Wide Field Imaging Not really a novice RV lifestyle forced change in 2009 Light weight and portable equipment Ideal for wide field imaging with camera lenses Technique provides a good place to start imaging Slides are on

First, Why Do I Image? Images provide more detail than visual Allows for more thorough study Color!

Transition from Visual to Imaging Often start with visual equipment (I did) – SCT f/10 (long focal length) – Difficult place to start Very small image scale (~0.5 arcsec/pixel) Very narrow field of view Focus always an issue with an SCT Long focal length requires long exposures May require guiding for good results

Image Scale, a Key Concept From New Astronomy Press CCD Calculator (Ron Wodaski) Difficult Good place to start Image scale = (207 x pixel size)/focal length Wide field minimum

Advantages of Wide Field Imaging No telescope, use camera lenses Low cost mount with RA tracking Image scale is very large (5-50) – Polar alignment still important – Tracking less critical, no guiding Very wide field of view Very portable AstroTrac

200mm Lens Image

85 mm Lens Image

18mm Lens Image Many more images at

My Imaging Equipment Canon XSi – Relatively inexpensive – Large sensor (12 MP) – Can use for terrestrial photography – Good color – Can be modified AstroTrac mount and pier – Light weight (19 lbs) – Quick and easy to setup (15-30 min).

My Imaging Process Laptop computer – Camera control (Images Plus) – Camera focus (Images Plus) Camera aiming – Red dot sight – Green laser Exposures usually 3min x RAW; 5 darks; usually no flats or bias frames

Image Processing Software Images Plus…. Simple, but complete Registar…. Nothing better Photoshop plugins – Gradient Xterminator – Prodigital Astronomy Tools – Picture Code Noise Ninja Gradient Xterminator