Same philosophy as the print fleet: every rig has a defined role. No single telescope does everything well, so I don’t ask one to. Five stations, each optimised for a specific type of observing or imaging.
Station 1: “Nebula” — Deep Sky Imaging
Sky-Watcher 150/750 Newtonian on an HEQ5 Pro mount, paired with a Nikon D5000. This is the primary deep-sky rig — galaxies, nebulae, and anything that needs long exposures on a solid tracking mount. The HEQ5 is the best mount in the fleet, and the 750mm focal length hits the sweet spot between field of view and detail. Controlled through N.I.N.A. for automated imaging sequences.
Station 2: “Wanderer” — Wide-Field Imaging
Nikon D610 with a Samyang f/2.8 14mm lens on an EQ3-2 with motor drive for basic tracking. This captures constellation-scale and Milky Way panoramas — the kind of shots where you want as much sky as possible in the frame. Swaps to a Sigma 70-200mm for tighter wide-field work when a specific region needs more reach.
Station 3: “Sentinel” — Planetary Imaging
Meade LX90 with built-in GoTo, paired with a ZWO ASI120MC-S planetary camera. High magnification, high frame rate. This is the Moon, Jupiter, and Saturn detail rig. The workflow is completely different from deep-sky: thousands of short exposures captured through FireCapture, then stacked and sharpened in AutoStakkert. Patience and seeing conditions matter more than gear here.
Station 4: “Cruiser” — Visual Observing
Helios 102mm refractor on a CG-3 mount. The relaxed station. No cameras, no software, no laptop. Just eyepieces and whatever’s up tonight. Great for sharing with Adriana and guests — point it at the Moon or Saturn and let people look. The eyepiece set covers everything from wide sweeps (40mm SuperView) down to tight planetary views (SVBONY 8mm wide-angle).
Station 5: “Outreach” — Hack Scopes
A 70mm travel scope and a 115mm Newtonian, both running AstroHopper push-to on stabilised mount hacks. Fitted with SVBONY aspheric eyepiece sets. These are the accessibility demonstration rigs — built to show that you don’t need expensive GoTo systems to find objects in the sky. Star party ready.
The 80-20 Take
The entire fleet was sourced secondhand for a fraction of retail. But the real 80-20 isn’t the price — it’s the specialisation. Each station does one thing well instead of one station trying to do everything badly. Set them up, assign the night’s targets, and let them run in parallel. Five scopes, five jobs, one clear sky.