The Amateur Astrophotographer Robert J. Vanderbei

75 Pages·2004·1.17 MB·English

The Amateur Astrophotographer
Robert J. Vanderbei
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY, PRINCETON, NJ 08544
E-mailaddress: [email protected]
THEAMATEURASTROPHOTOGRAPHER
Copyright(cid:13)c2003byRobertJ.Vanderbei. Allrightsreserved. PrintedintheUnitedStatesof
America. ExceptaspermittedundertheUnitedStatesCopyrightActof1976,nopartofthis
publicationmaybereproducedordistributedinanyformorbyanymeans,orstoredinadata
baseorretrievalsystem,withoutthepriorwrittenpermissionofthepublisher.
ISBN0-0000-0000-0
ThetextforthisbookwasformatedinTimes-RomanusingAMS-LATEX(whichisamacropack-
ageforLeslieLamport’sLATEX, whichitselfisamacropackageforDonaldKnuth’sTEXtext
formattingsystem)andconvertedtopdfformatusingPDFLATEX.Allfigureswereincorporated
intothetextwiththemacropackageGRAPHICX.TEX.
Many thanks to Krisadee, Marisa,
and Diana for putting up with many
weary days following long sleepless
nights.

Contents
Preface ix
Part1. EquipmentandTechniques 1
Chapter1. Introduction 3
1. Location,Location,Location 3
2. IsitWorththeEffort? 4
Chapter2. Equipment 9
1. ChoosingaTelescope 9
2. ChoosingaCamera 14
Chapter3. ImageAcquisition 21
1. PolarAlignment 22
2. Attachments 24
3. Focusing 25
4. FindingFaintFuzzies 26
Chapter4. ImageProcessing 29
1. RawImageFrames 29
2. DarkFrames 32
3. BiasandFlatFrames 33
4. ImageCalibration 34
5. Stacking 37
6. AnalyzingtheImage 37
Chapter5. ImageEnhancementandPresentation 43
1. UnsharpMask 43
2. GammaStretching 47
3. DigitalDevelopment 48
4. VariantsofDigitalDevelopment 53
5. Deconvolution 54
6. CorrectingforComa/Field-Curvature 56
Chapter6. Stories 61
1. Jupiter 61
vii
viii CONTENTS
2. Starquest2002 64
Bibliography 67
Preface
Acknowledgements. ManythankstoAlKellywhocarefullyreadthe
manuscriptandmadeseveralsuggestionsthatenhancedthefinalresult.
RobertJ.Vanderbei
January,2003
ix

Part 1
Equipment and Techniques