Astrophotography

Here's a page with a collection of my best astrophotography images.  These are my best shot to date (IMHO) of these objects.  They have typically been taken with my first real scope though there are a few other scopes I use for some of the early images.  I have learned it takes a minimum of ten shots of a deep sky object to get any quality, some take several more.  Once I have all the images captured I stack them and then perform some minor post-processing.  Most of the post processing is limited to Levels, Curves, and Unsharpen Mask.  On occasion I use Gamma and Blur.  To date my longest shot is somewhere in the neighborhood of 15 to 20 minutes.  This is a shot of Andromeda that was a stack of 40 shots exposed for 30 seconds.  

Solar System Objects - 

Deep Sky Objects -

Out of this World Scenery -

Equipment Used - Telescope - Meade LXD-55 SC 8" Camera - Sony F-717 Lense - Scopetronix MaxView II (MaxPower) Alternative Imaging - Meade LPI Autoguider - Meade LPI Guide Scope - To Be Determined Stacking Software - Registax Post-Processing - JASC Paint Shop Pro Other Scopes Used - Meade LX200-GPS 12" Fremont Peak Observatory 30" Challenger Scope

- 2004