William Optics GT81 Apochromatic Refractor - then and now

May 3, 2022

My William Optics GT81 Apochromatic triplet refractor, the day it arrived (left) and today (right)--that's an FPL-53 front element, 81mm aperture, 478mm focal length, 382mm at f/4.7 with the field flattener. I've been capturing the beautiful night sky with this awesome piece of hardware for nearly seven years. I bought it August 2015 and here we are in May 2022. I have captured hundreds of nebulae, galaxies, supernova remnants, and various phases of our moon. Over the last seven years I've captured the distant light of stars and emission nebulae in thousands of one, two, five, and ten-minute sub-exposures. Here's to seven more. Thank you, William Optics!