RocketSTEM Issue #7 - May 2014 | Page 18

Starting in astronomy beginner’s guide to stargazing By Mike Barrett Starting in astrophotography If you thought buying a telescope was confusing and complicated, then moving on to astrophotography can be even worse. This arises because of the myriad of different types of photography that can be done, the budget available, and the celestial objects that you want to image. Astrophotography can range from taking starscapes with your existing camera at one end of the scale all the way up to using dedicated CCD wealth of options in between. However getting started in astrophotography does not have to be expensive, a lot can be achieved using imaging equipment that you may already own, or could borrow. This article will just focus (pun intended) on the equipment side for your introduction into astrophotography. Taking the picture is only part of the sequence to obtaining some stunning images. A later article will look at the software processes on your Getting started in computer that will astrophotography turn the output from your camera into a does not have to jaw dropping picture. be expensive, a lot I will also cover more advanced can be achieved astrophotography in another article using imaging discussing guiding and equipment that you combining images to reduce noise and may already own. bring out more detail. One way to get going in astrophotography is to try and use the imaging equipment that you have already without spending a penny. People may laugh at this, but it is perfectly feasible. You will not get the best results, but at least you will get some passable imagery, and with a bit of patience and perseverance these can be very acceptable. This of course means that you start with your existing camera. These days almost everyone has a camera in the form of a smartphone, and believe it, or not, the smartphone can take some good astro pictures. 16 16 Smartphones can take images through a telescope with an adapter, such as the Orion SteadyPix, that holds it over the eyepiece. Credit: Orion Using a Smartphone To use the phone’s camera all you need to do is line it up with the eyepiece of a telescope and take the picture. A lot of these will not be very good, but with some practice you will improve. This method of astrophotography is called afocal imaging. The manufacturers have realised there is a market out there for this type of photography and have developed a number of attachments for telescopes makes the process a lot more reliable and repeatable. Using this method of imaging can also be applied to compact cameras. all that is required is that the camera can focus on the image in the eyepiece. Of course there are limitations to this, in particular the fact that this is a snapshot of the image and is not suitable for long exposures, but it is a start. www.RocketSTEM .org