The 100 Best Targets for Astrophotography A Monthly Guide for CCD Im
Astronomical observing and photography are favorite pastimes of yours. You want to combine the two, but you’re not sure how. Or perhaps you have dabbled in astronomy for a while and want to take another step. What do you photograph? Will something that lo
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The 100 Best Targets for Astrophotography
Ruben Kier
Ruben Kier Orange, CT 06477 USA
ISSN 1431-9756 ISBN 978-1-4419-0602-1 e-ISBN 978-1-4419-0603-8 DOI 10.1007/978-1-4419-0603-8 Library of Congress Control Number: 2009928623 © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2009 All rights reserved. This work may not be translated or copied in whole or in part without the written permission of the publisher (Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, 233 Spring Street, New York, NY 10013, USA), except for brief excerpts in connection with reviews or scholarly analysis. Use in connection with any form of information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed is forbidden. The use in this publication of trade names, trademarks, service marks, and similar terms, even if they are not identified as such, is not to be taken as an expression of opinion as to whether or not they are subject to proprietary rights. Printed on acid-free paper Springer is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com)
To my parents, Pearl and Ralph, in celebration of their 60th wedding anniversary: For the nights when you would fall asleep in the car waiting for me at the local observatory, to your support and encouragement of my education, and your enthusiasm about my astrophotography, I am eternally grateful. To my children, Melanie and Shelley, through whose eyes I have rediscovered the marvels of the cosmos; may you never abandon your sense of wonder at the miracles of nature. And to my wife, Stephanie, who by her example has motivated me to become a better citizen, physician, teacher, parent, and spouse.
Preface
A picture tells a thousand words. Some of astronomy’s best communications and teaching tools are its rich legacy of images. Astroimaging began in 1840 when American astronomer John W. Draper took a 20-minute exposure of the Moon through a 5-inch. Newtonian reflecting telescope. Since then, professional and amateur astronomers, nature photographers, and ordinary people with cameras have created millions of celestial images. Some of these photos have led to important discoveries. In 1888, a photograph of the Andromeda Galaxy (M31) revealed its spiral structure. In 1919, a picture taken during a total solar eclipse confirmed Einstein’s theory that massive objects bend starlight. In 1930, American astronomer Clyde Tombaugh discovered Pluto on a photograph of a starry region in Gemini. And in 2004, the Hubble Space Telescope took a million-second-long exposure of a seemingly empty region of space in the constellation Fornax and revealed thousands of distant galaxies. Likewise, amateur astronomers have made important contributions. Some of their images have shown previously unknown comets, asteroids, and supernovae. Most amateurs, however, image celestial objects for the sheer joy of it. They produce impressive results using techniques unknown to astronomy only
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