Digital astrophotography.

The digital revolution has hit photography in a major way in the last decade. The power, ease of use and quality of digital photography has only increased over the years, while at the same time the cost has decreased. One place where you can make the world of digital photography your own is in digital astrophotography.

Just what is astrophotography? As the world would suggest it is the photography of astronomical objects. The moon, the stars, the planets, anything which makes its home in the heavens could be considered the focus of astrophotography. With the many capabilities of digital cameras these days, amateur astrophotography has never been easier.

One term you are going to hear mentioned quite a bit in the world of digital astrophotography is CCD. CCD stands for Charged Coupled Device and it is one of two main methods used by digital cameras to created digital images. Essentially the CCD camera takes light and turns it into an electronic signal. It is basically a digital version of film, and CCD astrophotography has become very popular.

While one of course can take still pictures with digital astrophotography, another growing trend is webcam astrophotography. With webcam astrophotography you can take not only still pictures but take actual moving pictures, using nothing more than a traditional webcam (as long as it is a CCD webcam). This can create good quality moving pictures of the heavens.

All you have to do to start out in webcam astrophotography is get a CCD compatible webcam. Take off the lens to the camera and put use it with your telescope instead of the normal telescopic eyepiece. That is all you need. The software that comes with your webcam will transfer the images to your computer and transform them into digital movie files (or, more commonly these days, your camera will automatically save the movie file into your camera then you just plug the camera into your computer to transfer the images to your hard drive).

Of course one of the big requirements for astrophotography is a telescope. For most basic astrophotography just about any telescope will do, although you can only photograph certain objects (mainly large objects like the Moon, Jupiter and Saturn). If you want to get into more advanced astrophotography you are going to need a more advanced telescope.

In terms of lens, the Barlow lens is generally said to be the best lens to capture the most with your digital astrophotography. The lens is not the only thing to take into telescopic consideration, however, you also have to look at the mount. If your mount is not properly aligned you will find that the stars and astronomic objects you are trying to capture with your camera are moving and you will see nothing but streaks. An equatorial wedge is the mount you will need in order to get a proper look at the stars in order to photograph them properly.

Astronomy is a very fun hobby, and you can make it even more fun by getting involved with digital astrophotography. Don’t just watch the stars, photograph them! With technology getting more inexpensive every day it has never been easier to get into the world of digital astrophotography.