My Astrophotography Journey

My Process
How are Astro Photos taken?

As compared to standard photography, a completely different time-consuming process is involved with capturing interstellar deep space targets. The targets are so far away, (thousands to millions of light years) making them very dim. Given that 1 light year is equal to about (6 trillion miles) makings these distances really far away, so far, the targets are so dim the human eye can’t see them, even with a telescope.  

Astrophotography is a specialized process using special equipment allowing me to capture images anywhere from 1 minute to 10 minutes for a single exposure or what we call light frames in astrophotography. Then to get the clarity you see in my images; you need to stack the tens to hundreds of images “on top” of each other to make the individual images you see in my webpage.  

Each astro image takes between 4 to 12 hours or more of a combination of stacked “light frames” to make a single image.  Beside the target dimness, astrophotographers need to deal with light pollution, satellites or airplanes in the sky, upper atmosphere smog, and smoke.  Especially when taking exceptionally prolonged exposure like 3 to 5 minutes light frame as I most often do.  

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But the biggest challenge in taking a single prolonged exposure is the “tracking” of the target.  As you consider the earth is constantly rotating, we must track the object with “pinpoint accuracy.”  So, considering the Earth's rotational movement and lengthy exposure time required the most important piece of astrophotography equipment is not the telescope or astro camera, but the telescope mount.  The best mounts for astrophotography are called a “German Equatorial Mount”.  This mount could be considered a 2-axis robot.  To accomplish the pinpoint accuracy, we also use a 2nd smaller “telescope and camera” called a “guide scope & guide camera” in addition a special computer software program that uses the image the guide scope provides the computer then tells the mount how to “lock on” and track the image or objects.   The advantage of this special setup lies in its ability to allow the telescope attached to it to stay fixed on any deep space object at a constant speed for hours and hours each night.

Once a single stacked image has been created, then we use additional special computer software like (Photoshop or PixInsight) on the image by cropping, adding or editing color, definition, removing artifacts and noise in the image. 

Only after completing the extensive image processing steps, do we finally achieve a breathtaking Astro image. As you can see, the imagery presented in Interstellar Astrophotography is quite complex, showcasing the intricate details and beauty of the Cosmos.

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With all my images I try to use what's called the Hubble Palette.  Which is the same color scheme the NASA engineers use to process the Hubble Telescope images    https://hubblesite.org/contents/articles/the-meaning-of-light-and-color