Having retired as a professional astronomer and moved to a rural (Bortle Class 3) site in New Zealand, I decided to take up the hobby of astrophotography six months ago. I started with a good knowledge of astronomy, CCD processing, but no kit apart from a DSLR.
I thought I would put down a few of my lessons learned – and still to learn – over the a very enjoyable start to the hobby.
1) It is highly addictive. Early on, I produced a number of Milky Way time-lapses with just my DSLR and a fixed tripod. But like anyaddiction great hobby, you will always want to do more. In this case, unfortunately this also involves money. Although modest in cost compared to some other hobbies, it may take up a sizeable fraction of your disposable income. And be prepared to impress only yourself and those on Astrobin. My friends and family still regard some of my early time-lapses as their favourites.
2) Do not try to do too much per observing session. Early on, I tried to do any many objects as I could squeeze in during a night. Sometimes even swapping lenses/telescopes. But finger trouble increases exponentially during the night, and I learned to focus (both literally and metaphorically) on one object per night. Keep the set-up and observing as simple as possible while still stretching (a little) your comfort zone in order to improve.
3) SNR, SNR, SNR. An extension of lesson two. Nothing beats SNR per resolution element. Modern detectors have really low read noise and dark current, so you will mostly be battling sky noise in broadband exposures. No need for the 5min sub in these cases. In fact, tracking errors, dynamic range drive towards almost as short a sub as your file storage, CPU and your patience can take. As an aside, I am intrigued by all the talk around “fast telescopes”. Almost like a “fast car”. But owning a fast telescope comes with almost as many tuning issues as a fast car. [See point 2 above]. And indeed, it is not the speed of the telescope (or beam) that counts – but rather what you do with it. I can turn my RC8 f8 into an f4 simply by resampling at x 2, with a small additional cost in noise.
4) Post-processing is critical. Coming from the professional side of things, I had an ingrained reluctance to go “non-linear” with processing. But coupled with noise reduction algorithms, this is where most of the “Wow!” factor comes from in DSO imaging. I know I should probably complement it with other software tools, but PixInsight does the job for me from go to whoa.
5) Broadband imaging is just the start… Even during my professional career, I marvelled at the images created by "amateur" astronomers. That sense of awe and wonder in even greater today I look at many of the images on Astrobin. They inspire me to do more and improve all the time. This extends beyond my current focus on DSO imaging to the planetary and narrow-band images. Like magic, they inspire in me the question “How did they do that?”. After the purchase of two mounts, two telescopes, one humungous CMOS colour camera, one ASIAir, autoguider, electronic focuser, software package and the construction of one roll-off roof observatory, perhaps I need to heed lesson 1.
6) Invariably great and friendly advice from Astrobin. The lessons above were in almost equal measure from experience and Astrobin. Thanks everyone, this is my feeble attempt to give a little back.
I thought I would put down a few of my lessons learned – and still to learn – over the a very enjoyable start to the hobby.
1) It is highly addictive. Early on, I produced a number of Milky Way time-lapses with just my DSLR and a fixed tripod. But like any
2) Do not try to do too much per observing session. Early on, I tried to do any many objects as I could squeeze in during a night. Sometimes even swapping lenses/telescopes. But finger trouble increases exponentially during the night, and I learned to focus (both literally and metaphorically) on one object per night. Keep the set-up and observing as simple as possible while still stretching (a little) your comfort zone in order to improve.
3) SNR, SNR, SNR. An extension of lesson two. Nothing beats SNR per resolution element. Modern detectors have really low read noise and dark current, so you will mostly be battling sky noise in broadband exposures. No need for the 5min sub in these cases. In fact, tracking errors, dynamic range drive towards almost as short a sub as your file storage, CPU and your patience can take. As an aside, I am intrigued by all the talk around “fast telescopes”. Almost like a “fast car”. But owning a fast telescope comes with almost as many tuning issues as a fast car. [See point 2 above]. And indeed, it is not the speed of the telescope (or beam) that counts – but rather what you do with it. I can turn my RC8 f8 into an f4 simply by resampling at x 2, with a small additional cost in noise.
4) Post-processing is critical. Coming from the professional side of things, I had an ingrained reluctance to go “non-linear” with processing. But coupled with noise reduction algorithms, this is where most of the “Wow!” factor comes from in DSO imaging. I know I should probably complement it with other software tools, but PixInsight does the job for me from go to whoa.
5) Broadband imaging is just the start… Even during my professional career, I marvelled at the images created by "amateur" astronomers. That sense of awe and wonder in even greater today I look at many of the images on Astrobin. They inspire me to do more and improve all the time. This extends beyond my current focus on DSO imaging to the planetary and narrow-band images. Like magic, they inspire in me the question “How did they do that?”. After the purchase of two mounts, two telescopes, one humungous CMOS colour camera, one ASIAir, autoguider, electronic focuser, software package and the construction of one roll-off roof observatory, perhaps I need to heed lesson 1.
6) Invariably great and friendly advice from Astrobin. The lessons above were in almost equal measure from experience and Astrobin. Thanks everyone, this is my feeble attempt to give a little back.
)))
Besides my expertise was in observing quasars (lot of them) which don't make for thrilling DSO targets. Having said that there are a few good AGN out there: CenA, NGC1068.
