The leaves and prices are falling this autumn!
You can find our colorful selection of special offers here in the shop. Get them now!
The offer is valid from September 23rd to November 28th, 2024 and only while supplies last!
Posts Tagged 'astrograph'
The new William Optics “Mini Cat” is here – small but powerful!
September 18 2024, Jan Ströher
The new, ultra-compact MiniCat Astrograph from William Optics is a high-quality photographic machine, consisting of 6 lenses in 2 groups with integrated focuser design (WIFD). The fast focal ratio of f/3.5 allows very short exposure times with the highest image quality and correction – as you would expect from all apochromatic refractors from William Optics. The field of view illuminated by the MiniCat for astrophotography corresponds to that of full-frame cameras.
William Optics MiniCat 51/178 OTA
Due to the very short tube length with the low weight of only 1.67 kg, the MiniCat is a perfect apochromat for traveling and for small photo mounts, such as the iOptron SkyGuider.The Cat series from William Optics has been very popular for many years and rightly so. They are very handy optics for nature and astrophotography. The heart is the optics with Petzval design: Four lenses in three elements ensure a color-corrected and, above all, flat image field. An external flattener is no longer necessary!
The latest “baby” is no exception: With the MiniCat 51 you not only get impressive optical performance, but you can also enjoy the beautiful design and finish from William Optics!
The little one with the turbo: the new and fast Omegon Astrographs
March 26 2021, Marcus Schenk
The new Astrographs from Omegon are special telescopes for full-frame cameras, and offer high light-gathering capabilities. With the dizzyingly fast aperture ratio from f/2.8 to f/3.2, you can take astronomy photos with extremely short exposure times.
Pole position on your mount
This telescope doesn’t need to warm up, it’s ready to go immediately for fast astrophotography. The 6-inch and 8-inch astrographs with f/2.8 and f/3.2 are about three times faster than a normal f/5 Newtonian telescope. This means you can take astronomical photos much quicker, and minimise tracking errors.
Short focal length, large field of view
Wide-field astrophotography is gaining ground and has a very large fan base thanks to mounts such as the MiniTrack. But with this telescope, you can go a step further into the detail and capture wide nebulae and create fantastic wide-field images.
Full speed for full-frame
With a 3-inch focuser, the built-in 3-inch corrector and a 90mm secondary mirror, the Omegon Astrograph illuminates a 44mm image circle, making it perfect for using with a full-frame, high-resolution camera. With a working distance of 55mm, you do not need any additional distance adapters for DSLR cameras. With the Omegon Telescope Pro Astrograph N200/640 OTA, you have a screen diagonal of about 3.8 degrees, with a standard full-frame sensor. This makes the California Nebula in Perseus, the Andromeda Galaxy or the area around the Veil Nebula amazing destinations.
Elegant carbon tube
The new astrograph not only looks elegant and high-quality, it actually is. The carbon tube offers you the additional advantage of stable focus, because the material is particularly thermally-stable.
The models are available in the following variants:
Omegon Telescope Pro Astrograph N150/420OTA
Omegon Telescope Pro Astrograph N 200/640 OTA
Do you want to explore new horizons in astrophotography? Then get to know the Omegon Astrograph.
NBX – the new dual nebula filter from IDAS
October 19 2020, Jan Ströher
A new, high quality dual band filter has appeared on the market, in the form of the NBX nebula filter from Japanese company, IDAS. It is especially efficient for nebula photography using fast optics, like the Celestron RASA, for example. Like the existing IDAS (Astro Hutech) nebula filters, the new NBX is of impeccable quality and workmanship.
The IGAD (Ion-Gun Assist Deposition) coating technology which has been specially applied to astronomical filters by the Japanese manufacturer, Astro Hutech, was originally developed for optical communication, where long-term stability (> 25 years) is required in rough field conditions.
IDAS NBX 48mm nebula filter
This leads to filters with robust coatings and durable spectral stability – even at extreme temperatures and humidity levels. This stability is especially important for bandpass curves with steep sides, such as H-alpha, LPS filters and other narrow band filters. Filters with IGAD coatings almost completely eliminate bandpass shifts of +/- 3 or 4nm, which are typical with standard filters.
The NBX is a dual filter which specifically focuses on OIII and H-alpha lines. The NBX‘s transmission curves in the H-alpha and OIII ranges are very clearly illustrated in these two figures:
Transmission curves in H-alpha
Transmission curves in OIII
You can see that the IDAS NBX filter primarily realises its full potential when used with very fast optical systems and astrographs, such as a Celestron RASA, especially fast Newtonian reflectors with f-numbers between f/2 and f/4 and special devices, such as the Officina Stellare Veloce RH 200 Mark II-AT (Riccardi-Honders).
The NGC 281 “Pacman” Nebula in the constellation Cassiopeia
This dramatically increases the contrast within emission nebulae, which predominantly consist of oxygen (OIII) or hydrogen compounds (H-alpha). Additionally, longer exposure times are no longer required, predominantly due to the use of the above-mentioned, extremely fast optics, but also due to the NBX filter’s special contrast effects. The filter is ideal for use with ‘one shot’ colour cameras and monochromatic CMOS cameras. An IR blocking filter is then no longer required. Additionally, the NBX is parfocal with other IDAS LPS nebula filters.