Introduction to Astrophotography & Smart Telescopes

Our meetings are free for members. The public can attend once for free, and are then encouraged to join our society.

Our first meeting of 2026, which will be in person. We have 2 presentations tonight for you. Introduction to Astrophotography, along with an Introduction to ‘Smart Telescopes’.

When : Thursday, 29th January 7pm.

Location : Beban Park Social Centre Rooms 2/3

Please arrive early and be seated to ensure we can start promptly at 7 pm.

Main Presentation

Introduction to Astrophotography by member Tony Puerzer

(Note : VP Chris Boar was due to co-present with Tony, but is unable to attend the meeting. He will be presenting at the Feb meeting, covering processing astrophotography images.

Summary:

Back by popular demand Tony will be giving their presentation on how to start and progress in Astrophotography. Warning, could get very expensive! Starting with a simple camera on a tripod, progressing to dedicated astrophotography rigs.

Bio: Tony is a retired professional photographer, and has a long history with the club being an ex-VP of the society. Tony’s lifelong interest in astronomy outreach and education included five years as a lecturer at the HR MacMillan Planetarium in Vancouver, and has written several articles for Skynews and Sky & Telescope magazine.

The Horsehead Nebula. Photographed by Chris Boar from his Nanaimo back yard.

After the break we have a related presentation by member Rick Ulrich, looking at the latest technology to make astronomy and astrophotography easier, ‘Smart Telescopes’.

Presentation : An Introduction to a Smart Telescope. The ZWO Seestar S50.

Summary :

We have a poor viewing site from our residence with significant light pollution.  And I wasn’t prepared to invest significant money in a new telescope since I like to sleep too much — which makes me a poor observer.  So I sold my telescope to a Club Member and wondered what my next adventure would be.  It turned out to be the ZWO Seestar S50 ‘smart telescope’ which is a revolution to observe deep sky objects — galaxies, nebula, etc. — at an affordable cost.  It is a fully integrated smart telescope designed primarily for digital astronomical imaging rather than traditional visual astronomy.

I will cover the basics of how the Seestar S50 works & why it is such a dramatic step forward for amateur astrophotography of deep sky objects.  It was designed to reduce barriers, shorten setup time and deliver reliable results with minimal friction with the user.

Bio :

I am a retired forensic scientist who now has time to dabble in astronomy.  My interests include observing the sky and trying to keep up with cosmology, the study of the origin of the universe.  I initially purchased a Celestron  Nexstar 6SE to start my observing journey in 2013 which was a great telescope to start with.  I learned the “ups and downs” of observing with many special occurrences.  The highlight was in 2017 with the sun eclipse here in Ladysmith.  In partnership with my wife Mary we took images of the sun for 5 hours every 20 minutes with Mary’s DSLR attached as the ‘eyepiece’ and then Mary produced a collage of 16 images showing the progression of the 85% eclipse from our backyard.