Ritchey-Chretien Astrophotography

If you’re looking to get closer to the stars then one of your best bets is through Ritchey-Chretien astrophotography. That’s because this type of astrophotography is actually used in almost all modern large professional telescope. Dating back to the early period of the 20th century, George Willis Ritchey and Henri Chretien found themselves building the very first Ritchey-Chretien telescope, which is sometimes referred to as an RCT. This RCT is a form of a Cassegrain which is proficient at getting rid of coma which is an abnormality that can cause stars and comets to look blurred or fuzzy. Interestingly enough, the Ritchey-Chretien design and setup is also incorporated in the world famous Hubble Space Telescope.

And these are usually mega-million dollar observatory telescopes! However, what makes this type of astrophotography an often little talked about design is the fact that even models that include this optical system and are deemed to be affordable still easily reach tens of thousands of dollars!

While most of these professional Ritchey-Chretien models are in deed too expensive for most amateur astronomers and telescope buffs, modern research and cutting edge technology breakthroughs do grant some less expensive options that allow amateur astronomers to get in on the astrophotography action. These less expensive models still offer the same fundamental optical design that is found even in today’s leading research telescopes. One of the reasons for the usually higher price index is the fact that they use complex hyperbolic mirrors which are usually more difficult to fabricate.

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