In the years 2009 and 2010 I have worked on my diploma thesis at the Landessternwarte Königstuhl (LSW). During that time and in the following year I had access to the telescopes of the LSW. I started observing the night sky with the Bruce telescope, a donation of Cathrine W. Bruce, which was built in the year 1900. The Bruce telescope is actually a photographic double refractor with two 400/2000 photographic tubes that have been used with photographic plates in earlier days. I could only use the guidescope of the Bruce telescope, however, a 250/4000 refractor which is still in use today for guided tours.

I was observing the sky visually with the Bruce telescope from summer 2009 until the end of 2010. Then I got my hands on a Canon EOS 400D. My brother Ferdinand Brezinski, who is trained as a precision engineer at the MPIA Heidelberg, manufactured an adapter so I could focally attach the Canon to the guidescope of the Bruce. Later he also manufactured another adapter so I could attach the Canon afocally, with a Barlow lense in between. From then on I regularly drove up the Königstuhl at clear nights to make photos of the sky.

In the summer of 2012 my wife Simone gave to me as a gift a 250/1200 Newton reflector. Since then I pursue the astro photography from my balcony observatory. In December 2012 I had my 400D clear glass modified so it is sensitive in the wave length interval of 350 - 1100 nm (I call it 400DA now). This has greatly improved my possibility to take pictures of nebula, which emit most of their light in the Hα line at 656 nm. Soon I became also interested in infrared (IR) photography because of the very distinct atmosphere and look of IR-pictures and especially because it allows you to take photos with light that is invisible to the human eye.

Here I present a small collection of the photos that have been taken from the year 2011 until now. I hope you enjoy them.