SUNQUEST

We begin with the first astrophoto taken with the BRO's major instrument, a 400mm (16") Hypergraph. This is M13, the famous globular cluster in Hercules, in a 30-minute exposure with a Pentax 67 camera loaded with Ilford 3200 film. Note the well-known "X" across the center of the cluster... The stars: distant suns. This site reflects the culmination of my personal quest to become an astroimager - an amateur astronomer whose avocation is to capture images of the celestial wonders that pass over our heads, largely unnoticed, every day. Thus, this is the triumph of my quest to photograph the distant suns of our Universe - a sun quest... This journey began with the construction of an observatory in the New Mexico desert, far away from the lights of major towns and huge cities. This resulted in the Bunker Ranch Observatory. There you'll find pictures, descriptions, and accounts of the process of building the observatory, and information on the equipment used to take the images herein.