A dad and daughter team from Warrington are reaching for the stars and beyond with their Astrophotography hobby of deep-sky photography.
Chris Digata from Houghton Green, Fearnhead, has now became hooked after his 21-year-old daughter started visual astronomy.
Now when the skies are clear over Warrington they are capturing stunning images of the night skies including the Milky Way and beyond, with images that once could only be viewed from space.
Explaining how their hobby has developed Chris said: “A few years ago, a friend of mine showed me a live video and image of the planet SATURN taken from his back garden.
As a keen photographer and videographer, these images stuck in my mind.
“A few years later my daughter started visual astronomy and got me hooked (thanks Charl), after a few months looking at the planets,
moons, sun and taking what images we could using an attached mobile phone I then got involved in Astrophotography with dedicated Astro video and image equipment and hi tech star tracking mounts for deep-sky photography of DSO (deep sky objects).
“There are many different types of astrophotography, from wide-angle Milky Way photography to deep-sky photography through an astronomical telescope. The basic elements of this hobby include the understanding of long-exposure images, focus, and image processing.
If your passion is strong enough, it will carry you through the steep learning curve involved in astrophotography and will begin to appreciate the scale and vastness of space.
“Over time, my equipment evolved into a deep-sky astrograph kit that allows me to photograph galaxies, nebulae are star clusters. A tracking telescope mount and dedicated camera are required as it cannot be visually used via an eyepiece. A visual astronomy telescope is what sparked my passion to photograph deep-sky objects.
“Along with the individual photos you capture (light frames), you can benefit from taking calibration image frames such as dark, bias, and flat frames to help correct the issues that come with long exposure photography.
“In astrophotography, we use ultra-long exposures to capture dim objects in space. I’m talking exposures of 3-4 minutes each or longer.
“As the sensor records the light entering the camera, it collects much more detail than our naked eye could ever see. As well as faint details of galaxy spiral arms and nebulosity, we are also able to record the intense colour of the gasses, dust, and stars in space.
“Using high-speed photo filters for different narrowband light wavelengths (Ha, OII, SIII and Infrared) and Anti light pollution.
“To produce detailed images of these DSO’s (deep-sky objects), we need to increase the signal-to-noise ratio of the image. The signal is the light collected by the camera, and noise is – well you all know what camera noise is.
“To combat this, we can improve the signal-to-noise ratio by stacking several images together.
“The signal (the light in our DSO) continues to layer on top of each other, yet the noise falls in random patterns and eventually cancels itself out. I use a software application called Pixinsight to combine multiple image exposures together and for final image processing.
An image will get smoother and smoother as you stack more and more data together.
Don’t like? = Cloudy nights
do like? = Clear skies
The photographs show the Orion molecular cloud complex which also contains the dark Horsehead and bright Orion nebulae.
Chris added: “My main scope is The Rowe-Ackermann Schmidt Astrograph (RASA), An optical system for space surveillance, Space Situational Awareness (SSA), other scientific applications, and advanced wide field astroimaging. It offers unprecedented value in aperture, speed, field of view, and optical performance.”
He added: “I spend an hour outside setting up and checking/programming it all for what i want it to look at and look for.. I then sit inside nice and warm and operate it all remotely from my PC!”
