DOUBLE DOUBLE VISION
FOR MOST ASTROPHOTOGRAPHERS, clear skies can be infrequent and brief, and in the summer months the hours of darkness are much less than during winter. Setting up equipment, recording calibration frames and refocusing periodically all consume precious time and further reduce how much light we can capture in a single night. And if you have to travel to escape bright skies, you can lose even more valuable time. So, what can you do to maximise your results on those rare nights when the stars do beckon? Here’s a novel approach that can double your output.
Taking inspiration from the rock band Foreigner’s song “Double Vision,” I recently installed a pair of telescopes and cameras on my equatorial mount so that both can simultaneously accumulate images. It takes some planning, but a dual-scope imaging setup can vastly increase your output. Here’s how to do it.
It’s all about the mount
As with any astrophotography, several pieces of hardware need to work together efficiently in a tandem imaging setup. At minimum, you’ll need a solid tracking mount,
