Welcome to my Astrophotography Blog!

This is a journal of my adventures in astrophotography -- taking images of distant celestial objects. Please look around and feel free to add your comments, questions, and critique to any of the entries by clicking the "comments" button on the bottom of each entry -- or just say "howdy!

And don't forget to click on the images for a larger view!

So choose either the Red pill or the Blue pill and follow me down the wormhole....

JOhn

Comanche Springs Star Party

Comanche Springs Star Party
Doin' my thang at the Comanche Springs Astronomy Campus (where I often become a "red ghost")

Dallas Sky

Rancho Venado Sky

Atoka Sky

Camanche Springs Sky

Sunday, May 4, 2008

Orion Nebula: Take 2


So after doing a BUNCH of reading and research into this astrophotography thing, I discovered ONE technical hurdle to overcome (among many) is signal noise. Digital cameras are great for sensitivity, but it comes with increased noise during long exposures. To combat this (and increase signal to noise ratio) one must take MANY individual exposures and "stack" them together. In addition, calibration frames are taken and subtracted to decrease the "read noise" of the camera ccd chip as well. What does all this mean? Software! To be specific -- Maxim DL and lots of Photoshop processing in my case.

Here is my next try at Orion with stacking, calibration, and lots of image processing to decrease noise, increase signal, and pull out more details -- it works!

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