Delaware Astronomical Society

Astrophotography

Special Interest Group (AP-SIG)

To join the AP-SIG, click on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to send Bill an email with your name, address, and phone number explaining that you want to join the AP-SIG.

AP-SIG Meetings are informal and are held monthly at our members’ homes or imaging sites, or at Mt. Cuba. Non-members are welcome to attend AP-SIG meetings to see if they would like to join.

"Regular" AP-SIG meetings typically include the presentation of astrophotos taken by the members along with a question and answer session. We'll often have a presentation on a specific aspect of astro-imaging. Topics discussed can cover the entire gamut of astrophotography, such as how to get started with a minimum of equipment, how to choose a telescope or CCD camera for imaging, methods of achieving good polar alignment, planetary imaging, deep sky imaging, photographing meteors, photographing eclipses, how to avoid blurry images by using auto-guiding, image processing techniques, how to maximize signal-to-noise ratio, creating high dynamic range images, etc. These meetings are often Flex-Scheduled to accommodate the schedules of our members and to generate opportunities for demonstrations when the weather allows.

"On-site" AP-SIG meetings are held at members' imaging sites to see Astro-Imaging gear and techniques in person. At these meetings, we often discuss some of the same topics as in the regular meetings using the particular equipment on hand for demonstrations. On-site meetings are almost always "Flex-Scheduled", with the exact date determined shortly before the meeting based on the weather forecast.

How AP-SIG Meetings are "Flex-Scheduled":

AP-SIG meetings often involve outdoor activity and the exact date for each meeting is set a 1-2 days before the meeting is held to allow the weather forecast to be taken into account. This is made practical by announcing the meetings in two steps.

First, a Preliminary Meeting Announcement appears a month or more ahead of an AP-SIG meeting and tells you the weekend of the meeting and the general nature of the meeting. Be sure to mark the potential meeting dates on your calendar. This is the type of AP-SIG meeting announcement that appears in the FOCUS and in the Calendar of the DAS website at delastro.org.

Second, a Specific Meeting Announcement detailing the exact date, time, location, driving directions, and subject matter of the meeting appears roughly 1-2 days ahead of every AP-SIG meeting. All of the information you need to attend an AP-SIG meeting comes in this email. This announcement only goes out by direct email to AP-SIG members and via The DAS Group email. If you marked your calendar when you saw the Preliminary Meeting Announcement, the short notice of this announcement should be no surprise. At the end of every Specific Meeting Announcement, a new Preliminary Meeting Announcement is included for the following month.

Here's How To Join the DAS Group.io (it's free).

Joining the AP SIG is a great way to learn what equipment you’ll need to photograph the celestial objects that interest you and to find out what specific equipment works well (or doesn’t work) before you spend your money.

Here is a site with some nice Astrophotography resources and a nice overview on how to get started.