Sunflower Galaxy (Messier 63). Image by Sergey Trudolyubov
Pajarito Astronomers Club News:
The Pajarito Astronomers Club has a meeting this Saturday June 17 featuring the work of Sergey Trudolyubov titled, “Capturing the Wonders of the Universe: An Introduction to Deep-Sky Astrophotography”.
Club business will be conducted 1:15-1:45 p.m. with the talk 2-3:30 p.m. in the large meeting room upstairs at Mesa Public Library.
Abstract
Deep-sky astrophotography reveals so much more of our universe: a plethora of colors and detail that can’t easily be seen with the naked eye. From wide field lens photography to imaging through a telescope, astrophotography remains the pinnacle of long exposure photography. Thanks to the recent progress in astronomical detectors, amateur astronomers can now image and study objects that used to be observed primarily with large professional telescopes and advanced scientific equipment.
On a personal level, astrophotography can be extremely rewarding, presenting a unique challenge and adding a sense of extraordinary to our daily life. Capturing the wonders of deep space leads to a better appreciation of the universe we live in.
I will talk about astrophotography based on my experiences over the past several years in this hobby. We will go from the basics of choosing the right gear and capturing your first deep sky images to more advanced tips on data acquisition and processing techniques. This presentation will cover imaging of a wide range of deep sky objects from Galactic nebulae and star clusters to more distant objects like galaxies and galaxy clusters and groups.
About the presenter:
Sergey Trudolyubov is a former professional astrophysicist and an avid amateur astronomer and astrophotographer living in Los Alamos, NM. After receiving his Ph.D. in astrophysics from Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology and Russian Space Research Institute he worked in the field of high energy astrophysics at LANL and the University of California. Although he had been processing and analyzing scientific astronomical data for years, he has always been excited about obtaining the data himself using amateur telescopes and imaging cameras. Since getting his first telescope as a kid, he’s been doing deep sky imaging first using film and, after a long hiatus, digital cameras and astronomical CCD and CMOS cameras. You can find his astrophotography work on Astrobin site: https://www.astrobin.com/users/strudolyubov/ and some of his images featured in Astronomy magazine.