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The Astrophotography Manual
A Practical and Scientific Approach to Deep Sky Imaging
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Book Description
The Astrophotography Manual, Second Edition is for photographers ready to move beyond standard SLR cameras and editing software to create beautiful images of nebulas, galaxies, clusters, and the stars. Beginning with a brief astronomy primer, this book takes readers through the full astrophotography process, from choosing and using equipment to image capture, calibration, and processing. This combination of technical background and hands-on approach brings the science down to earth, with practical methods to ensure success.
This second edition now includes:
- Over 170 pages of new content within 22 new chapters, with 600 full-color illustrations.
- Covers a wide range of hardware, including mobile devices, remote control and new technologies.
- Further insights into leading software, including automation, Sequence Generator Pro and PixInsight
- Ground-breaking practical chapters on hardware and software as well as alternative astrophotography pursuits
Table of Contents
Part I. Astronomy Primer
1. The Diverse Universe of Astrophotography
2. Space
3. Catalogs
4. Four Dimensions and Counting
5. Limits of Perception
Part II. Choosing Equipment
6. The Ingredients of Success
7. New Tools
8. General Equipment
9. Imaging Equipment
10. A Portable System
Part III. Setting Up
11. Hardware Setup
12. Software Setup
13. Wireless/Remote Operation
Part IV. Image Capture
14. Sensors and Exposure
15. Focusing
16. Autoguiding and Tracking
17. Pointing and Tracking Models
18. Sequencing, Automation and Scripting
19. Mosaics
Part V. Image Calibration and Processing
20. Post Exposure
21. Getting Started in PixInsight
22. Image Calibration and Stacking
23. Linear Image Processing
24. Non-linear Image Processing
Part VI. Pix Insights
25. Pre-Processing
26. Seeing Stars
27. Noise Reduction and Sharpening
28. Image Stretching
29. Color Filter Array (CFA) Processing
30. Narrowband Image Processing
Part VII. First Light Assignments
31. Practical Examples
32. M3 (Globular Cluster)
33. M51a/b (Whirlpool Galaxy)
34. M45 (Pleiades Open Cluster)
35. C27 (Crescent Nebula) in Narrowband
36. M31 (Andromeda Galaxy)
37. IC 1805 (Heart Nebula) in False Color
38. Comet C/2014 Q2
39. M27 (Dumbbell Nebula)
40. M3 (Globular Cluster) revisited
41. 3-D Image Processing
42. Vacation Image
43. Horsehead and Flame Nebula
44. Wide-field Mosaic
45. Exoplanet
Appendices
A. Diagnostics and Problem Solving
B. Summer Projects
C. Automatic Observatory Control
D. Collimating a Ritchey Chrétien Telescope
E. Templates
F. Bibliography and Resources
Author(s)
Biography
Chris Woodhouse was born in England, and during his teenage years was a keen amateur photographer. After receiving an M.Eng. in Electronics at Bath University, he designed communication and optical gauging equipment before joining an automotive company. His traditional monochrome photography earned him an Associateship distinction from the Royal Photographic Society. After the publication of the first edition of The Astrophotography Manual and astronomy-related activities, he was accepted as a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society. He has pursued his passion for all forms of photography over the last 35 years and additionally invented and patented several unique darkroom timers and meters, which are sold throughout the world. He quickly found the technical challenges of astrophotography responded well to methodical and scientific methods, and together with his traditional photographic experience, he produces beautiful and fascinating images.