BEST Telescopes For Astrophotography (Beginner and Advanced)

I've gone through a lot of telescopes (armature and professional) for my astronomy hobby and these are the best of the bunch that I've settled on. They are all affordable for home users who want to get into astrophotography, the Celestron NexStar 8SE is the one I started with as a beginner. The other setups are a little more advanced.

These are my astrophotography rigs:

Rig #1: (Advanced)

Imaging Telescope:
Explore Scientific ED127

Imaging Camera:
ZWO ASI1600MM

Mount:
Celestron CGX

Guide Scope:
Orion ST80

Guide Camera:
LodeStar X2
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Rig #2: (Advanced)

Imaging Telescope:
Celestron RASA 8-inch

Imaging Camera:
ZWO ASI1600MM Pro

Mount:
Sky-Watcher EQ6-R Pro

Guide Scope:
ZWO 60mm Guide Scope

Guide Camera:
ZWO ASI224MC

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Rig #3: (Advanced)

Imaging Telescope:
Explore Scientific AR102

DayStar Solar Scout SS60-ds

Solar Filter:
DayStar Quark

Imaging Camera:
ZWO ASI183MM

Mount:
Celestron AVX

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Rig #4: (Beginner)

Imaging Telescope:
Celestron NexStar 8SE

Imaging Camera:
ZWO ASI183MM or
ZWS ASI224MC

Mount:
Single Fork Arm Alt-Az

[ChucksAstrophotography]

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[adeelanwar.]

It will be interesting to point these rigs at the same time towards a single target and compare their image quality in the same environmental conditions.

[frankv]

I went from sneaker collection to watch collection, don’t know how I ended up in telescope collection 😂

[dirtydogg]

Where I live I just need to drive 40 minutes out to a state forest and I’m into the blue!! 0 light pollution, and what you see with just your eyes is amazing.

[brucenunn]

Love the outtakes.. lol

You Def have some nice rigs Chuck..!! 👊😷

[pringlized]

This was so awesome. I'm building a camper trailer and was planning on making sure I had storage for my astrophotography gear. It's time to upgrade. Your primary rig looks perfect for my needs. Your big rig is out of my storage range when I'm off road down a fire trail in the middle of nowhere for a night. Thanks for the concise vid. Keep up the great work!

[hooper]

Nasa astronomy picture of the day woo I'm honored to hear that

[jakedevries]

Impressive sir, I'm here from Reddit and just want to say thanks 👍 I love looking at you pictures on Reddit and Instagram.

Thanks again!

[Richardisonline]

The dog wants to see the stars and the planets... awesome setup with the four telescopes

[RaysAstrophotography]

Great tour Chuck! Love all the scopes!

[trev]

I’ve always loved outer space and all my electives for school are photography

[AbdullahADFpoint]

0:35 I started to believe you right after this moment 😂

[terrygarbut]

Thanks for your contribution to the astro community. Dylan and AstroBackyard led me here. I live 'up the road' from AstroBackyard! I had relatives that used to live in your neighborhood. Stay safe.

[SCAerialsSteveCarpenter]

Wow, Chuck, very nice set of rigs! I think you’re covered for just about everything except having one of the Keck scopes in your backpack, LOL! Thanks for the fun tour, stay safe and well.

[happyraccoon]

I Just bought a Celestron 8. My first scope.

[andyweeks]

Chuck! It IS the perfect shape! Enjoyed the video as usual.

[AndreaGirones]

Oh my goodness I’ve just started watching your “outtakes” and they are hysterical and a great part of your videos Chuck 😂😂

[jeffinjoe]

Just like all of your followers I was really waiting for this, thanks a million

[roybatty]

Love the comments about the 8 SE. Reminds me to do the same with my older equip.

[carlwellman]

Hi Chuck, a year ago you had made a decision not to get the 8” RASA based on focal length you already had. I left you a comment about getting in the grove and getting the RASA. Well you did get one albeit a freebee but now it’s your number one rig, awesome Chuck. I knew you would enjoy using it once you got one, keep enjoying the RASA, great scope! ;-)