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Astrophotography, The Complete Guide

We take deep-sky photography to the next level

Deep-sky astrophotography produces some of the most spectacular images in astronomy. It’s immensely rewarding, but is also perhaps the most demanding of all the subjects covered in this series. Here we’ll show you the best way to set up your gear, capture the data and process it to create your own deep-sky images.

We introduce the art of deep-sky photography

Deep-sky astrophotography produces some of the most spectacular images in astronomy. It’s immensely rewarding, but is also perhaps the most demanding of all the subjects covered in this series. Here we’ll show you the best way to set up your gear, capture the data and process it to create your own deep-sky images.

We show you how to capture stunning images of the Sun

Taking an image of the Sun gives you the opportunity to study a star close-up. Of course, there’s a real danger from the intensity of light – it’s one of the only times that astronomy can pose a risk of physical injury. In this course, we’ll look at how to image the Sun safely.

We show you how to capture stunning images of the planets

In part three of Astrophotography, The Complete Guide we look at how to capture Mars using a colour webcam. There's also our third software walkthrough to watch, which looks at how to merge red, green and blue filtered images of Jupiter into a full-colour final shot.

We show you how to image the Moon

Capture our nearest celestial neighbour in all its glory with the help of the second part of our astro imaging masterclass. In it, we show you how to capture great pictures of the Moon using a telescope, a mount and a webcam, as well as providing essential information about how best to use that equipment, and how to tweak your resulting images with photo editing software.

The Milky Way can be captured with just a camera and a tripod

In the first part of our six part series on astrophotography, we show you how to capture great pictures with simple-to-use, inexpensive equipment. A camera and a tripod is all you need to start taking photos of fantastic ‘nightscapes’ – big, wide-field views of the heavens encompassing things like bright stars, the Moon, and the great sweep of our own Galaxy, the Milky Way.