AWARD-WINNING ASTROIMAGES
Like the fields and rolling green hills of the countryside on a summer’s day, or the ocean bathed in a golden sunset, a starry night sky is so beautiful that it’s only natural that people want to photograph it. Similar to any creative hobby, there are different levels of expertise you can aspire to and reach. From dark-sky sites, often far from their homes, experienced astrophotographers use high-tech cameras attached to expensive telescopes to capture multiple images of deep-sky objects, which they then layer – or ‘stack’ – together and process using sophisticated image-processing software to create portraits of galaxies, clusters and nebulae, some of these rivalling the images that professional observatories were taking a decade ago.
Other astrophotographers, using just entry-level digital SLR cameras on steady tripods, take beautiful images of constellations, meteor showers and the northern lights from their backyard. And today’s smartphone cameras are sensitive enough and of high enough quality to let anyone take a lovely photograph of a crescent Moon smiling in the twilight, or a close encounter between two planets in the brightening sky before dawn. Astrophotography is not just for the experts. And like any hobby, the more you practise, the better you get. One day you might even win an award for your photographs.
PHOTOGRAPHING EARTH AND SPACE
From his location in the Southern Hemisphere, Mark Gee captures stunning skyscapes that combine the beauty of
