Roger says –
Soon after getting over the initial excitement of looking through a telescope, there will be a desire to record observations. Historically this involves sketching. However, for the artistically challenged, there will also be a wish to see and record ever fainter objects (especially from light polluted skies) and/or to record complex views.
Amateurs these days can produce exquisite images acquired over hours, or days, of camera exposure, but this can be quite a daunting prospect.
So, is there a “3rd way”?
This is what I call “Snapshot Imaging”
What do I term a snapshot?
- An image created with a short exposure
- For deep-sky objects I have never exceeded exposures of around 12 minutes after stacking.
- Uses low-cost equipment
- Uses the same equipment as would be used for visual astronomy. Does not need high-precision tracking or guiding. We will therefore look at the ways to record observations in this context with examples recorded from my experiences from the last 60 years!