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The market lead in photography equipments, Nikon has built a premium DSLR, D810A, exclusively for astronomers. It has some things in common with its other, more Earth-focused cameras, namely its build quality and compatibility with NIKKOR lenses, but on the whole, this is a device designed specifically for being pointed upwards.

"The Nikon D810A is engineered exclusively to meet the unique demands of professional and hobbyist astrophotographers," said Masahiro Horie, Director of Marketing and Planning, Nikon Inc. "The camera's distinctive feature set and powerful imaging capabilities make it an appealing option for those who are ready to discover the fantastic cosmic features that are hidden among the stars."

The most powerful, readily available camera for astrophotography is its unique ability to capture nebulae that emit the H-alpha wavelength in red, which cannot be achieved with ordinary D-SLRs.

DSLRs are capable of snapping over 10 frames a second with perfect clarity for capturing sports and action shots, the D810A takes things in the opposite direction; it shoots very slowly indeed and its shutter can be set up for a 900 second - that's 15 minutes - exposure. The D810A has a 36.3-megapixel CMOS sensor for capturing higher-resolution images but it also has an infrared cut filter modified for the hydrogen and alpha wavelength.

-By Premji