After honing my skills as a film-based astrophotographer from 1998-2002, I began the learning curve of digital imaging. Ron Wodaski's The New CCD Astronomy and web-based information were invaluable as I captured my first digital photons in 2003. I have used both one-shot color and monochromatic cameras with success. OSCs are a great alternative for casual imagers, but require longer exposures to compensate for their lower quantum efficiency (QE). For this reason, and particularly for those interested in narrowband imaging, monochrome systems are preferred.
Biography
A child of the 60s- Star Trek, Lost in Space, 2001: a Space Odyssey, Apollo launches at dawn. Like many of our time, I boldly went with my heroes ‘Where no man [had] gone before.’ I never really touched-down again. As vice-president of my middle school astronomy club, I owned an 8" Newtonian telescope and began exploring the night sky at 15-years old. By college however, the sky was forgotten for a career in music, most nights playing in bright-city venues, far from the dark skies of my youth in the Pine Barrens of south-central New Jersey. I've been a recording and performing musician and singer for most of my life, and was a multi-published Nashville songwriter. Today, I enjoy chart success in the contemporary/smooth jazz genre as Spontaneous Groovin' Combustion.
Not until Christmas of 1997, when I received a gift of a star chart and modest achromatic telescope was the passion re-ignited. When I was a child, I was gifted with Dr. Fred Hoyle's book Astronomy (coined the term 'Big Bang'). Its cover had the glossiest, full-color photo of M27- the Dumbbell Nebula in the blackest, velvet sky. I knew from that moment I must someday photograph the heavens’ wonders. The name of this website is of course, homage to the late Dr. Carl Sagan of Cosmos fame.
Artistic by nature, highly technical aspects of the hobby were initially challenging. For me, it’s less about Cosmology and Charge Coupled Devices (CCD), and more about the thrill of the hunt for the myriad of beautiful shapes and colors throughout the universe. I’ve been told I have the ability to reduce the difficult concepts of Astro-Imaging to the essentials and effectively teach it to others. My Astrophoto tutorial business IP4AP was named a Sky & Telescope Magazine Hot Product in 2007 and I’ve given thousands of clients the world over a 'quick start' to taking their own great photos. It is my desire to convince new imagers that they can accomplish anything they want in amateur Astrophotography.
I strive to emphasize the importance of artfulness in a largely left-brained hobby, using my background in communications and art history from The American University in Washington, DC. I am proud to have been published as a photographer in: SKY & Telescope, Astronomy, Astronomy Now, BBC Sky at Night, Nightscape, Amateur Astronomy, WV Living, and Pennsylvania Magazines, and many places on the World Wide Web, most prestigiously- NASA’s APOD (Astronomy Picture of the Day). My printwork was represented by Method Art gallery in Scottsdale Arizona, and Exposures Int'l. gallery in Sedona. Three pieces appeared in the Starstruck: The Fine Art of Astrophotography exhibit. I wrote extensively for AstroPhoto Insight and have appeared as a SKY & Telescope, Astronomy, BBC Sky at Night, Amateur Astronomy, and IDA Nightscape author. I also authored Getting Started With MaxIm DL 6 for Diffraction Limited.
I’ve lectured and led workshops at the North East Astro-Imaging Conference (NEAIC) in New York, the Midwest Astro-Imaging Conference (MWAIC) in Chicago, the Advanced Imaging Conference (AIC) in San Jose, SCAE, and RAW, also in California. In 2013 and 2014, I organized and hosted SWAP - The Southwest Astrophotography Seminar in Tucson. I have presented at the Winter, Texas, Okie-Tex and Black Forest Star Parties, and to groups as varied as Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Chambers of Commerce, Rotaries, and camera clubs. I was the North American rep for Atik Cameras from October 2009 to March 2011. I have also been a consultant to MSB-Astroart, and Celestron where I co-designed AstroFX software. In 2015, I was a part-time customer service rep for Quantum Scientific Imaging (QSI) cameras. I'm also very proud to have been elected to the board of directors of the Advanced Imaging Conference (AIC) in 2014. In September 2016, I completed my first book, Inside PixInsight for Springer Nature. Inside PixInsight was Springer's top seller in 2016, and was chosen as a Hot Product by SKY & Telescope for 2018. The second edition was released in the winter of 2019. In 2020, I was named an official PixInsight Ambassador, as well as being part of the PI beta test team.
Astro-Imaging as Art
And it is art- beautiful, inspiring art. Like any other medium, astrophotography benefits by following the basics. Elements such as good composition and a tasteful color palette matter. For a visually pleasing final product with lots of impact, thought is required beforehand to match the object to the imaging focal length and chip size.
Half of a nebula or an off-center galaxy doesn't always make the same statement as the full object, well-composed and contrasted by darker background sky. There are some imagers who approach the hobby from a technical background and lack an education in the arts. Though the image may be well acquired- poor composition, unnatural colors and less than ideal processing are sometimes the result.
I'd suggest studying the work of great astro-imagers as well as painters and landscape photographers. See why an extra few minutes framing a shot is worth the time. Get a sense of what is considered lovely and pleasing to the eye, and avoid crossing the line into the artificial or garish. That being said, we have entered a new, surrealist period in astro-imaging where about anything goes. Ultimately, it's about self-expression. What feels right to me, may not speak to you.
Imaging Thoughts
Biography
A child of the 60s- Star Trek, Lost in Space, 2001: a Space Odyssey, Apollo launches at dawn. Like many of our time, I boldly went with my heroes ‘Where no man [had] gone before.’ I never really touched-down again. As vice-president of my middle school astronomy club, I owned an 8" Newtonian telescope and began exploring the night sky at 15-years old. By college however, the sky was forgotten for a career in music, most nights playing in bright-city venues, far from the dark skies of my youth in the Pine Barrens of south-central New Jersey. I've been a recording and performing musician and singer for most of my life, and was a multi-published Nashville songwriter. Today, I enjoy chart success in the contemporary/smooth jazz genre as Spontaneous Groovin' Combustion.
Not until Christmas of 1997, when I received a gift of a star chart and modest achromatic telescope was the passion re-ignited. When I was a child, I was gifted with Dr. Fred Hoyle's book Astronomy (coined the term 'Big Bang'). Its cover had the glossiest, full-color photo of M27- the Dumbbell Nebula in the blackest, velvet sky. I knew from that moment I must someday photograph the heavens’ wonders. The name of this website is of course, homage to the late Dr. Carl Sagan of Cosmos fame.
Artistic by nature, highly technical aspects of the hobby were initially challenging. For me, it’s less about Cosmology and Charge Coupled Devices (CCD), and more about the thrill of the hunt for the myriad of beautiful shapes and colors throughout the universe. I’ve been told I have the ability to reduce the difficult concepts of Astro-Imaging to the essentials and effectively teach it to others. My Astrophoto tutorial business IP4AP was named a Sky & Telescope Magazine Hot Product in 2007 and I’ve given thousands of clients the world over a 'quick start' to taking their own great photos. It is my desire to convince new imagers that they can accomplish anything they want in amateur Astrophotography.
I strive to emphasize the importance of artfulness in a largely left-brained hobby, using my background in communications and art history from The American University in Washington, DC. I am proud to have been published as a photographer in: SKY & Telescope, Astronomy, Astronomy Now, BBC Sky at Night, Nightscape, Amateur Astronomy, WV Living, and Pennsylvania Magazines, and many places on the World Wide Web, most prestigiously- NASA’s APOD (Astronomy Picture of the Day). My printwork was represented by Method Art gallery in Scottsdale Arizona, and Exposures Int'l. gallery in Sedona. Three pieces appeared in the Starstruck: The Fine Art of Astrophotography exhibit. I wrote extensively for AstroPhoto Insight and have appeared as a SKY & Telescope, Astronomy, BBC Sky at Night, Amateur Astronomy, and IDA Nightscape author. I also authored Getting Started With MaxIm DL 6 for Diffraction Limited.
I’ve lectured and led workshops at the North East Astro-Imaging Conference (NEAIC) in New York, the Midwest Astro-Imaging Conference (MWAIC) in Chicago, the Advanced Imaging Conference (AIC) in San Jose, SCAE, and RAW, also in California. In 2013 and 2014, I organized and hosted SWAP - The Southwest Astrophotography Seminar in Tucson. I have presented at the Winter, Texas, Okie-Tex and Black Forest Star Parties, and to groups as varied as Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Chambers of Commerce, Rotaries, and camera clubs. I was the North American rep for Atik Cameras from October 2009 to March 2011. I have also been a consultant to MSB-Astroart, and Celestron where I co-designed AstroFX software. In 2015, I was a part-time customer service rep for Quantum Scientific Imaging (QSI) cameras. I'm also very proud to have been elected to the board of directors of the Advanced Imaging Conference (AIC) in 2014. In September 2016, I completed my first book, Inside PixInsight for Springer Nature. Inside PixInsight was Springer's top seller in 2016, and was chosen as a Hot Product by SKY & Telescope for 2018. The second edition was released in the winter of 2019. In 2020, I was named an official PixInsight Ambassador, as well as being part of the PI beta test team.
Astro-Imaging as Art
And it is art- beautiful, inspiring art. Like any other medium, astrophotography benefits by following the basics. Elements such as good composition and a tasteful color palette matter. For a visually pleasing final product with lots of impact, thought is required beforehand to match the object to the imaging focal length and chip size.
Half of a nebula or an off-center galaxy doesn't always make the same statement as the full object, well-composed and contrasted by darker background sky. There are some imagers who approach the hobby from a technical background and lack an education in the arts. Though the image may be well acquired- poor composition, unnatural colors and less than ideal processing are sometimes the result.
I'd suggest studying the work of great astro-imagers as well as painters and landscape photographers. See why an extra few minutes framing a shot is worth the time. Get a sense of what is considered lovely and pleasing to the eye, and avoid crossing the line into the artificial or garish. That being said, we have entered a new, surrealist period in astro-imaging where about anything goes. Ultimately, it's about self-expression. What feels right to me, may not speak to you.
Imaging Thoughts
- As mentioned, The New CCD Astronomy is the mother lode for a quick start into CCD imaging. Also look for The Astrophotography Manual by Chris Woodhouse. Additionally, there are some great web-based tutorials as mentioned below.
- If you feel overwhelmed by technical minutia, don't assume you cannot aspire to being a great imager!
- If you did not have a background in film-based astrophotography, begin with Jerry Lodriguss. While Jerry is the DSLR maven, the information is invaluable for CCD and CMOS as well. Also view my free tutorials at MastersofPixInsight.
- Start with the most solid and finest-tracking mount you can afford.
- Many backyard imagers today are swearing by NINA and ASIAIR for controlling their devices.
- Dark skies matter- get to them whenever possible.
- Good Seeing can be even more important, especially at longer focal lengths!
- Be prepared to make mistakes and be patient as you climb the learning curve. Assembling a system that works well for you is not easy. Once you accomplish that, stick with it for a while and image. You don't need to spend $15k to make beautiful images. You will have to lay out a minimum of about $3k to start however. Prices are coming down- look into CCD cameras based around the KAF-8300 monochrome sensor, as well as the newer crop of affordable CMOS cameras.
- There are many producers of quality CCD and CMOS cams. Filtered monochrome cameras requiring a good deal of image reduction aren't necessary to produce stunning images, particularly with fast focal ratios and dark skies. Look into quality Atik/QSI, Starlight Xpress, QHY, ZWO, Moravian, FLI and other camera makers- both Monochrome and One-Shot.
- SCTs are a bargain and are versatile but have shortcomings both optically and mechanically. If you go this route, you might need to purchase several after-market products to make them good astrographs. Celestron's Edge HD and Starizona's Hyperstar are very nice. Even nicer is Celestron's RASA.
- APO refractors do a great job. Some fine ED refractors come close to the results obtained by APOs, but spend the extra $1k on a triplet or Petzval if you can. Corrected Newtonians optimized for imaging are a great value. A Russian-style Mak-Cass or Mak-Newt can be fine a instrument for the money but suffer from QC issues and a lack of mechanical sophistication. Like the SCT, they often require refinements to make them good astrographs. Dedicated imagers interested in smaller objects will want to look into corrected Dall-Kirkhams, such as PlaneWave, Ritchie-Chretiens, imaging Newtonians, etc.
- A quality focusing system is the most important modification you will likely need to make. The faster the f/ratio, the more critical focusing becomes. Many love the Bahtinov Mask as it works exclusive of 'seeing'.
- There are many good software programs- some shareware, each of which offer one beneficial trick or two that another doesn't. It can be frustrating as you collect them for these features. PixInsight is the most complete, one-stop package available today. Adobe Photoshop remains a viable alternative for post-processing workflow. You might also like Astro Pixel Processor.
- Monitor calibration w/ a Datacolor Spyder, or similar 'puck' device is a must for accurate results. Based on research done prior to 2018, I'd recommend IPS-panel monitors with LCD (not LED) backlights.
- Don't assume because someone is an astronomy vendor, that they have the passion and ethics that you do. I heartily recommend Cloud Break Optics and Woodland Hills Camera and Telescope in the USA.