Ultra-deep imaging

EVER SINCE DIGITAL DETECTORS supplanted film as the dominant photographic medium, some of the most colourful and appealing images of deep sky targets have come from talented amateurs armed with sensitive electronic cameras and high-quality telescopes. Yet many of us with relatively modest equipment look at the pictures produced with giant telescopes at professional observatories and dream about taking pictures as good. You might think, “If only I had a bigger telescope or more sensitive camera…” Well, the good news is that with a bit of patience and persistence, you can capture deep sky photographs that rival or even exceed the depth of those recorded by the pros and reveal rarely seen features.

In early 2013 I set out to realise a long-time dream of mine: to take an exceedingly deep astrophoto incorporating more than 100 hours of exposure to reveal faint and exotic structures seldom (if ever) seen before. Little did I know that this project would become so rewarding that it inspired my passion to acquire incredible amounts of data of several objects over the following years, and lead to collaborations with professional astronomers and NASA. Here’s how I did it —