I'm not much of an astrophotographer, having long been of the opinion that there are much better-equipped people out there who make images better than any I ever will. I started experimenting with astrophotography when I was in high school, shooting film with a very basic, manual SLR camera. In the years since I have moved into digital and had opportunities to use some big glass (up to 3.5 meters). Lately I have been pushing the limits of astrophotography with small telescopes equipped with mobile phone cameras.
The gallery below features some of my best images, each with a description of the subject and some technical details about how the image was made.
The gallery below features some of my best images, each with a description of the subject and some technical details about how the image was made.
Deep Sky Objects
Hydrogen Alpha Solar Imagery
To make these images, I use a Coronado PST with a 40 mm aperture and an etalon with a bandpass of 1 Å at the Hɑ line center. Images are captured with my iPhone 12 Mini and processed with the GNU Image Manipulation Program (GIMP).
Lunar Imagery
Most of these images were made using eyepiece projection through telescopes ranging from 8 to 16 inches of aperture. Most are the results of stacking individual 4K 60fps stills to "freeze out" the seeing, with further manipulation of the results in GIMP.
Lunar Domes and Volcanic Features
These images include surface features attributable to volcanic activity on the Moon. Principal among these are lunar domes, which are a type of shield volcano.