The Equipment used to look at the heavens and photograph them can be as varied as the astronomer taking them. My choices have reflected primarily what I wished to view in the sky, and economy. For the Deep Sky objects that intrigued me, I knew I wanted a telescope that was 6 inches or larger. Because of my still novice knowledge of the sky determined that a GOTO telescope would fit my learning needs the best. A goto Telescope is a computerized and mechanized telescope mount that works off of triangulation to point you to your desired objects. I went with Meade instruments LX90 8 inch telescope with Ultra High Transmission Coatings. This is a special treatment that allows roughly 20% more reflectivity, making my 8" telescope reflect the same light as roughly a 9 & 1/2 inch telescope in aperture.
The LX90, does not however have the advantage of GPS tracking as this was an expenditure that I figured I could save on, I have the time to triangulate my scope, not the money to put into a scope that does it for me. The basic style of this type of scope which is considered a "compact scope" is called a Schmitt-Cassegrain type of telescope, what would normally be a housing that is 2000 mm long, is compacted into a much smaller tube through the use of different mirrors on the inside, thus saving space, decreasing weight, and increasing portabillity.
My camera based on the control functions of the camera allow me to set exposure settings as well as f-stop and multiple other features that help in astrophotography. Ideally you would like to use an SLR type of digital camera but those run usually from 700 dollars on up. Not economical enough for a beginner who needs to whone his skills a bit before stepping up to a real astrophotography camera. Right now the most widely used SLR for the astrophotographer appears to be the Cannon 300-D "The Rebel". I for economical reasons went with the Olympus C-5000 point and shoot camera. Its major downfall is the lack of extended shutter settings. The longest exposure I can get is 16 sec. at ISO 320. Most significant astrophotography photos will need at least 30 sec at ISO 800. But this camera is half the price of the Rebel. 
Attaching the camera to the scope can be done in two ways. Projection method uses an eyepiece for magnification, and projects the image onto the cameras digital chip, like a movie projector does to a screen. This is the basic way all point and shoots have to take pictures as the lens is non-removable like an SLR. The second method is with an SLR camera by taking the lens off of the camera and attaching it directly to the telescope without the use of an eyepiece. Effectively you turn your telescope into a Telephoto camera lens. This by far results in the most fantastic of pictures with sharp resolution. There are a couple of ways to attach a point and shoot to a telescope. First I used the Orion Steadipix camera mount that screws into the tripod screw of the camera, and clasps onto the eyepiece. This allows for all sorts of combinations of magnifications using all of your various eyepieces.
This setup works great on bright close objects that you can magnify easily. For darker/fainter objects a 40mm Eyepiece should be used to concentrate the amount of light in the tightest area. While this camera mount can be used to do this I started to experience a lot of tracking issues with my telescope because the weight of the largest eyepiece, combined with the mount and camera were pulling too much on the telescope. I thus fashioned a home made camera adapter that sleeves over the eyepiece and holds the camera roughly an inch from the top of the eyepiece. I made this out of PVC pipe and a slip case of the eyepiece. Once I made this it really got interesting because some of the best pictures I have taken have come from this setup. I am able to grab pictures of very, very faint objects now that I couldn't have hoped for without this setup.
Eyepieces are what change the magnification of what you are looking at. The smaller the distance/length of the eyepiece the higher the magnification. So my 40mm eyepiece which is the longest gives me a big swath of sky to view, but only magnifies 50x's, where as the 6mm EP, really zooms in on a small piece of sky and gives me a magnification of 333x. A barlow lense puts a double and up to quadruple effect on this number and goes between the EP and telescope.
My Eyepieces that I use. (40mm is the big one in the back left, 6mm is the middle one in the front row for perspective.
This is my Barlow lense that effectively doubles the magnification power of the EP that I use and actually therefore creates a second set of lenses for me without having to buy them.
Christmas 2004!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Santa decides Ryan is a good boy and brings him a Rebel!!!!!!
The Canon Digital Rebel (Digital SLR)
A 6.3Megapixel astrophotography machine. Using the Canon Digital SLR is an economical way to get real CCD quality images without having to spend thousands of dollars. When mated with an adapter ring and a T-adapter
You turn your SCT telescope into a (in my case) 2000 mm telephoto lens. Thats right! you take the regular lense off of your camera and use the telescope as a lens. This type of photography is called "Prime Focus " photography. Boy I can't wait to start turning out some quality pictures with this setup!
