Talk:Astrophotography

How To?
I'm planning on doing considerable expansion here, along the lines of a "how-to" guide. Anyone who wants to help is more than welcome at User:JohnOwens/Pet Projects/astrophotography. --John Owens (talk) 19:54, 2005 Apr 2 (UTC)
 * Isn't a "how-to" contrary to Wikipedia's policy? WP:NOT 69.72.93.219 05:11, 25 May 2006 (UTC)

How to
I have cleaned up the page and removed whole sections on "How-To". How-Tos are specificaly listed as not being encyclopedic (please see What Wikipedia is not---> Instruction manuals). I took it on my self to add the deleted information to WikiHOW. It can be seen (and edited) at How to Photograph the Night Sky (Astrophotography). Other sections were re-worded to make them more descriptive and less "How-To". Halfblue 02:55, 17 October 2006 (UTC)

This article needs work
I have added a "refimprove" tag. What is "astrophotography"? Is it a field of hard science that has since become a hobby? The article seems to state that since it describes little science. I don't know if "astrophotography" is even discussed as a serious subject in scientific circles. We need some sources that better describe what astrophotography is all about (and NOT "how to" sources). Maybe there should be another article with a name along the lines of "Astronomical imaging" that better describes the current state of the art in the professional field. Fountains of Bryn Mawr (talk) 13:00, 27 March 2008 (UTC)

The "how to" corral
How to links fall under WP:NOT - They are not "content-relevant links" since articles do not contain "how to" or "instruction" content. This is also stated at WP:EL, links to be avioded, statement Number 1. Even if we allow "How To", what do we link? Wikipedia is not a linkfarm, so the linked "how to" would have to have a lot of relevant "how to" and other information. The "how to" I just removed is about a very narrow topic with no other information and is even about a single news related event. I am moving current and previous "how to" links here (Fountains of Bryn Mawr (talk) 13:00, 27 March 2008 (UTC)) (one added Fountains of Bryn Mawr (talk) 02:00, 14 September 2011 (UTC)):
 * An introduction to astrophotography
 * Tips on Photographing Lunar Eclipses
 * Astrophotography: Film and Digital
 * Astronomy Online - Astrophotography
 * (reference)
 * (reference)
 * John Pazmino, ASTROPHOTOGRAPHY WITH SIMPLE DIGITAL CAMERAS (reference)

Major edit
Did a major edit of this article for reasons cited above. I also WP:BRD merged/redirected Unconventional astrophotography and Digital camera astrophotography since they don't seem to be verifiable topics WP:V and were how-to articles WP:NOTHOWTO. Fountains of Bryn Mawr (talk) 15:31, 27 May 2010 (UTC)

Is the use of telescopes with cameras to photograph satellites and the space station called astrophotography ?
I want to add links from the sightings section of the International Space Station article to the Astrophotography article.

There are no references on any page to satellites in relation to people who are interested in photographing them, are satellites and the space station considered to be celestial objects or astronomical objects ? it says 'natural bodies' does that need redefining, or should astrophotography be identified as a misnomer, and if so, what is this activities technical definition ?

Is photographing the ISS considered Astrophotography ?

Also, the answer and the reason why may make a good addition this the article. Penyulap  talk 23:00, 12 June 2011 (UTC)


 * Sounds like a good add to the "Amateur astrophotography" section since it sometimes is listed as a subject (pros do this as well but it just seems to fall under "satellite tracking"). I am noticing when I did a rework of this article that I missed something like an "Activities and goals" sub-section explaining "so what do amateurs shoot and why do they do it?" Could go above the gallery with the gallery being a sub of it and satellite photography could be mentioned as one of the activities. Fountains of Bryn Mawr (talk) 12:35, 13 June 2011 (UTC)


 * That sounds good. Now, in relation to my other question, is this astrophotography ? well, is it ? I'm not an expert, is it disqualified in any way because it is a man-made object? Do you think the answer to that question is a good thing to include on your page within the definition of 'what is astrophotography' in the articles lead ? I'm going to go and ask this on theTalk:Astronomical object page as well. It's in common useage, and I want to clear it up, and update the ISS page, which is my field of expertise. (I've edited my original enquiry above)  Penyulap   talk 21:19, 14 June 2011 (UTC)


 * Well looking at the links, I'm seeing one for it being AsPh, and one that is ambiguous, it's satellite photography, but as a subbranch of AsPh. Anyhow, I need to get back to my ISS page, I'll check back here looking for anything like 'astrophotography differs from satellite tacking because satellites are not considered celestial objects [1][2][3][4][5]' or 'satellite tracking is a sub-branch of astrophotography which specializes in photographing man-made objects [1][2][3][4][5]' although of course [1] good one would do ! Penyulap   talk 23:25, 14 June 2011 (UTC)


 * The problem I have had with this article is "Astrophotography" itself is ambiguous as a topic. Professionally you don't see it at all, each type of astronomical imaging is broken down into its relative sub-disciplines (star cartography, astrometry, stellar classification, spectroscopy, etc). It is a term in Amateur astronomy that seems to me to be on par with "Deep sky object", it is a general amateur related topic with no solid definition. Non-celestial objects are lumped into astrophotography re: Aurora and satellites and even meteors, so an ambiguous sub-set of an ambiguous term? I would think satellites merit a passing mention. We only need to tell a reader this is part of the referenced literature out there, we don't need to define it. Fountains of Bryn Mawr (talk) 21:47, 16 June 2011 (UTC)


 * So would it be fair to say 'Astrophotography is a term used by Amateur astronomers and it's (conversational) meaning is evolving' or something like that ? By the way, I have no desire to edit this page in any way, I just noticed it does not assist in it's own definition, for people who will make what I think is, or will be, a popular enquiry. It needs to mention artificial satellites which if nothing else, can get in the way of people taking pictures of other things. ! lolz  Penyulap   talk 23:03, 16 June 2011 (UTC)


 * In the meantime, I support your suggestions about usage of the image in the article. Please include it any way you wish, I don't have experience editing this article, so I'll leave it to you, is that ok ? Penyulap   talk 09:16, 19 June 2011 (UTC)


 * Well... I've seen it used to talk about photographic plate exposure using large optical scopes (like doing sky surveys using Hooker in the early years...) 65.94.47.63 (talk) 07:33, 2 July 2011 (UTC)

Extended "History" section
An extended "History" section dif created by Dstuddfelix was added on 10 December, 2012. I moved it here to talk because it needs cleanup re: primary sourced and un-sourced claims need secondary sources (WP:PST). It also needs minor tweaking for formal third person tone (WP:TONE). Fountains of Bryn Mawr (talk) 14:01, 11 December 2012 (UTC)

Berkowski's first name might be "Julius"
According to this, it looks like the eclipse photographer's full name was Julius Berkowski, but I don't speak German, so I can't be sure. http://www.astro.uni-jena.de/~schie/20130000_WittmannSchielicke_Parish_Mitt_Gauss-Ges_Nr_50(2013)_S_37-54.pdf see page 45. Battling McGook (talk) 15:31, 28 July 2015 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified 3 one external links on Astrophotography. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20100731184636/http://www.prescottastronomyclub.org:80/prime_focus.html to http://www.prescottastronomyclub.org/prime_focus.html
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20090831081806/http://home.comcast.net:80/~astrokeith/methods/methods.htm to http://home.comcast.net/~astrokeith/methods/methods.htm
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20120422095828/http://www.artdeciel.com:80/Exposure/post/2009/09/13/The-History-of-Astrophotography.aspx to http://www.artdeciel.com/Exposure/post/2009/09/13/The-History-of-Astrophotography.aspx
 * Added tag to http://www.artdeciel.com/Exposure/post/2012/08/14/The-History-of-Astrophotography.aspx

When you have finished reviewing my changes, please set the checked parameter below to true or failed to let others know (documentation at ).

Cheers.— InternetArchiveBot  (Report bug) 10:24, 20 October 2016 (UTC)

A Commons file used on this page has been nominated for deletion
The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page has been nominated for deletion: Participate in the deletion discussion at the nomination page. —Community Tech bot (talk) 01:21, 9 January 2020 (UTC)
 * Orion Belt.jpg

no milky way?
I use Huawei p30 pro and I never got the Milky Way, and I am in low light pollution, all I can see is the Andromeda Galaxy and nothing else, there is no Milky Way, Why? Swimscot (talk) 13:25, 11 February 2020 (UTC)

Suggestions for a different direction
I think this article would benefit with a generic (software agnostic) "Why not How" description of the Astrophotography work flow:

1. Acquisition (already covered to some extent) 2. Image calibration, discussion of dark, bias, and flat calibration frames. 3. A discussion of color strategies, Narrow band, RGB, OSC, and various color pallet choices. 4. Star alignment and image "stacking" or integration 5. Stretching, noise reduction, de-staring, cosmetic corrections

Targa86 (talk) 16:17, 20 March 2020 (UTC)

A Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion
The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion: Participate in the deletion discussion at the nomination page. —Community Tech bot (talk) 18:55, 5 September 2020 (UTC)
 * Orion Belt.jpg

IRIS software
The detailed description of one specific piece of software in this article is inappropriate and unbalanced and has been removed. The article is about astrophotography and is not the place to promote specific pieces of processing software (of which there are many and IRIS is not even one of the most common ones) any more than it would be the place to promote specific camera or telescope equipment. Point of Presence talk  12:03, 1 March 2023 (UTC)

Astronomical filters
Hi @HasselbladWhisperer

I've just seen your edit on the article. You included information about specialised optical filters in the lead paragraph. I think this is an important topic in astrophotography and was wondering if you'd like to work together to expand this further?

For example, there are the Hubble palette filters to capture specific gasses in nebulae such as Ha, SII and O3 emissions, but there are also many other filters available for solar photography, stellar, lunar and planetary etc.

Let me know your thoughts.

Thanks,

Starlights99 (talk) 09:08, 12 April 2023 (UTC)


 * Hi @Starlights99.
 * That's an excellent point. I am aware of specialty optical filters for astrophotography and it deserves a section describing their types, functioning and applications.
 * Happy to work together to build on this topic.
 * Best, HasselbladWhisperer (talk) 14:11, 21 May 2023 (UTC)
 * Hi @HasselbladWhisperer
 * Apologies for the late response! Please let me know if you're still interested in collaborating. I'll start to pull together some material and sources for astronomical filters..
 * Thanks,
 * Starlights99 (talk) 19:22, 12 June 2023 (UTC)
 * Hi @HasselbladWhisperer
 * I've found the following sources with some good information we could add to the article..
 * An Introduction to Observational Astrophysics - Mark Gallaway: This source provides a great explanation on the bayer matrix in CMOS cameras and explains the importance of broadband and narrowband filters in astronomy, including how they help isolate wavelengths of light produced by different gasses.
 * The Art of Astrophotography - Ian Morrison: This source provides some very good information on different filters that are available, including information about solar filters for photographing the Sun, and IR filters for Lunar photography.
 * I will continue to look for more sources. In the meantime, I’ll draft some content for the article..
 * Thanks,
 * Starlights99 (talk) 14:53, 20 June 2023 (UTC)
 * hi @HasselbladWhisperer
 * I have drafted the following information to include in the article. Let me know your thoughts:
 * "Filters can be categorised into two classes; broadband and narrowband. Broadband filters allow a wide range of wavelengths to pass through, removing small amounts of light pollution. Narrowband filters only allow light from very specific wavelengths to pass through, blocking out the vast majority of the spectrum.
 * Astronomical filters usually come as sets and are manufactured to specific standards, in order to allow different observatories to make observations at the same standard. A common filter standard in the astronomy community is the Johnson Morgan UVB, designed to match a CCD’s colour response to that of photographic film. However there are over 200 standards available."
 * I am still working on more content for the article but as a start, please let me know your thoughts..
 * Starlights99 (talk) 14:50, 14 July 2023 (UTC)