AstroWorldCreations
Distant galaxies, colourful nebulas and iconic planets.
This website is dedicated to amateur astrophotography, its equipment, techniques, processing and workflows.
A resource and inspiration for anyone interested in astronomy and photography.
Recent Blog posts
After six years of imaging from my backyard, the decision was made to move one of the rigs to a remote hosting site. In a number of blog-posts you can follow along on this journey. Part 1 described the goals, site selection and general considerations around software and hardware. Part 2 focused on the design and tools used to control the rig and how to do that remotely. Part 3 will show how everything has been built and tested. The system is now ready to be shipped.
After six years of imaging from my backyard, the decision was made to move one of the rigs to a remote hosting site. In a number of blog-posts you can follow along this journey into the unknown. Part 1 was about goals and site selection. Part 2 describes the design and tools used to control the rig and how to do that remotely.
After six years of imaging from my backyard, I have decided to move one of the rigs to a remote hosting site. In a number of blog-posts you can follow along on this journey. Part 1 describes the reasons behind the decision, the selection of a hosting site, goals and some higher level consequences for software and equipment.
Making a horizon file can be labour intensive. With this app, the task is made a lot easier. In this example the information is used to create a horizon file for Astroplanner, the very versatile application to plan and record observations and imaging sessions
Traditionally telescope rigs are powered using 12VDC from bricks, wall adapters and power banks. But now that USB Power Delivery has become a mainstream solution to power laptops, screens etc, would it be any good to power an astrophotography rig? In this blog we will try to find out.
Recently the observatory was upgraded with a rolling pier. This allows a fully assembled system to be rolled-in and rolled-out the house in a fraction of the time than before. Read here my experiences with the S130 rolling pier and how it greatly improved the efficiency and productivity.
In this third and last post in a series of articales around mastering Flat Frames, we will do a comparison between Bias and Flat-Darks. Also we will look into some topics that came up following responses to the earlier two articles. Finally a cautious attempt is made to draw some conclusions.
A deep dive into the topic of taking Flat frames. A series of three articles describing experiments to fully master the many aspects of taking good Flats. In this second article four Flat panels are compared and tested in a range of experiments.
A deep dive into the topic of taking Flat frames. A series of three articles describing experiments to fully master the many aspects of taking good Flats. This first article is about the need (or not?) of gain-matching Light and Flat frames
Recent Images
Latest News
The free gradient removal tool GraXpert has added AI-based noise reduction. The tool is very simple to use, with essentially one slider to dial in the strength. For PixInsight users, the tool is now also available as a process rather than a scrip.
The AI-based tool BlurXTerminator was a revolution when it was released a year ago. Now version 2 has been released, and again the improvements are revolutionary once again. The way BXT is now able to correct for all kind of optical defects such as aberrations, coma, astigmatism, etc. is mind-blowing.
An aberration inspector to analyse sensor tilt and backfocus distance has come to KStars/Ekos. In the December release (version 3.6.8), John Evans has introduced a tool that will make properly aligning the optical train a lot easier.
GraXpert 2.0, a tool for automated background extraction, brings two important improvements. First it is now based on an AI-model, which significantly enhances the final results. Secondly, it is now available as a script right within PixInsight.
Mike Cranfield and Adam Block created a new tool to create colourful NB images. Each filter is assigned a layer with a colour rather than a channel. Layers are then blended together with a lot of fine-control, all with a real-time preview showing the final results immediately.
The Eise Eisinga Planetarium in Franeker, The Netherlands, has obtained the status of UNESCO world heritage. It is the oldest still working planetarium in the world (image © Royal Eise Eisinga Planetarium)
This new tool for PixInsight provides full control to balance the individual colour channels in narrowband images. It works for OSC and monochrome cameras and is available for free
The bright supernova in M101 is an interesting target for many astrophotographers. It appeared also a great object for first light of a new large aperture telescope in the observatory, a Planewave CDK14
A new device from Pegasus Astro combines a dovetail clamp and powerbox into one. An interesting option to improve cable management without adding extra boxes on the rig.
A new web-based tool to calculate the required exposure (number of frames and/or total exposure) based on a target SNR.
Images
This is what it’s ultimately all about, images of the night sky. Most are deep-sky objects, such as nebulae and galaxies. But there’s also place for objects from our solar system, such as planets and comets. Each image will have a short description of the object, as well as detailed information on capturing and processing.
Observatory
Most of the images are captured from the backyard observatory (a.k.a. garden), using a mobile setup. In this section you will find detailed information on the equipment used, practical details on the way it is setup, and the command and control systems that allow the system to run throughout the night, unsupervised.
Blog
Astrophotography involves many challenges related to the technical aspects of a high-precision instrument, the endurance of hours and hours of exposures, and bringing the images to life in processing. In this blog you will find tips, tricks and general experiences. Read just for fun, to learn or to get inspired.
Weather
Astrophotography all depends on clear skies. Below the actual seeing conditions for the AstroWorldCreations backyard observatory.
ClearOutside
Contact
It would be really great to hear from you! Feedback, comments, questions, just leave your name, email and message here, and I will get back to you shortly.
After six years of imaging from my backyard, the decision was made to move one of the rigs to a remote hosting site. In a number of blog-posts you can follow along on this journey. Part 1 is about goals, site selection and hard- and software. Part 2 is about design and remote controlling tools while in part 3 everything was put together and tested. This Part 4 is all about moving to and installation at the remote site, calibration and first light.