Inlustris

Hi, I'm Zachary, artist and game developer by day, amateur astronomer by night.

My journey in astronomy began in 2008 with a simple pair of 10x50 binoculars and a copy of Nightwatch. In 2019, over a decade later, I bought my first telescope, an 8" Dobsonian reflector, and saw Saturn's rings for the first time with my own eyes. Over the many nights since, I've made hundreds of sketches of what I've seen through the eyepiece, all of which are collected online at inlustris.space. In late 2020, I started to wonder if my simple equipment could be used for actual science, which led me to get involved in citizen science through the AAVSO by observing and collecting data of variable stars.

At some point along the way, I inevitably became interested in taking pictures of the night sky. First by attaching my DSLR onto my 8" Dobsonian, later by using a star tracker and a telephoto kit lens, and eventually upgrading to a small refractor and an astro-modified camera, which is what I use today. I'm sure my setup will continue to evolve — by any measure, my journey into astrophotography is only beginning. But no matter where this path leads, I know it all started in one simple place.

By looking up.

Equipment

Camera:
Canon Rebel T3i (Full Spectrum Modified)

Telescopes:
William Optics ZenithStar 61II (Doublet Refractor, 61mm, 360mm, f/5.9)
Apertura AD8 (Dobsonian reflector, 8", 1200mm, f/5.9)
Orion StarBlast 4.5 (Dobsonian reflector, 4.5", 450mm, f/4)

Camera Lenses:
Canon EF 50mm f/1.8
Canon EF 75-300mm f/4-5.6

Star Tracker:
Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer 2

Filters:
Optolong L-eNhance Filter
Explore Scientific UHC Nebula Filter
Astronomik L-2 UV-IR Block Filter (clip-in)
Baader AstroSolar Visual Safety Film
Hoya R72 Infrared Filter