Hi, I'm Badgerchap. I've been doing visual Amateur Astronomy for some time now, but of late, I've been getting a little bored of faint fuzzies and rapidly moving planets that zip straight out of the field of view. Whilst there really is something truly awe inspiring about having photons arrive in your eyes that have taken millions of years to get there, I fancy a bit of colour - and some evidence to prove what I've been doing, outside and alone in the dark all these long nights!

So I've bought some very modest kit - actually, I should be honest, my girlfriend bought me the telescope, I bought the rest - and I'm ready to try my hand at a bit of Astrophotography!

So first, the kit....

The telescope is a small semi-apochromatic refracting telescope. To look at it's a lovely thing. Manufactured by William Optics, I am assured by other astronomers that it's a lovely little scope, so hopefully it should be nice to look through as well!

Next, there's the EQ5 mount. Now I've been advised that this reall is the smallest I can get away with. Lucky I have a small set up then! It's on a wooden tripod, which, whilst it looks a bit old-school, is actually lovely to use and should actually result in less vibration on breezy nights!

Then I have a Canon EOS 10D, which could prove to be a bit of a weak link. It's certainly not the finest DSLR available for Astrophotography, but I'll make do.

I also have a homemade guide scope / electronic finder scope. At the moment, any guiding I do will be manual through this, but I do intend to make it all 'Autoguiding' in the future.

And this is my location - the Dyfi Estuary in Gwynedd, Wales. I'm so very lucky - you could have a much worse view in the evenings!

So I'm inexperienced, lacking in knowledge, save for what I've gleaned from the excellent fellows at Stargazer's Lounge and Cloudy Nights.

This blog is going to document how I get on in this wonderful, inspiring and mind-boggling hobby!

So here I am, all set - now I'm off for exhaustive testing and a lot of failure! Rock on...