Messier Astrophotography Reference
Allan Hall
Language: English
Pages: 356
ISBN: 1493766414
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
Allan Hall's Messier Astrophotography Reference takes the task of providing a detailed, practical, visual guide to the night sky's Messier Objects - all 110 of them - seriously, but not without the author's trademark approachability and goal of providing home-based astrophotographers at any experience level with the fundamental resources they need to shoot smart.
In North American skies, throughout the year, a series of bright visual bodies, groups, formations, and phenomenon are categorized as Messier Objects. 110 of these are flung across the galactic veil that we see every night. For each star: a cluster. For each cluster: a galaxy. From nebula to clouds to clusters, these astrological objects are striking, nuanced, each with its own sky path and yearly phases. The task of capturing these in images can be daunting for astrophotographers, making Messier's Astrophotography Reference all the more impactful of a guide.
For astrophotographers: the number of factors to consider when searching out the ideal celestial shot can be daunting. From yearly charts of the night sky's movements to sizing objects, gauging their depth, and choosing how to capture them, astrophotographers have long relied on fundamental - and luckily unchanging - guides for astrological behavior.
From the author of Getting Started: Long Exposure Astrophotography and Getting Started: Budget Astrophotography comes a uniquely comprehensive book sure to change the way that just about any astrophotographer's views their discipline.
A question: What do the Southern Pinwheel Galaxy, the Owl Nebula, and 108 other striking astronomical bodies have in common with you? For the first time: they're all accessible. From home. For beginning astrophotographers. Now - finally - with Allan Hall's Messier Astrophotography Reference - the lessons of Getting Started: Long Exposure Astrophotography and Getting Started: Budget Astrophotography are elevated, targeted, and laid out in an intuitive format meant for providing home-based astrophotographers with a practical road map for all 110 North American Messier Objects in the night sky.
From your bedroom desk to nights in the field, Messier Astrophotography Reference represents a condensed, intuitive resource. In it, each Messier Object is highlighted with a photograph and a rich entry of details, context, sizing, yearly shooting charts, and more. Hall's approachable tone makes for a clean narrative in which the goal is the keenest understanding of these objects, their "characters", movements, obstacles in shooting, and points of interest.
As a companion piece for Getting Started: Long Exposure Astrophotography, this book takes on a natural supplementary role. Further developed by its author to be a full standalone resource on its own, Messier Astrophotography Reference is comprehensive, targeted, and brisk. From sizing your shot to deciding on your range of depth - Hall takes readers from step one to the final shutter snap; giving them the tools to interpret their experience with the Messier Objects.
For anyone with practical astrophotographical ambitions; whether they're gathering supplies and waiting for that first shoot or experienced astrophotographers ready to delve into a comprehensive Messier Object guide, Allan Hall's Messier Astrophotography Reference is essential.
Nocturne: A Journey in Search of Moonlight
Nearest Star: The Surprising Science of Our Sun (2nd Edition)
Solar Cataclysm: How the Sun Shaped the Past and What We Can Do to Save Our Future
The Essential Cosmic Perspective (6th Edition)
Physics of Space Storms: From the Solar Surface to the Earth
The target: Now here is a open cluster that is deceptively interesting. Looking at it through a telescope will show nothing overly interesting, a little star color, especially from that bright big yellow guy on the lower right (HIP 37379), but not much else. Take a picture at medium exposure (150‐240 seconds for me) and you get a little blue halo around one star just outside the center to the left. Try as you might, you can't get rid of that halo. I even moved the scope a little to see if it was.
You do it in very small amounts and spend some time looking at the results before you commit. About the target: This barred spiral galaxy is roughly 15 million light years away in the constellation Hydra and is one of the closest of its kind to us, making it one of only a few galaxies visible in handheld binoculars. It is unique in that there have been six supernovae observed in this galaxy with the latest being SN 1983N. Discovered by French astronomer Nicolas Louis de Lacaille on the 23rd.
Oldest known stars in our galaxy at 13 billion years old. According to spectroscopic observations this cluster appears to be two distinct clusters, or one cluster that has gone through two cycles of star formation. Where it is: Right ascension: 16h 23m 35.22s Declination: –26° 31′ 32.7″ Imaging the target: This globular is one of the few that can be captured pretty well with one set of exposures if you watch your stretching due to the fact that its core is not as dense as many others. The.
And dimmer than its neighbors M10 and M12. In 1938 photographic evidence was obtained of a nova in the cluster, one of only two known novae in globular clusters. Where it is: Right ascension: 17h 37m 36.15s Declination: –03° 14′ 45.3″ Imaging the target: Though not as impressive as something like M13, M14 is a lot easier to shoot. With one set of exposures you can achieve a reasonable background of stars, and a reasonably well defined core. The only issue you will have with this approach is.
Shooting color here, this nebula is much like M8 and M17 in that it is not bright red as many people seem to think. In regards to M17 for example, according to the Students for the Exploration and Development of Space, "The color of the Omega Nebula is reddish, with some graduation to pink. This color comes from the hot hydrogen gas which is excited to shine by the hottest stars which have just formed within the nebula. However, the brightest region is actually of white color, not overexposed as.