Hello Friend,

   Every year, at about this time, many amateur astronomers are getting ready for CCD imaging.

There have been a few brave souls, who have persevered through this past Winter, however let's face it,
that is not the majority.

 Your images won't look like famed British astrophotographer, Damian Peach's to start out with,
but you will get better with practice.

Now is the time to get excited about developing your skills in astroimaging.

Recently, I was speaking to the Celestron engineering team, and they told me that they have
listened carefully to what amateur astronomers expect and want in a CCD imager.

And they have developed their line of cameras with that in mind.

Ease of use, and the processing of the image afterwards being the key main factors.

With autoguiders (these do the tracking for you automatically) now available at relative low
cost for just about every commercial mount out there, that is one major stumbling block
removed for you.

You really don't need a lot of gear, and you can start small.

Several imagers, such as Celestron Neximage 5  are well suited as a beginners tool.

If you want to do more serious deep sky stuff, then you should give serious consideration
to something like the Celestron Nightscape CCD camera.    Yes, it may seem more costly
initially (we do have it on sale this month) however, it will do everything you want in the long run.

My favorite "best buy" is the Celestron Skyris 445m monochrome Camera.

You simply can't beat it for versatility and price.   It can do everything.

So there you have it, some ideas if this is your cup of tea (or coffee).

Clear Skies,

Ray "CCD" Khan

PS In my case, I really am a Charged Couple device after my morning coffee!

PPS Here is a link to all the Celestron CCD cameras.
http://www.khanscope.com/newEquipList.cfm?catID=1&subCatID=18&manID=2