Below you will find:

• Some Tips
• Filter information
• Mapped Color tips

Luckily there exists a few excellent resources for those interested in the subject. There is my own Advanced Topics area of the website, and there are the following books - a must have in any aspiring astrophotographers library:

• Terrence Dickinson and Alan Dyer's The Backyard Astronomer's Guide introduces astrophotography and the equipment required with a very realistic and no-nonsense method
• Michael Covington's Astrophotography for the Amateur - Second Edition introduces a more in-depth look at film-based astrophotography and briefly touches on CCD technology - while the print date of 1999 seems outdated, the information in this book is valid even with the use of CCD's
• Steve Howell's Handbook of CCD Astronomy is not a user manual on how to use a CCD camera, it goes into an in-depth look at the CCD itself and introduces the scientific capabilities of a CCD - read this and you will never see a CCD camera the same way again
• Ron Wodaski's The New CCD Astronomy is the current reigning champion of an astrophotography how-to - very smartly written by a down-to-Earth fellow (I had the pleasure of opening a dialog with him) with easy to follow instructions

In addition to his book, Ron Wodaski also has a website and a Yahoo Groups Forum.

And if you have a particular image you are proud of, why not share on our gallery? Send me the image and I'll be sure the world (or at least those who visit the site) will see it.

Some Tips:

For film photography of the night sky, a general rule of thumb is:

Kodak films are generally more "red"
Fuji films are generally more "blue"

So for objects like the Moon, Kodak film is quite good and Fuji film is just as good for nebula.

Tips for SLR photography on a tripod:

• No more than a 30 second exposure (longer than that results in star trails)
• To eliminate vibration, use the "hat trick" - place a dark hat over the lens, open the shutter, remove hat to expose, cover lens with hat, close shutter

Filter Tips:

A Quick Word about Filters:

Filters are not a substitute for aperture, and keep in mind that a filter - any filter - reduces the light entering your eye. For best results with a filter, use them for photographs. For visual use, be sure you have very dark skies.

Good luck with your pursuit of the wonderful hobby of Astrophotography.

Mapped Color Images:

A new trend in CCD imagery is something called a mapped color image. All this is is replacing the standard RGB filters with specialized scientific filters

• Replace the Red filter with a 5nm S-II (Sulfur) filter
• Replace the Green filter with an H-alpha (Hydrogen) filter
• Replace the Blue filter with a O-III (Oxygen) filter

Custom Scientific is one place to get these filters.

Here is an example of what can be accomplished with mapped color - images are © 2005 Russell Croman, www.rc-astro.com:

The Rosette Nebula in RGB	The Rosette Nebula in Mapped

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