Easy as 1,2,3
Choose your target - what celestial object will you be imaging? What size is it? Will it fit in the FOV? Check the telescope information on the booking page for it’s FOV. Use the Stellarium (link below) to make sure your target is visible in the night sky. Remember to set your coordinates within Stellarium to Longitude: W 99° 22' 00, Latitude: N 31° 32' 00.
Book your session - Select a date and time for your imaging session. Time slots are available in 30-minute increments, choose how many you need based on the magnitude of your target. See the examples page and tutorials below to get an idea of the affect adding more time will give you.
Process your image data - Your images will provide more detail if you use a technique called “stacking”. Stacking allows you to combine 100’s of images of the same target in order to increase your signal to noise ratio (SNR). The higher your SNR, the more detail (and less noise) there will be in the final image. See the tutorials below on Seti Astro, an excellent, free processing suite.
Must Haves
Download Stellarium to navigate and discover the night sky
Open Astronomy Tools to determine how an object will look within the field of view
Check tonight’s weather
It all begins with an idea.
Get inspired (and learn a little about scale, distance, colors, and the origins of modern astrophotography with Adam Block)!
Monchrome Basics.
A simple explanation of monochrome imaging.
Exposure Time?
Exposure theory, collecting all of those gorgeous photons.
Noise - Simple Explanation, Deep Dive!
This video dives a little deeper into the theory behind exposure times, read noise, and shot noise.N.I.N.A.
(Nighttime Imaging “N” Astronomy)
Learn the basics of remote telescope control. N.I.N.A., also FREE, is perhaps the most comprehensive imaging software that gives you complete control of everything from the temperature of the camera to slewing the telescope to your favorite deep sky objects.
After learning N.I.N.A., you can send us your custom JSON file for uploading to one of our remote telescopes for complete custom imaging!
IMAGE PROCESSING
Seti Astro Suite - Excellent software for processing your image files. Did we mention, it’s FREE!