Digitizing the Cosmos - An Introduction to Astroimaging

I'm an amateur astronomer and imaging scientist living in Concord, MA. I’ve been imaging since about 2011, and so far, it's been a *lot* of fun. It's also been amazingly easy to do, despite the seeming complexity of the process. As with most things in this wonderful life, the first step is the hardest, and so it is with this. But, once you get started, I promise you, the fun never stops! I am by no means an expert, but the beauty of this is you don't have to be! Remember, *everyone* starts out as an amateur. Since 2020, I've advanced to an equatorial mount, a larger telescope a cooled camera and having more fun than ever! The presentation below is still applicable describing how to get started in both deep sky imaging and planetary video imaging. I've also put together a document describing how to begin processing in DeepSkyStacker, complete with screenshots from the program. Hope this helps! Just click on the icons below (note: you need to enable external content when downloading, if you want the Bahnitov mask and planetary movie videos to play):

• DeepSkyStacker: a wonderful freeware program for astrophotographers, by Luc Coiffier, that simplifies all the pre-processing steps for stacking deep sky images. There are many commercial alternatives, but I've had a great deal of success and fun using this program to create wonderful records of some fantastic objects in the Universe. You can see some of the results here.
  
  
• Autostakkert!: free software by Emil Kraaikamp for alignment/stacking/processing of planetary images. Try not to be intimidated by this program. It's complicated, but its default settings are superb. I used to use Registax (see below) but this program is much easier to use and gives superior results.
  
  
• Pixinsight: a commercial program that provides specialized tools to do sophisticated image processing of astro-images. With my new Paramount MyT mount I've been able to extend my exposure times significantly, resulting in superior data that allows me to take advantage of the algorithms in this wonderful tool. IMHO you can benefit using this program anytime, but it becomes much more useful once your data improves. Like any new software, the learning curve is there but not as steep as everyone says...although...I *still* use DeepSkyStacker for stacking even though Pixinsight does it too, just for ease of use. I'll get to it eventually! The nice thing is you can try it for free in their 45 day trial period - definitely worth it! Some say the app is pricey, but if you're at an advanced stage, for the price of a nebula filter or a good bottle of scotch, this can really help with your processing. You can see some of the results here.
  
  
• FireCapture: wonderful free software by Torsten Edelmann to control all aspects of planetary imaging. Torsten has done a fabulous job of maintaining support for new cameras as they come out.
  
  
• RegiStax: free software by Cor Berrevoets et al. for alignment/stacking/processing of planetary images. I now use Autostakkert for alignment and stacking. I still use this program for the wavelet enhancement though! Just open up your image in this program and go to the enhancement step!
  
  
• Castrator: a very useful tool by Emil Kraaikamp for reducing the size of planetary videos to drastically speed up processing in RegiStax
  
  
• STOIK Video Converter: this website has a link to a trial version of software that does WMV to AVI conversion. I'm sure there are other programs, but this seems to be virus / ad free and has the minimal functionality I need. And, of course, if you like it, you can always purchase the entire product!
  
  
• GIMP: a great general FREE image processing program that does almost everything that Photoshop does! I can do all my postprocessing with this program!
  
  
• UFRaw: a FREE plugin for GIMP (or works standalone too) that can handle processing of 16 bit images. I've played with it myself, but don't use it in general. Freeware and it's safe, but your call!
  
  
• Go to this site, if you need *any* type of adapter for your camera and telescope. It's run by CNC Parts Supply Inc. and they are always willing to respond to emailed questions about any of their products.
• Another site that has a huge supply of telescope related items that you might not find elsewhere is Scope Stuff
  
  
• Go to iTelescope.net to get a FREE trial membership on a robotic on-line telescope. They give you approximately 30 minutes on a single color shot telescope in New Mexico that you can use on a first come first serve basis! Great fun if you want to get a glimmer of what it's like to start imaging yourself!
  
  
• When I first started, I converted a Logitech 9000 camera to a web cam for planetary photography using information from this site. Gary Homis gives a great detailed play-by-play description. I took all my early planetary images with that converted Logitech 9000 and was able to get some decent results. In 2015, I purchased a Celestron Skyris 132C color camera and have most recently gone to an ASI385mc that has an even faster frame rate, allowing more frames for processing and producing even better results!
  
  
• And remember...the internet is your friend! There are a lot of people out there that are very knowledgeable and more than willing to help. Try out these three yahoo newsgroups: DeepSkyStacker, RegiStax and ISSTracking. There are of course, many others, but these are specifically applicable to the programs I list above.

For those who might be interested in attending sessions of the Skylight Astronomical Society, Inc. we have our regular meetings on the last Thursday of every month at Rockbottom Observatory in Stow, MA. Several maps with directions appear below. Please also visit the Skylight Astronomical Society main website for more information about Rockbottom Observatory, or become a member of our facebook group!