NGC1491 | Sigma Orionis

Today on the Young Astronomers we bring you an interview with the amazing astrophotographer Ken Crawford, so without further ado let’s begin:

What is an astrophotographer?

Astrophotographers come in two basic types. Solar System astrophotography are images of the Sun, Moon, and Planets. These types of images are normally taken with special video cameras to capture many pictures of the object. Because the objects are bright, the pictures are taken very quickly. You then remove any blurred images and keep the good ones

Deep sky astrophotography captures the light from very faint and distant objects like nebulae, galaxies, and star clusters. These pictures are taken with very long exposures over several hours and the combined together for the final result.

NGC7331 Credit: Ken Crawford

What first attracted you to astrophotography? Did anyone inspire you to take it up?

I have always been interested in astronomy and built my first telescope in 8^th grade. I became interested in astrophotography because it is a technical art form. The technical part is that you assemble different imaging tools together like the telescope, mount, and camera and make them work together. Then you need to be able to learn to use the software that controls the telescope and camera and the assembling of the images. The art form is the presentation of the colors, contrast, and details in their most beautiful form possible. The amazing thing is that amateurs can produce very professional results with modest equipment, dark skies, and lots of practice.

I was inspired by some of the pioneers of astrophotography like David Malin, Rob Gendler, and Tony Hallas. I also had the support of my wife of over 34 years which is a huge plus.

What is/are your favourite object(s) to photograph?

My favourite objects are distant island universes (Galaxies) and star forming regions (Nebulae).

NGC 6960 – The Witch’s Broom Credit: Ken Crawford
Click for the full sized image – if you dare, its 12mb!

Does astrophotography require any special equipment, or is a standard digital camera suitable?

You can do what is called wide field low resolution work with standard DSLR cameras but the better work comes from astronomical cameras with monochrome (greyscale) CCD with color filters in front. Here is a picture of my imaging train.

Credit: Ken Crawford

A = main CCD Camera – cooled to -25c
B = Filter wheel with 10 color filters
C= Off axis pick-off mirror to send starlight to the guider camera.
D= Guider Camera
E = Rotator to rotate the complete image train to any position

Do any resources exist for beginners?

Some, online forums, books, and online telescope rentals can help. Some astronomy clubs can help out if they have Astrophotographers as members. I am president of the Advanced Imaging Conference and we have once a year seminars and classes. The online forum called Cloudy Nights has a beginner section.

Is the any advice you could pass on to any of our readers interested in starting astrophotography as a hobby?

The hobby can be expensive but you can start out very easily with just a DSLR camera and a small tracking tripod. You can capture nice images of the constellations and other large celestial objects. You can use an inexpensive webcam to capture images of the moon and bright planets. But first, join the online forums or find someone who is doing astrophotography and ask for help.