

🪐 Final Thoughts

Astrophotography is not an easy hobby. It’s expensive, time-consuming, and full of setbacks. But every time I capture a detailed image of a nebula, a star cluster, or a distant galaxy, all the frustration fades away. The sense of wonder returns. And for me, that’s what keeps it all worth it.