Legault - Astrophotography

Thierry Legault is a world-renowned astrophotographer. In 1999, Legault received the prestigious Marius Jacquemetton prize from the Societe Astronomique de France for his astronomical photographs. He is so highly regarded in this industry that the International Astronomical Union officially bestowed the name Legault on asteroid #19458.

Legault co-authored the book New Atlas of the Moon (Firefly, 2006) and has written numerous articles about astrophotography for French and American magazines. He regularly presents courses and gives astrophotography lectures in Europe, America, and Asia.

Legaults images, most notably those of the International Space Station, have been published and broadcast worldwide, including in NASA publications, Nature, Scientific American, The Times, The Wall Street Journal, Popular Science, Aviation Week, as well as on numerous television stations including The Discovery Channel, BBC, CNN, ABC, CBS, Fox, CBC, and MSNBC.

Thierry earns his living as an engineer and is currently living in the suburbs of Paris, France.

For more information visit www.astrophoto.fr

Editor: Joan Dixon

Translation: Alan Holmes and Thierry Legault

Copy editor: Judy Flynn

Layout: Petra Strauch

Cover Design: Helmut Kraus, www.exclam.de

Printer: Friesens Corporation

Printed in Canada

ISBN: 978-1-937538-43-9

1st Edition 2014

2014 Thierry Legault

Rocky Nook, Inc.

802 E. Cota Street, 3rd Floor

Santa Barbara, CA 93103

www.rockynook.com

Original French title: Astrophotographie, 2nd Edition

2013 Groupe Eyrolles, Paris, France

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Legault, Thierry, author.

Astrophotography / by Thierry Legault. -- 1st ed.
pages cm

ISBN 978-1-937538-43-9 (softcover : alk. paper)

1. Astronomical photography. 2. Photography--Digital techniques. I. Title.

QB121.L44 2014

522.63--dc23

2013040681

Distributed by OReilly Media

1005 Gravenstein Highway North

Sebastopol, CA 95472

All rights reserved. No part of the material protected by this copyright notice may be reproduced or utilized in any form, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission of the publisher.

Many of the designations in this book used by manufacturers and sellers to distinguish their products are claimed as trademarks of their respective companies. Where those designations appear in this book, and Rocky Nook was aware of a trademark claim, the designations have been printed in caps or initial caps. All product names and services identified throughout this book are used in editorial fashion only and for the benefit of such companies with no intention of infringement of the trademark. They are not intended to convey endorsement or other affiliation with this book.

While reasonable care has been exercised in the preparation of this book, the publisher and author assume no responsibility for errors or omissions, or for damages resulting from the use of the information contained herein or from the use of the discs or programs that may accompany it.

This book is printed on acid-free paper.

All astronomical images in the book are by Thierry Legault and may not be reproduced without the authors express written premission.

I wish to thank Alan Holmes at Santa Barbara Instrument Group (SBIG) for his generous and essential help with translating this manuscript from French to English. Thanks also to Michael Barber and Alan at SBIG for their pivotal contribution in initiating my contact with Rocky Nook publishing and facilitating further discussions.

I would like to thank Rocky Nook Publishing, and especially Joan Dixon, for their confidence in this book and their commitment to seeing it through to publication. I appreciate the excellent job they have done with the new layout and preparation of the manuscript.

I also would like to thank Arnaud Frich for proposing the idea of this book to me and to Eyrolles [the publisher of the original French edition], and for his valuable assistance in acquiring the photographs of astronomical equipment presented here. I further thank Eyrolles for offering me the opportunity to achieve this idea with total freedom in my choice of design and content. I especially thank my editor, Stphanie Poisson, for her patience, kindness, guidance, and careful proofreading.

I must mention the pioneers of film and digital astrophotography, those for whom boundaries were made to be overcome, particularly Jean Dragesco, Christian Arsidi, Grard Thrin, Christian Viladrich, Donald Parker, Robert Gendler, and Damian Peach. The authors who passed on to me the desire to observe and photograph the sky, including Pierre Bourge, Jean Dragesco, Serge Brunier, Patrick Martinez, and Guillaume Cannat, also were essential to my success in astrophotography.

I owe a debt of gratitude to all the software developers and webmasters who have given us the means to plan our imaging sessions and to make the most of our images, in particular Arnold Barmettler (CalSky), Chris Peat (Heavens-Above), Tony Philips (spaceweather.com), Christian Buil (IRIS), Cyril Cavadore (PRISM), and Jean-Philippe Cazard (Astrosurf). I owe special thanks to Christian Buil, who gave me the desire to get into digital photography and helped me succeed through his CCD cameras, software, and writings that have taught me so much.

I also thank the many distributors who have put their equipment at my disposal for the photographs in this book: Mdas Instruments (Vichy, France), Optique Unterlinden (Colmar, France), and La Maison de lAstronomie (Paris, France). I thank Rmi Petitdemange and Richard Galli (Optique Unterlinden), Thomas Maquaire (Nikon France), Vincent Hamel (Meade France), Scott Roberts (Explore Scientific), Corey Lee and Bryan Cogdell (Celestron), and Nick Hudson (True Technology Ltd).

I must acknowledge the contribution of my course trainees and all amateurs who, with their relevant questions over the years, helped me to compose this book so that the answers flow as clearly as possible. I also thank all the amateurs who have given me words of encouragement online and during conferences, meetings, and workshops.

Many people from all around the world have helped me photograph celestial wonders, especially Franois Colas, Jean-Luc Dauvergne, and the staff of the Kennedy Space Center. I have been helped by many people and organizations who aided my quest to photograph the southern sky and several total eclipses under the best conditions, particularly Serge Koutchmy, Jaime Vilinga, the Ministry of Research and Technology of Angola, and the University of Luanda, as well as all those who warmly welcomed us in Tchivinguiro, Angola.

Look upward on a hot summer night. The stars are right there, at your fingertips, just waiting to be photographed. Find a spot away from the city lights, set up your camera on a tripod, adjust the zoom to the wide-angle position, choose a constellation, or just aim randomly toward the Milky Way. Focus manually, and start a 20-second exposure. Congratulations, you just captured your first astronomical photograph! If you enjoyed the challenge and want to go further, this book is written for you. It is also for those who are disappointed in their results and want to learn how to improve.