Astrophotography is Easy!
Basics for Beginners
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Chapter
Imaging Methods with Your Telescope
To help you finalize the selection of your camera and telescope it would be helpful to know what imaging methods can be used in Camera and Telescope mode.
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Chapter
It’s Astrophotography Time!
If you have been patient and reading the chapters in order, and you have the equipment to operate in Camera Only or Camera and Telescope mode, you should now be ready to conduct your first astrophotography ses...
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Asteroids, Comets, Meteors, Fireballs, Bolides, and Meteor Showers
Asteroids and comets are leftovers from the birth of our Solar System 4.6 billion years ago. There are millions of asteroids in the Asteroid Belt, in the space between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. They are ...
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Chapter
The Milky Way
There are few celestial sights that will elicit such a raw and primal emotion within you as seeing the Milky Way from a dark sky site. It, like totality of a solar or lunar eclipse, leaves you in complete awe ...
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Location Matters
We have come far in our preparations for taking that possibly first ever astropic, but we aren’t there quite yet. If you have followed the chapters you know about the hardware side of astrophotography, some go...
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Chapter
Astrophotography Rules to Live By
“Astrophotography Rules to Live By” are derived from the author’s earlier book Cruise Ship Astronomy and Astrophotography. These rules are good ones to incorporate into your astrophotography philosophy. They will...
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International Space Station and Satellites
The International Space Station (ISS) and some of the thousands of other satellites that circle Earth can be seen visually and photographed with Camera Only or Camera and Telescope mode. The key to doing this ...
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Chapter
Deep Sky Objects
As we discussed last chapter the Milky Way will be the source of all your DSOs with the exception of other galaxies. You would have to have a pretty large telescope to make out DSOs in other galaxies, although...
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Aurorae and Glows in the Sky
A bit of a departure here in this chapter, as we are not dealing with astronomical objects per se but rather various phenomena that are seen in the night sky. Some of these glows are in our Earth’s atmosphere,...
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The Astrophotography Bug
We have come to the point in the book where we transition from talking about photographing the universe and the equipment and techniques needed to do so to getting a bit philosophical.
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Chapter
Lenses
A camera needs a lens to take a picture, and in astrophotography it is no different. Astropics can be taken using a variety of lenses in Camera Only and Camera and Telescope mode, where the telescope becomes t...
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Software and Other Vital Accessories
Half a century ago there were no computers, telescopes were hand guided and wet film was how astrophotography was done. Shoot it, develop it, print it – if the image was worth doing so. How things have changed!
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Chapter
The Moon
Our Moon goes through primary phases of new, first quarter, full and last quarter each lunar month of 29.5 days. The Moon is a very inviting astronomical object to observe as well as photograph while going thr...
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Getting Acquainted with the Sky
It is time to put the astro into astrophotography, as so far we have only been discussing the photography side of the subject. There are some basics you need to know about the sky in order to be able to take astr...
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Chapter
The Stars and Planets
We have now progressed to the point where the stars and planets beckon you to take astropics. We’ll look at these two categories of astronomical objects separately, starting off with stars first.
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Chapter
Process, Print, and Post Your Astropics
You have come to the point where you should have taken astropics with your camera and it is time to see the results. If you used film you need to send them to a commercial processor or develop them yourself, w...
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Chapter
Suggested Reading and Internet Links
The following material is broken down by chapter and by type of source material (longer reads or Internet resources) to better help you navigate the topics covered in this book. Happy reading!
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Chapter
Cameras
To take any photograph you need a camera and lens. This is even true with astrophotography, but in most instances you are dealing with very faint objects where every bit of light counts. The good news is that ...
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Chapter
Telescopes
When you take a picture of any astronomical object you are going back in time. Even a pic of the Moon captures it as it was about 1.3 seconds before you took the exposure. This is because the speed of light – ...
