Creating and Enhancing Digital Astro Images

Description

Digital imaging is now available to all amateur astronomers at a reasonable price. The advent of CCDs, DSLRs and – perhaps most significantly – webcams mean today’s astronomers can make colorful planetary or deep-sky images of breathtaking beauty. The results obtained with even modest equipment can be spectacular, but of course they depend crucially on the computer processing of the images after they have been captured. Enhancing Digital Images is not just an introduction to image processing, it is a deeply practical, comprehensive and fully illustrated in-depth guide to using a digital camera, performing image reduction and undertaking image enhancement – all without jargon or math. Here is everything you need to know about processing digital astronomical images, regardless of whether you are experienced or a relative beginner! Front Matter....Pages i-xi The Joy of Image Processing....Pages 1-2 A Digital Image — The Basics....Pages 3-8 Choosing Your Camera....Pages 9-18 Acquiring Images....Pages 19-25 What Is Best for .......Pages 27-33 Displaying Images....Pages 35-36 Image Reduction....Pages 37-73 Other Techniques....Pages 75-86 Image Enhancement....Pages 87-99 Handling Color Images....Pages 101-111 Handling Image Sequences....Pages 113-119 Astrometry and Photometry....Pages 121-125 The Problems....Pages 127-128 Postscript....Pages 129-129 Notes on Image Contributors....Pages 131-132 Appendix....Pages 133-140 Back Matter....Pages 141-142