SkyNews: Scope for Starters
AstroPhotography Targets - Month-to-Month listing of potential targets for AstroPhotography
This Years Astronomical Events - What's happening in the sky this year
Astro-Photography - Best Astrophotography Images taken through the years
Hardware - Most hardware I use
Software - Software used for image capture and processing.
Astronomy Techniques - Methods used for capturing and processing images.
Used Gear for Sale - Equipment I no longer use for sale at about 1/2 retail price.
Time-Laps - Astronomical time-lapse videos
Sites - Location commonly used for Observing and imaging
Studies and Calculations - Studies to compare techniques or hardware. Also Some calculations associated with the hardware
Camera Analysis - How to determine optimal camera settings exposure lengths, etc. for you location taking into account Light pollution, filters, etc.
SkyNews: Scope for Starters
Go Astronomy - General Astronomy website
MetroBlue - Great info on seeing for planetary imaging and Astrophotography.
Astrospheric - Another good toll for determining seeing, and forecast.
The Sky Live - Online Planetarium to see what's up tonight.
StarAtlas - Simpler planetarium website.
TimeandDate.com
Planets
Phase of the moon - Nice graphical explanation of the moon phase in relation to the earth
TimeAndDate-Planets - Planets Visible in the Night Sky tonight
East Valley Astronomy Club - Astronomy club located in the Phoenix East Valley
Telescopius - Information on objects in the sky, also can determine what object will look like for you setup.
Light Pollution Map - Lookup how much light pollution is at your location with this handy map.
AstroBackyard - Great overall resource on Astrophotography, Hardware Reviews and techniques - Trevor Jones
Bortle Scale - Numeric values assigned to describe how dark the sky is.
Software/Freeware
Field of View Calculator - Given the specifications for your telescope and eyepiece see how bit an object will appear.
Surface Brightness Calculator - Given the magnitude and surface area of an object will calculate the surface brightness.
Provided below is a list of software I have found very useful through the years
|
Classification |
Name |
Cost |
Version |
Description |
Company |
|
Hardware Drivers |
Free |
6.2 |
The ASCOM Initiative is a loosely-knit group of astronomy software developers and astronomy device manufacturers devoted to vendor-independent plug-and-play control. ASCOM is a many-to-many and language-independent architecture, supported by most astronomy devices which connect to Windows computers. The diagram below shows how ASCOM differs from traditional astronomy instrument control architectures. |
N/A | |
|
Image Capture |
$20.00 |
3.57 |
The Swiss army knife for your astro imaging sessions. No matter what are imaging with - Canon EOS, Nikon, CCD or CMOS astro camera, APT has the right tool for planning, collimating, aligning, focusing, framing, controlling/tethering, imaging, synchronizing, scheduling, analyzing and monitoring. |
||
|
Tracking |
Freeware |
2.6.5 |
PHD2 is telescope guiding software that simplifies the process of tracking a guide star, letting you concentrate on other aspects of deep-sky imaging or spectroscopy. |
Stark Labs | |
|
Image Processing |
$200 |
1.8 |
PixInsight is an advanced image processing software platform. It has been designed specifically for astrophotography and other technical imaging fields. PixInsight is a modular, open-architecture system where the entire processing and file handling capabilities are implemented as external installable modules. |
||
|
Analysis |
$180 |
2.0 |
CCDInspector allows astrophotographers to assess and tune their optical systems performance with its real-time optical analysis technology. For the first time, users can precisely collimate their optical system with the CCD in place and in focus. In addition, CCDInspector provides 3D field curvature maps, visual FWHM displays, detailed analysis of the quality of FITS images and much more. |
||
|
Focus |
$150 |
4.1.0.85 |
FocusMax provides complete accurate control of your ASCOM-compliant motorized focuser to achieve precise optimal focusing of your imaging train. In addition, tools are provided for characterizing the temperature dependency of your system for temperature-compensated focusing. Analytical tools are provided to optimize results from acquired data. |
| |
|
Plate Solving |
Free |
2.28 |
Integrates with APT to platesolve your image |
||
|
TimeLapse |
Freeware |
2.3 |
Stack photos to make time lapse and star trails photos |
| |
|
Photo Editing |
Freeware |
2.8.20 |
GIMP is a cross-platform image editor. I use this instead of PhotoShop. Used for more complex image manipulation. |
| |
|
Photo Editing |
Freeware |
4.44 |
Image viewing, and some basic processing. Mostly used for batch file conversion and generating thumbnails |
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