What's the difference between celestial photography and ordinary photography?

It's great to hear that someone is interested in amateur astronomy! To shoot high-quality astronomical images, you need a manual camera in B-door mode (B-door is a shutter release mode completely controlled by the photographer). I would recommend Canon because there is something wrong with Nikon's noise reduction algorithm-it will delete the stars from the photos. You also need an astronomical telescope with driving motor and camera connection fittings.

Usually you have to take off the original lens of the camera, and then install the camera body on the astronomical telescope, so that the astronomical telescope becomes the new lens of the camera. To achieve this, you may need a so-called T-ring (bayonet adapter ring), which is the connector between the camera and the astronomical telescope. The driving motor on the astronomical telescope (equatorial telescope) allows you to counteract the influence of the earth's rotation when shooting the object for exposure.

Generally speaking, the bigger the telescope, the darker the object you can see, but the more expensive it is. You also need to determine the focal ratio of your telescope according to the object you want to shoot most. For example, large nebulae need a wider field of view than galaxies.

You can buy astronomical telescopes on the website. These two companies are the most popular amateur telescope manufacturers. There is even a gallery in astrophotography, equipped with its own astronomical telescope, to show the works taken with their instruments.

You can also consider adding some accessories to your astrophotography. I generally suggest installing an image finder for amateur astronomical telescopes. It will throw a cross star into the sky and help you find the direction of the telescope accurately. If you plan to take long-exposure photography (exposure exceeds 5- 10 minutes), you also need an off-axis guide rail, which allows you to manually guide the astronomical telescope when the camera is exposed. (Because the driving motor is usually not enough to guide the exposure for more than 5- 10 minutes).