No nothing graphics related, thanks Horse.
I've always been a bit of an amateur astronomer* and a couple of years ago decided that taking photos of deep sky objects would be an interesting challenge. Nowadays I have a bit more disposable income so the expense of astro photography was less daunting but it's a bit like boats - "Want to make a small fortune? Start with a big one and get into astro photography/boats."
AP is pretty technical (which I like) both from the image acquisition part to post production and it's a steep learning curve. To get really good images takes time and good equipment along with clear skies and late nights. What became clear a while back was that I needed to get tracking and guiding equipment - tracking to follow the stars as they move across the sky and guiding to make sure the tracking works properly. This is all computer controlled as would be a dedicated astro camera. I'm currently using a DSLR which is OK but . . .
*I got my first telescope when I was about 8 or 9. It was, at that age, fantastic but had it's limitations. In my last couple of years at school I made a 6" Newtonian reflector, grinding the mirror myself but buying the secondary mirror and eyepiece. I ended up giving it to Gloucester School in Hohne (forces school in Germany) in 1988 as I rarely used it and carrying it around was a pain. When I decided that I was going to get into AP, the first thing I did was to upgrade the focuser on my 120 mm telescope and realised that I should have done that years ago!
Anyway, the laptop is to allow me to control bits and pieces away from the house (closest position for observing/imaging is 50/60 metres away) and to use it for processing images - a one stop shop as it were. I've just never had a laptop before though. It's all a bit strange.
