ASTROPHOTOGRAPHY by Peter A. Suchsland O.D.

Ive recently realized a life long goal of making images of the heavens. My father hand-built a beautiful 6" newtonian telescope that I can remember looking at the moon with as a child. I asked my father if it would be possible for us to take pictures of stars and the moon through his scope. Well, some 40 years later Ive slowly acquired some exceptional equipment to make this possible.
So here are a few recent images I've made with the William Optics FLT 110 Apochromatic Refractor Telescope and a Losmandy Titan German equatorial mount. Most of these images were acquired using a Canon EOS 20Da astronomical camera. Lunar images were taken with a Sigma 300-800mm EX and a 2x tele-extender.

My Lovely stepdaughter: Look at what Santa brought!

PHOENIX MOON -- November 29th, 2006.
This was taken with the Sigmonster + 2xTC.
I am not the only one using this combination. Chech out Romy's website. The best land-based moon shots I have seen, however, are now coming from webcams! Go figure.
Here is a link to some web cam lunar work... absolutely incredible.

HORSEHEAD AND FLAME NEBULAS
My first attempt at this region of the sky, this image is a Composite of 18, 3 minute exposures at iso400.

ORION NEBULA
Single 3 minute exposure iso800
Not bad considering this is ONE exposure! Also one of my first attempts.

EARTH SHINE -- CRESCENT MOON

5D and a 300mm F/4.0 L IS
I recently saw again the movie "Contact" with Jodi Foster.

Sigma 300-800mm EX + 2x + Canon EOS 20Da
I have about a 1000 moon shots. Not sure if this is the best of the lot, but its definitely up there!

Which way is up? This is a crop from the same image.

TIME LAPSE AT THE VERY LARGE ARRAY
I had a "vision" recently ... This image looks absolutely incredible at poster size 24"x36"

Contact Information email: Peter