Earth Sky Stars

Ever wanted a thorough step-by-step guide to processing your astrophotographs in Adobe Photoshop, well Ron Wodaski just answered your prayers! Ron’s previous book, “The New CCD Astronomy”, has become a classic among astrophotographers and now he’s followed it up with “The New Astro Zone System for Astro Imaging”.

This book covers image processing after the calibration and combining phase that’s typically done in programs, such as, MaximDL. Ron covers bringing out fine, dim details, removing gradients, fixing bloated stars, and refining color balance. The book also comes with a DVD filled with excellent examples.

For more information check out Ron’s website at The New CCD Astronomy

While at the Table Mountain Star Party I purchased a Deep Sky Imager (DSI) Pro from Sean’s Astronomy shop. The goal was to use the DSI Pro as a guider for a Digital SLR (Hutech modified Canon 20d). After some initial teething problems the DSI performed its role beautifully. The DSI’s imagining is a bit noisy, but even with a 5 second exposure it can image faint stars (9th magnitude?). BTW, don’t use an USB 1.1 connection — it won’t work!

Attached to a Borg 60mm guidescope on my Stellarvue SV4 (4″ apo refractor) and Losmandy GM8 mount it has enabled 6 minute guided exposures! Definitely a great way to get astrophotos on a budget. Check out the main EarthSkyStars web site for astrophotos done with this setup.

I haven’t tried imaging with the DSI Pro yet, but I doubt it’ll compete well with my SBIG or my Canon 20d DSLR.

I attended the Imaging the Sky 2005 conference, Saturday, July 23. While it’s a small conference it’s rich in speakers. Richard Berry, The Handbook of Astronomical Image Processing, was the standout speaker was there to discuss the latest edition of his book and software. Later Richard did a comparison of imaging with CCD cameras and Digital SLR cameras.

David Sandage, making his first appearance at the conference, did an overview of the workflow process involved in CCD imaging. It was very interesting to see the process detailed from beginning to end. I’d like to see David give the same talk at some of the local star parties.

The last talk of the day was presented by Doug George, of Diffraction Limited, on Maxim DL. Maxim is one of the premier astro-imaging programs, but is a large, complex application. Having Doug available to demonstrate Maxim’s features was great!

Finishing up at Web Design World 2005 at the Seattle waterfront. They saved the best for last! Mike Ninness, from Lynda.com, is a great Photoshop speaker! I’ve never seen so many useful tips and hints in one sitting! If you get a chance to see him speak, do so.