TWOTHOUSANDAND FIFTEEN

ADVANCED IMAGING CONFERENCE

PHOTO BY KEN CRAWFORD 2015 HUBBLE AWARD RECIPIENT

OFFICIAL PROGRAM GUIDE

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WELCOME TO THE 2015 Advanced Imaging Conference!On behalf of the Board of Directors, welcome to the 2015 Advanced Imaging Conference!

After a one year break, we’re back and better than before! Following are just a few of the many reasons I say this with confidence.

First, we’ve enriched the scope of the conference by inviting many of the world’s leading experts on plan-etary, solar, cometary and TWAN-style imaging in addition to the leading practitioners of deep spaceastronomical photographs.

We’ve also moved to a new venue at the San Jose Convention Center. This change provided many benefits for our meeting participants. For example, the facilities are significantly upgraded and attendees are no lon-ger required to eat every meal prepared by a over-priced hotel caterer. Now, a large number of highly rated restaurants are within a few minutes walking distance from the conference venue.

Finally, we’re also opening the Technology Exhibition throughout the conference. Unlike past gatherings, it will not be closed during the workshops or weekend sessions. So, you’re invited to browse and shop till you drop all day Friday and Saturday with over 35 of the world’s leading manufacturers, retailers and service providers- please refer to this program guide for specific hours of operation.

I would also like to personally thank our sponsors and vendors. Their financial support and generous door prizes help make this conference possible and add to its excitement. You can demonstrate your gratitude by visiting each of the exhibitor booths and giving them your patronage.

Please also remember, the Advanced Imaging Conference is a non-profit organization. Unlike other astro-nomical gatherings, the AIC does not financially benefit anyone involved with the organization. The AIC Board of Directors are unpaid volunteers who contribute thousands of hours to make these gatherings pos-sible. We are rewarded by your decision to attend and we sincerely thank you, again!

In closing, the AIC cannot take responsibility for the damage or loss of your personal belongings. So, keep them within arm’s reach during workshops, in the Technology Exhibition area and during the weekendsessions.

Sincerely, R. JAY GaBANYPRESIDENT & CEO

THE 2015 ADVANCED IMAGING CONFERENCE OFFICIAL PROGRAM GUIDE IS COPYRIGHT ©2015 BY THE ADVANCED IMAGING CONFERENCE, INC. REPRODUCTION OR DISTRIBUTION WITHOUT PRIOR PERMISSION IS PROHIBITED.

Actually, the other telescope cost more than twice as much as the Esprit, but that’s not

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ONE HALF OF THISIMAGE WAS TAKEN

WITH A $2,499 ESPRIT

THE OTHER WAS TAKEN WITH A SCOPE THATCOST TWICE AS MUCH

Imager: Jerry Gardner of Fort Worth, Texas (Three Rivers Foundation Volunteer) OTA 1: Sky-Watcher Esprit 100mm EDT f/5.5 OTA 2: World-class 106mm f/5 astrograph Mount: Takahashi NJP Guiding: Orion SSAG Magnificent Mini AutoGuider Camera: Canon 60Da Exposure: 98 light frames @ 360 seconds each. 41 dark frames, 100 bias frames and 30 flats. Processing: PixInsight. Identical processing for each image.

Starting at only $ 1,649, the Esprit line is offered in 80, 100, 120 and 150mm apertures and comes complete with a 9 x 50 right angle finderscope, 2-inch Star diagonal, 2-element field flattener, camera adapter, mounting rings, dovetail plate and foam-lined hard case.

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staff

special notesThe Advanced Imaging Conference would not be possible without the contributions of the organization’s tireless staff.

* The Advanced Imaging Conference extends its sincere gratitude to The Van Vleet Foundation for its financial support of our proceedings through their generous donations.

* On the cover: M8, The Lagoon Nebula by Ken Crawford

DR. BOB CATONSR. DIRECTOR-EXHIBITIONS

HOPE BROSTSTAFF LEAD ADMIN

JOEL HAGENDIRECTOR-ASTRONOMICAL DISPLAYS

TAYLOR BROSTLOGISTICS & SECURITYAUDIO & VIDEOGRAPHIC DESIGN

BoarD OF directors

A B O U T

Jay GaBany has a thirty year career background in the travel industry managing large travel agencies han-dling travel expense management for corporations and, since 1997, designing on-line reservation systems for business and vacation travelers. The adult expression of his boyhood space age fascination is evident in his writing, deep space imagery and research collaboration into galactic evolution. Jay’s observatory is in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California. www.cosmotography.com

Ken Crawford is one of the founding members of the Advanced Imaging Conference and is the current Chairperson. Ken lives in Camino, California, with his lovely wife, Lisa, and is an avid astro-imager. He loves to share and talk image processing methods; and enjoys all the friends he has made through this wonderful hobby. You can see his images and tutorials at: www.imagingdeepsky.com

Keith Allred has been an active amateur astronomer since 1994. He just finished construction of a remote observatory in the Sacramento Mountains (next door to New Mexico Skies). He is a retired partner with Davis Wright Tremaine, a law firm with ten offices in the U.S. and China. He serves as a board member and secre-tary of AIC, and is its legal counsel. www.orionobservatory.com

Every astrophotographer has a story about how they became ensnared by the hobby. Like many, Chris Mur-ray’s fascination with astronomy took root at a young age when he was given keys to the Earlham College campus observatory. There, he taught himself to take pictures with its 6-inch refractor- this was back in 1962.

Frank Barnes earned his BS in Electrical Engineering in 1977. After working 30 years in the communications industry, he retired from Comporium Communications where he held the position of Executive VP Business Development. Frank started imaging in 2000, and currently uses various SBIG cameras with his 16” RCOS, Takahashi FSQ 106N and AP180EDT. His other hobbies include fishing, pyrotechnics and RVing. www.skyimager.com

Bob Fera, an Information Technology Manager for a small computer services company in Los Angeles, spent ten years photographing galaxies and nebulae with a 35mm SLR camera and color negative film until he en-tered the digital age in 2003. Many of his images, both film and digital, appear regularly in magazines as well as in other print and electronic media. www.feraphotography.com

Warren’s name will be familiar to many readers. His images have appeared in SKY & Telescope, Astronomy, Nightscape, Amateur Astronomy, West Virginia Living and Pennsylvania Magazines. Warren’s pictures have also been featured on the prestigious Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) website. www.billionsandbillions.com

R. JAY GaBANYPRESIDENT & CEO

KEN CRAWFORDCHAIRPERSON

KEITH ALLREDSECRETARY & LEGAL COUNSEL

CHRIS MURRAYTREASURER & CFO

FRANK BARNES VP SALES AND TECHNOLOGY

BOB FERAVP ADMINISTRATION

WARREN KELLERBOARD MEMBER

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2015 Location map

A B O U T

2015 AgendaFriday, October 16, 2015

Time Workshop A

San Jose Tech Museum

: Room LL 21A

Workshop B: Room LL 21B

Workshop C: Room LL21C

Workshop D: Room LL21F

8:00AM- 9:45AM DSLR Richard Wright

Color, Color, Color Adam Block

Thierry Legault

Capturing the world at night Babak Tafreshi

10:00AM- 11:45AM Secrets of Deep Sky Imaging with a DSLR Jerry Lodriguss

Ultra Deep Imaging Fabian Neyer

Sunstrokes Alan Friedman

PixInsight: advanced color

techniques Vicent Peris

11:45AM- 1:30PM Lunch 1:30PM- 3:15PM

DSLR Richard Wright

Going Deep Tony Hallas

Thierry Legault

Capturing the world at night Babak Tafreshi

3:30PM- 5:15PM Secrets of Deep Sky Imaging with a DSLR Jerry Lodriguss

Ultra Deep Imaging Fabian Neyer

Sunstrokes Alan Friedman

PixInsight: advanced color

techniques Vicent Peris

9:00PM event: Hubble IMAX Dome Movie

Saturday, October 17, 2015

Time

Saturday Session:

LL21 C,D,E Room LL21A,B

LL21 C,D,E 8:15AM- 8:30AM Opening Comments

R. Jay GaBany

8:30AM- 8:45AM 2015 Pleiades Award Jimmy Walker

8:45AM- 9:45AM Hubble Lecture Ken Crawford

9:45AM- 10:15AM Break 10:15AM- 11:00AM

-Delgado 11:00AM- 11:45AM Deep Sky High Astrophotography

11:45AM-1:00PM Lunch 1:00PM- 2:30PM

Christopher Go Advanced Astrophotography Peter Kalajian

2:30PM- 3:00PM

Break

3:00PM- 4:30PM Terry Lovejoy

Advanced Processing Techniques Rogelio Bernal Andreo

7:00PM- 8:30PM Dinner at Il Forniao Restaurant

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The Hubble Award is presented to those individuals who have demonstrated significant and sustained contribu-tions to the astro-photography community over a period of years. Production of fine images is only one criteria but certainly not the most important factor that is considered. Popularization thorough public outreach, techni-cal innovation, scientific contributions and selfless direct support to other imagers also represent key criteria that justify designation as a Hubble Award recipient.

Ken Crawford is one of the AIC founding fathers and is the organization’s former President. Currently, he serves AIC as the Board Chairperson.

Ken’s fascination with the night sky began early while he was still in 8th grade. By 2002 his interest reached new heights when he opened the Rancho Del Sol Observatory and eventually equipped it with a 20-inch research grade RC telescope with the latest camera technology. 37 of his deep space images have already been selected as an Astronomical Picture of the Day (APOD) and his pictures have also been seen in countless astronomical magazines, books and television documentaries.

Crawford has made serious contributions to science by working with an international team of profession-al astronomers who are investigating the evolution of galaxies through the discovery and analysis of an-cient galactic merger remnants known as star streams. As a result, Ken has co-authored two peer-reviewed scientific papers published by The Astronomical Journal.

Ken also serves on the APOD advisory committee and has successfully advocated for the site to increase its use of amateur photographs.

Ken is a tremendous resource for fellow astrophotographers. His willingness to divulge advanced image processing techniques though private emails, phone calls, one-on-one training sessions, conference pre-sentations and free DVD tutorials is legendary. Ken’s remarkable willingness to share information, alone, qualifies him for the Hubble Award. Ken is one of the most energetic and effective evangelists for astro-photography.

Ken’s image gallery can be viewed at www.imagingdeepsky.com.

A W A R D

ADVANCED IMAGING CONFERENCE2015 HUBBLE AWARD RECIPIENT

KEN CRAWFORD

HUBBLE AWARD

A B O U T

Exhibition OPEN HOURS

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Although Jimmy is relatively new to astrophotography, he only started to take images in 2010, his talents and agility with a telescope and camera are impressive! Like many astrophotographers, Jimmy started modestly with a DSLR camera attached to a Celestron. However, because of his golfing accomplishments, his hobby was noticed in a December 2012 San Antonio Star article that was subsequently shared with the Golf Channel. Questions about his unusual pastime quickly were included during interviews regarding his pro golf engagements.

Since then, Jimmy’s astrophotograpy accomplishments have been featured in Golf Digest, Sports Illus-trated, Golf Week and the PGA’s web site about other players.

After the very first television interview, young people started asking questions and visits to his web site soared. His notoriety has inspired young people to ask about astrophotography during autographs ses-sions. Thus, Jimmy has become an important ambassador for the hobby to the next generation.

Walker won his first tour event in 2013 at the Fry’s.com open while attending AIC. This sparked several records including tying the most victories in a season and the he still holds the record for the player hold-ing the number one spot on the Fedex cup rankings.

Through public appearances, Jimmy has done more to introduce deep space and astroimaging to the general public than any other individual before or since. Jimmy has a natural ability to process beautiful pictures quickly and has won 5 APODs in his very short time imaging. Jimmy also gives astroimaging tips for new imagers on Celestron’s website.

Jimmy’s image gallery can be viewed at jwalk.smugmug.com.

A W A R D

ADVANCED IMAGING CONFERENCE2015 PLEIADES AWARD RECIPIENT

JIMMY WALKER

PLEIADESAWARD

Like the brilliant star cluster that inspired its name, the Pleiades accolade will be bestowed on the very brightest, most exceptional imagers who are either youthful in years or relatively young to the endeavor of astro-photography. Its purpose is to recognize and encourage those few outstanding individuals who do not yet meet the criteria for Hubble status but demonstrate skills and personal qualities that were the early hallmarks of people who subsequently received astrophotography’s highest honor after many years.

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Rogelio was born in Spain but has been living in the United States for over 20 years.

He commenced producing astronomical photo-graphs only two years ago. However, during the last 12 months, his work has been featured on APOD 8 times, published in several astronomy publications, used in planetariums, astronomy exhibits at muse-ums, and appeared in the IMAX/Warner Bros. mo-tion picture production Hubble 3D.

Rather than simply trying to obtain the best image, he constantly challenges himself to ensure the final picture connects with the viewer by focusing on composition and experimenting with new process-ing techniques. Interestingly, Rogelio does not have a permanent observatory so his imaging requires extensive traveling to dark sites.

Visit Rogelio’s web site at DeepSkyColors

S P E A K E R

In this workshop Rogelio will discuss the following techniques:Star masks: how to build successful masks Learn how to not depend on recipes, and utilize the skills that you will learn in this workshop to write with confidence your own “recipes” that work!

Pulling faint data from the noise floor There are techniques that help you reveal faint data while minimizing artifacts and we will cover some of these techniques in the workshop.

Building mosaics... of any size We will walk through one method for building a large mosaic that I use often, from planning to execution to processing, while discussing other alternatives.

ROGELIO BERNAL Andreo ACCLAIMED WIDE FIELD IMAGING PIONEER

ADVANCED PROCESSING TECHNIQUES

The SX-AO-USB device provides an effective method of removing the effects of rapid guiding errors from CCD images. All but the most expensive telescope mounts suffer from rapid gear errors during guiding and such errors are very difficult to correct when the only control method available is to send speed corrections to the drive motors. A device which can adjust the image position by rapidly deviating the optical path, can correct for such errors very quickly and without the associated settling time issues.

The NEW SX-AO-USB is the 3rd generation of AO units from Starlight Xpress, and an improved version of the large format AO unit launched in 2011. The addition of an internal USB to serial converter, allows a direct USB connection to be used, and the stepper motor drivers have increased torque capability.

The new SX-AO-USB control interface links perfectly to the rear of the TRIUS cameras with the built-in 3 port USB hub. This allows

you to control your USB guide camera, USB filter wheel, USB AO unit and the main camera from your computer with just one USB cable; vastly reducing the

probability of cable snagging and cable drag.

The SX Spectrograph design incorporates a Lodestar X2 guide camera, which observes the image field via a 10% / 90% beam splitter cube allowing you to select any convenient guide star for tracking whilst gathering spectral data in the main camera.

Due to the refelctive nature of the spectrograph, the system is capable of gathering spectral data from 340nm throught to 900nm.

The spectrograph also includes a battery powered spectral line source for calibration. This source

uses a small gas discharge bulb, which is filled with a mixture of neon and argon. The

result is an array of spectral lines that covers the entire visible spectrum and

which provides a way to determine the wavelengths of the lines

from any external source.

The Ultrastar is an excellent entry level imaging camera. When used with the ‘Starlight LIVE’ software, the camera can be easily configured to take a series or continuous short exposures, automatically adding the images together as it goes, building up the image in front of your very eyes.

This concept is perfect for public outreach programs where the images can be seen ‘developing’ in real time, ensuring that not only photons are captured, but also their imagination. Schools and curriculum based astronomy projects will also benefit greatly from this form of imaging.

It also makes an amazing, high sensitivity guide camera.

www.sxccd.com

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Adam operates the public astronomy programs at the Mount Lemmon SkyCenter. Located north of Tucson, this new science facility hosts one of the world’s largest astronomical instruments dedicated to public use, the 32-inch Schulman telescope.

Considered by many to be one of the World’s best astrophotographers, Adam’s photographic accom-plishments are considerable. For example, his im-ages have appeared in hundreds of books and maga-zines. They have been referenced by professional astronomers working at universities and leading research institutions including the Space Telescope Science Institute, ESO, and Calar Alto Observatory. Over fifty of Adam’s pictures have been showcased by the Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) web site and his images have also been used to decorate underpasses and signs for city improvements in his native city of Tucson.

S P E A K E R

Adam will show how color interacts with luminance images in Photoshop and Pixinsight in the produc-tion of LRGB images. Continuing from here, I will demonstrate the “Double Color” technique (see Astronomy Magazine, September 2014). Pixinsight’ DBE will be highlighted as well as other color tech-niques for fixing color problems.

ADAM BLOCKPUBLIC OBSERVING PROGRAMS COORDINATOR- MT LEMMON SKYCENTER,

COLUMNIST, 2012 AIC HUBBLE AWARD RECIPIENT COLOR COLOR COLOR!

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RiDK: the ultimate

t e l e s c o p e !RiDK 305

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Dr. David Martinez-Delgado is an astronomer work-ing at the Zentrum fur Astronomie of the University of Heidelberg (Germany). He was awarded with the Alexander Humboldt Foundation Fellow for Ad-vance Research in 2010 at the Max-Planck-Institut fur Astronomy for his project on stellar tidal streams. He has also worked in the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias (Tenerife, Spain) for more than 10 years.

For the recent years, he has focused his research on the tidal destruction of dwarf galaxies in the halos of the Milky Way and other nearby spiral galaxies. Cur-rently, he is leading the Stellar Tidal Stream Survey, a project in collaboration with a team of top amateur astrophotographers, a project with outstanding pub-lic outreach. He also has a large number of interna-tional collaborations with leading groups on galaxy evolution in Europe and USA. He was also serving as the coordinator of Spanish Professional-Amateur Collaboration for the Spanish Astronomical Society until 2012.

S P E A K E R

An international team of astronomers, led by Dr. David Martinez-Delgado,has identified enormous star streams on the periphery of nearby spiral gal-axies and, for the first time, obtained deep images of galactic cannibalism- a process also believed to be occurring between the Milky Way and the Sagit-tarius dwarf galaxy.

The team was joined by amateur astrophotog-raphers who were responsible for obtaining the images that detected the streams. The collabora-tion demonstrates the potential for twenty-first century amateurs, armed with the latest technology, to participate in competitive international scientific projects.

DR. DAVID MARTÍNEZ-DELGADO ASTROPHYSICIST- UNIVERSITY OF HEIDELBERG (GERMANY)

GALACTIC ARCHEOLOGY

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Alan Friedman is an artist and avid solar astro-pho-tographer who records our neighborhood star from his backyard in Buffalo, NY. His images of the sun, moon and planets have been featured on NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day and appear frequently in print and digital publication. His photographs have been exhibited internationally, including Into the Light, which ran concurrently with the 2013 Solar Decathlon in Orange County, CA and an upcoming show at the Center for Exploratory and Perceptual Art (CEPA) in fall 2015. The portfolio of his solar photographs is represented by Photo-Eye Gallery in Santa Fe. His work and imaging techniques have been the subject of lectures and articles, a TED talk, interviews on MSNBC’s TODAY show and in the book, Lessons From the Masters, edited by Robert Gendler for Springer Publishing.

By day, Alan is president of Great Arrow Graphics, a greeting card publisher based in Buffalo, NY. He serves on the board of the Buffalo Astronomical As-sociation and holds the title of Research Associate in Astronomy at the Buffalo Museum of Science. He is also a collector of vintage hats. To find out more, visit his website, avertedimagination.com.

S P E A K E R

A discussion of the practical, technical and aesthet-ic challenges facing the solar astro-photographer.

ALAN FRIEDMAN THE WORLD’S LEADING EXPERT ON SOLAR IMAGING

SUNSTROKES

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By profession, R. Jay GaBany is an eCommerce product manager working in California’s Silicon Valley and the recipi-ent of five patents for innovations in his field. Over the last decade he has earned a reputation as an amateur astrono-mer and astrophotographer whose work has been recog-nized internationally.

He is also known for his work with an international team of astrophysicists led by Dr. David Martínez-Delgado (Uni-versity of Heidelberg). GaBany helped pioneer the use of modest size telescopes and off the shelf CCD-cameras to produce long exposure images that revealed ancient galac-tic merger remnants in the form of star streams surrounding nearby galaxies that were previously undetected.

GaBany has coauthored over 14 peer reviewed scientific papers on the subject. For his contributions at the profes-sional level he was given the 2010 Chambliss Award by the American Astronomical Society.

Among his many other accomplishments GaBany’s image of NGC 3521 was selected as the backdrop for the official crew portrait of Expedition 30 to the International Space Station. In 2012 and again in 2013, he was selected by the editors of Time magazine as one of “The 25 Most Influential People in Space.”

GaBany has served on the Board of Directors for the Ad-vanced Imaging Conference since 2006 and as President and CEO since 2014.

Jay has also written numerous articles, blogs, and reviews for a variety of popular astronomy magazines such as Sky & Telescope, Universe Today, and Astronomy Now. His first book, “Breakthrough! 100 Astronomical Images that Changed the World”, will be published in mid-October 2015. Co-authored with renowned astrophotographer Dr. Robert Gendler, the book explores the history of astrophotogra-phy through the lens of 100 ground breaking images that altered humanity’s perception of its place in the universe.

S P E A K E R

This presentation will explore the pros and cons of 8 different techniques you can employ to control the amount of color, from subtle to vivid, portrayed by your images without adding distracting noise or unwanted artifacts.

R. JAY GaBANYASTROPHOTOGRAPHER

8 WAYS TO INTENSIFY COLOR

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NIGHTScapes and TIMELapses

a multi-media eBook by Alan Dyer• 400 pages• 50 embedded demo videos• 60 step-by-step software tutorials• equipment reviews• more details at www.amazingsky.com/nightscapesbook.html• free video tutorials at • free video tutorials at www.amazingsky.com/tutorials.html

available for MacOS & iPads, on the Apple iBookstore http://bit.ly/1umm0li

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Christopher Go lives on the island of Cebu in the Philippines. He has been an amateur astronomer since 1986, the year of the return of Halley’s Comet. He studied at the University of San Carlos where he received a BS in physics.

Starting as an amateur astronomer with a 10X40 binoculars, Chris Go would later own several differ-ent telescopes. He currently uses a Celestron C14 for planetary imaging.

Chris’s main astronomical interests are planetary imaging, particularly of Jupiter and Saturn.

In February 2006, Chris Go discovered that the white spot Oval BA of Jupiter (later called Red Spot Jr.) had turned red. He joined planetary scientists Imke de Pater and Phil Marcus to observe Jupiter in the spring of 2006 with the Hubble Space Tele-scope. He was also involved with follow-up Hubble and Keck observations of Jupiter.

In 2008, he received the Association of Lunar and Planetary Observers’ prestigious Walter Haas Award. In June 3, 2010, he confirmed the Jupiter Im-pact that was observed by Anthony Wesley. Asteroid 2000 EL157 has been named 30100Christophergo.

Professionally, he is a businessman into furniture manufacturing. He is married to Vicky and has four children: Steven, Kathlyn, Frances and Vincent.

S P E A K E R

This talk will discuss Equipment Requirements, Imaging Preparation, Imaging Secrets and Image Processing required to get the best planetary images.

CHRISTOPHER GOWORLD FAMOUS PRODUCER OF PLANETARY IMAGES THAT RIVAL PICTURES

RETURNED BY SPACE CRAFT RECONNAISSANCE MISSIONS.HIGH RESOLUTION PLANETARY IMAGING

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Tony’s astrophotographic career can be summarized as a series of firsts. For example, starting out over 25 years ago, he was one of the first to produce film-emulsion images using an auto-guider. Tony was also one of the first to champion the use of stacked astronomical images as a method that improved the final picture’s signal to noise ratio.

Particularly during the early years of digital astro-photography, Tony’s pictures were the reference to which digital imagers compared their images. Finally, to many in the community, Tony’s images remain the first among equals in their aesthetic quality, compo-sition and color. Tony’s pictures have been published in countless magazines, television productions and books. He is a highly regarded speaker and the recipient of numerous, prestigious awards including the 2009 AIC Hubble Trophy.

S P E A K E R

Tony’s workshop will discuss:The correlation between exposure length and num-ber of individual frames combined into a final image

A review of the asymptotic noise boundary

Several of his proprietary processing techniques

The importance of contrast in the optical system

TONY HALLAS RENOWNED ASTROPHOTOGRAPHER // COLUMNIST

2009 HUBBLE AWARD RECIPIENTGOING DEEP

Great News! CCD Navigator now integrates

with ACP Expert. Stop by our booth for more info.

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Pete is an avid amateur astronomer and astro-imag-er who is also a science teacher at a local small high-school. He has a Master’s degree in Astronomy from the Swinburne Astronomy Online program. Pete graduated from Cornell University in 1981 with an electrical engineering degree, but has since sworn off electrons for mechanical design. He’s much happier drawing in 3-D space than looking at sche-matics. He did all the mechanical design for Alnitak Astrosystems electroluminescent panel products. An avid amateur telescope maker, Pete’s bowling ball telescope won a first place in the special category in 2006 at Stellafane Convention. He is interested in spectroscopy and photometry.

S P E A K E R

PETER KALAJIAN EDUCATOR, ASTROPHOTOGRAPHER, FOUNDER- ALNITAK ASTROSYSTEMS

ADVANCED ASTROPHOTOGRAPHY

Capturing impressive deep-sky astroimages is easier than ever with Celestron’s new Rowe-Ackermann Schmidt Astrograph (RASA), the perfect companion to today’s top DSLR or astronomical CCD cameras. This fast, wide-field f/2.2 system helps you create stunning astroimages in a fraction of the time. The 70 mm optimized image circle accommodates even the largest CCD chips for pinpoint stars all the way to the edge of the sensor.

+ 11-inch f/2.2 optical design with rare-earth glass for images free of false color and aberrations like coma and field curvature.

+ Brass focuser bearing reduces image shift, while the dual-speed 10:1 Feather Touch Micro Focus Knob provides the most precise focusing.

+ Quiet, high-output 12V MagLev fan decreases cooldown time, blocks dust, and provides optimal airflow through the optical tube.

+ Primary mirror clutches lock in focus, while solid anod-ized aluminum dovetail minimizes tube-to-mount flexure.

+ Common camera adapters are included for easy attachment to popular CCD and DSLR cameras.

VENTURE INTO DEEP SPACEROWE-ACKERMANN SCHMIDT ASTROGRAPH

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I am an engineer and I live in the suburbs of Paris (close to Versailles), in a site that is very polluted by city lights. From my backyard, I can take images of the Sun, the Moon, planets and nebulas with narrow band filters. For deep sky imaging (galaxies, comets, nebulas...), I am obliged to go in the land, after load-ing my van. I began digital imaging (CCD) in 1994.

The asteroid 19458 has been officially named Legault by the International Astronomical Union.

I have written two books: The New Atlas of the Moon with Serge Brunier (Firefly) and Astrophotog-raphie (Eyrolles).

I have written numerous articles and lectures about imaging in Europe and USA (Sky and Telescope, Ciel et Espace, Astronomie Magazine, Chasseur d’Images...).

My photographs, especially of space shuttle and space station, have been published in newspapers and magazines and have been shown on TV world-wide: The Times, The Guardian, The Daily Mail, The Wall Street Journal, CNN, Fox News, ABC News, CBS News, Discovery Channel, Science et Vie, le Monde, le Figaro, le Point, Ca m’Intéresse, TF1, France2, M6...

S P E A K E R

Today’s tools (such as affordable high performance telescopes, fast cameras and sophisticated process-ing algorithms) have revolutionized high resolution planetary imaging. The results obtained nowadays by skilled amateurs outperform professional images taken a few decades ago.

THIERRY LEGAULT WORLD RENOWNED PRODUCER OF ULTRA-HIGH RESOLUTION PLANETARY,

LUNAR AND ORBITING SPACE CRAFT IMAGES.HIGH RESOLUTION IMAGING

Personalized Supportfor the Imaging Professional.

Canon Professional Services (CPS) provides exceptional support for full-time imaging professionals. CPS members receive exclusive 24/7 phone and email support, expedited and discounted equipment maintenance and repairs, Equipment Evaluation Loans, on-site support at select events and shows, discounts on select Canon Live Learning seminars and workshops, and more.

Learn more about CPS and our Enterprise CPS Program at: cps.usa.canon.com

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OUR FOCUS IS YOU

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Jerry Lodriguss has been an amateur astronomer and astrophotographer for more than 40 years.

He first became interested in astronomy at the age of seven when he looked through a “spyglass” at the Moon and was amazed to see that it had craters. He discovered his love for photography when he was 17 years old when he bought a camera to take pictures through his homemade 10-inch reflecting telescope.

Jerry worked for more than 30 years as a photojour-nalist and sports photographer including more than 20 years as the staff sports photographer at the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Today, Jerry is an author and photographer who has written for Sky and Telescope, Astronomy and other magazines. His work as been featured many times on NASA’s Astronomy Photo of the Day, and has been included in exhibits by the National Geo-graphic Society, Space Telescope Science Institute Hubble Heritage Program, Smithsonian Institution National Air and Space Museum, American Museum of Natural History, and Through the Lens: National Geographic’s Greatest Photographs.

S P E A K E R

The quality of your astrophotographs depends on a long chain of interconnected factors such as the quality of your equipment, the darkness of your observing site, and your expertise in capturing the original data and then processing it to bring out all of the details that are present in the most aesthetic manner.

Jerry will discuss the top ten things you can do to improve your long-exposure deep-sky astrophotog-raphy.

JERRY LODRIGUSSWORLD FAMOUS ASTROPHOTOGRAPHER,

ASTRO-IMAGING EVANGELIST AND AUTHORSECRETS OF DEEP-SKY IMAGING WITH A DSLR

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Terry Lovejoy has been an avid amateur astronomer for nearly 40 years and is best known for the discov-ery of 5 comets that bear his name, as well as find-ing a further 11 comets using data from the LASCO C3 camera aboard the SOHO spacecraft. His most notable discovery was the bright Kreutz Sungrazing Comet C/2011 W3. Terry is married with 2 daughters, and lives in Brisbane, Australia, where he works as an Information technologist.

S P E A K E R

During this workshop we will look at the key points for conducting an effective Comet Hunting Sur-vey. Major topics will include instrument selection, camera and scope automation, automated moving object detection as well as survey strategies.

HUBBLE IMAGE

TERRY LOVEJOY WORLD FAMOUS AUSTRALIAN COMET HUNTER.

COMET HUNTING AND IMAGE CAPTURE

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Fabian studied geophysics and is now working on his PhD in the field of photogrammetry. He started with astrophotography when he was in high school using the facilities of a local astronomical society. The ob-servatory where he still takes most of his images is located north of the Swiss Alps with cities in vicinity. During the last years Fabian continuously improved acquisition and processing techniques focusing on the detection of extremely faint structures around well known objects. He recently made discoveries that are of scientific interest.

S P E A K E R

This workshop focuses on the two main problems in astrophotography: proper flat fielding and deal-ing with starlight scattering effects. Correct image calibration, especially flat fielding, is a key ingredi-ent to produce deep images without artifacts origi-nating from the observation instruments. Several key concepts in acquisition and processing will be discussed and demonstrated in the first part of the workshop. The second part addresses the prob-lem of enhancing faint objects, especially in dense areas, and proposes a method to remove the effects of scattered starlight. The image processing meth-ods are illustrated with examples using PixInsight.

FABIAN NEYER EUROPE’S LEADING PRODUCER OF ULTRA-DEEP SPACE IMAGERY.

ULTRA DEEP SPACE IMAGING

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Takahashi AmericaTexas Nautical Repair • Land Sea & Sky

713-529-3551WWW.TAKAHASHIAMERICA.COM

The new Takahashi FSQ-130ED incorporates optics that use an exceptionally advanced design that produces a flat-field astrographwith a large highly illuminated fieldthat is further enhanced with the newdedicated 645 reducer that produces a Ø70mm image circle at f/3.5. The scope incorporates a five-elementdesign that includes 3 premium ED elements to produce a high order of color correction.

THE GREATEST GATHERING OF ASTROPHOTOGRAPHERS UNDER ONE ROOF!

With more than a 15-year career as an astropho-tographer, Vicent Peris has been working for the last 7 years at the Astronomical Observatory of the University of Valencia and at Calar Alto Observa-tory. His works have been published and awarded by some of the most reputed publications world-wide, such as APOS, Scientific American, National Geographic, Bad Astronomy Blog, and Sterne und Weltraum.

Vicent has also successful experience in forensics and is currently working as an image processing specialist for the Spanish National Police depart-ment for the past three years.

S P E A K E R

Vicent will present three processing methods:1. a color calibration technique that mixes observa-tional and image processing techniques to calibrate the color of an image where there isn’t any good white reference;2. a technique to enhance the H-alpha emission in nebulae where we want to preserve the hue repre-sentation and3. use of the Hubble pallet.

VICENT PERISTHE WORLD’S LEADING EXPERT ON USING PIXINSIGHT.

PIXINSIGHT: ADVANCED COLOR CALIBRATION AND NARROWBAND TECHNIQUES

At 16 years of age, Martin Pugh left his home town of Dudley in the West Midlands (UK) to join the Royal Navy as a Junior Radio Operator. While he spent many nights staring into pitch-black mid-ocean skies using a pair of binoculars, his Naval career simply did not allow for any further pursuit in astronomy. For 20 years, he moved between ships and establishments and in the late 90’s, together with the overwhelm-ing appearance of Comet Hale Bopp in 1997, he became increasingly interested in the idea of ob-serving and imaging. Then in 1999, he spent his first evening looking through a dusty old 3-inch refractor recovered from his brother-in-law’s loft, and instantly became fixated with the idea of owning his own tele-scope, with the possible addition of a CCD camera.

A few months later, Martin purchased an 8-inch Meade LX200, and a couple of months after that, a Starlight Express HX516. Learning and practicing continued and he purchased just about every astro-photography book available on the market at the time.

The next major equipment upgrade occurred in 2004 prior to emigrating to Australia, yet through various reasons he was yet to take a deep-sky image. This new equipment was briefly used in Portugal in early 2004, before it was packed up and sent to Australia where it did re-emerge again until mid 2005 when at long last, Martin had built a roll-off roof observatory on his property in Yass, New South Wales.

S P E A K E R

Martin will provide advice about what to look for when you are building your system. His talk will also cover image processing - Workflow - with tips along the way; Astrophotography related new features of Photoshop CC 2014 and a discussion about the pros and cons of using Lightroom.

MARTIN PUGH WORLD RENOWNED ASTROPHOTOGRAPHER

DEEP SKY HIGH RESOLUTION ASTROPHOTOGRAPHY

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TWAN founder and leader, Babak Tafreshi is an award winning photographer working with the National Geographic, Sky&Telescope magazine, and the European Southern Observatory (ESO). Babak is also a freelance science journalist and astronomy communicator using all media.

Born in 1978 in Tehran he is based in Boston, United States, but could be anywhere on the planet, from the Sahara to the Himalayas or Antarctica. He is a board member of Astronomers Without Borders organization, an international organization to bridge between cultures and connect people around the world through their common interest to astronomy. He received the 2009 Lennart Nilsson Award, the world’s most recognized award for scientific photog-raphy, for his global contribution to night sky pho-tography.

Since TWAN was designated as the first Special Project of International Year of Astronomy 2009, Tafreshi cooperated with the International Astro-nomical Union and UNESCO as a project coordi-nator for IYA2009. As a science journalist he has contributed to many television and radio programs on astronomy and has interviewed world-renowned astronomers and space scientists. When living in Iran he was editor of the Persian astronomy magazine (Nojum) for a decade and has been a board member of the Astronomical Society of Iran’s outreach com-mittee were he directed many national astronomy events.

S P E A K E R

This workshop will discuss the creation of evoca-tive nighttime imagery: equipment setup, exposure strategies, image composition and processing meth-ods.

BABAK TAFRESHI THE WORLD’S LEADING PRODUCER OF TWAN (THE WORLD AT NIGHT) IMAGERY

CAPTURING THE WORLD A NIGHT

Solar Guider - Hinode SG®

[more details]

The Astro Hutech Solar Guider, Hinode (”sunrise” in Japa-nese) SG, is the first autoguider designed for casual solar viewing as well as photography. It does not require precise polar alignment, allowing for quick, convenient setup-and-go for public outreach or quick viewing with a grab-n-go solarscope. For imaging, long-term autoguiding on the sun simplifies post-processing for projects such as time-lapse movies.

Richard S. Wright Jr. is the Imaging Evangelist and a Sr. Software Engineer for Software Bisque, where for over a decade his focus there has been graphics and cross platform technologies. He is currently re-sponsible for Software Bisque’s mobile products and cross platform imaging solutions. Starting with the Canon DSLR plug-in for TheSkyX, Richard has gone on to author the majority of the camera plug-ins now available from Software Bisque.

Richard started shooting the moon with an SLR on black and white film and then graduated to a DSLR over fifteen years ago. After many years as a closet imager he finally gained some traction with a modi-fied Canon T1i and has never looked back. Currently Richard shoots with a variety of mono and one shot color CCD cameras and DSLR’s, including a full spectrum modified T3i and an unmodified Canon 5D Mark III.

Richard has also authored a best selling book on computer graphics, and has 15 years of college class room teaching experience which he’ll bring to bear in this beginners program.

S P E A K E R

DSLR’s are the most common camera in use for amateur astrophotography today. Often seen as a beginners tool or as a stepping stone to cooled CCD cameras, DSLR’s have many advantages of their own, and are sometimes even better suited for a given imaging goal. In this workshop Richard reviews the basics of astrophotography from the perspective of the DSLR imager, and discusses the unique advantages and applications possible with a DSLR; including DSLR modifications. This workshop will lay a solid foundation for any practitioner in the field exploring the nature of noise, unwanted signal, and the need for proper calibration for best results with a DSLR.

RICHARD WRIGHTASTROIMAGING EVANGELIST, SOFTWARE ENGINEER

AND ASTRO-DSLR EXPERT GETTING STARTED IN ASTROPHOTOGRAPHY WITH A DSLR

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• Fully Automated Imaging Sessions

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