The philosopy of astro imaging
I am a first time poster who is a long time astroimager that has been out of the hobby for a few years for personal / business reasons and looking to get back involved.
Like many who get involved with this crazy activity the first time around I became smitten to the degree that large sums of money were involved and before I knew it I had a large observatory, a range of high end scopes, several mounts and various sbig cameras and other sorted paraphanalia.
Since then I have moved on changing states and living accommodation. I still have a lot of gear in storage but times have moved on technically and I live in an apartment so in many ways I am looking at a blank slate as to what my next moves are.
However, being somewhat older and wiser, before putting another down payment on on Peter Ward’s next Ferrari, I considered it appropriate to examine exactly why I undertook this hobby in the first place and what exactly I enjoy about it. In undertaking this sort of navel gazing perhaps I can tailor my expenditure for maximal happiness as it were. Naturally I would welcome the feedback of others in this forum.
If I consider this logically I need to start at certain basic conclusions.
I guess I would start with the image itself or in other words the output of the endeavour. I have the wherewithal to download raw Hubble data and process it.to produce world class images, this costing absolutely nothing but time. When I ask myself if this activity would be in any way satisfying then the answer is unequivocally no. Similarly, and much more expensively I can utilise any number of internet sites to use first class, large aperture scopes and top of the range equipment to acquire data. Again, I ask myself would this be in any way satisfying and the answer is again unequivocally no.
Ergo I conclude satisfaction is NOT about the end product (to wit the image) per se.
Secondly, I ask myself if the astronomical part of the equation is a key ingredient, but in examination of this aspect I have to ask myself whether the use of time, resource and funds in astroimaging is better used in this endeavour than spending on astronomical education, an area that I am quite familiar with. Without doubt however, I would learn significantly more about astronomy if my time were devoted to learning, books, reading papers on astro-ph etc.
Ergo I conclude the satisfaction is NOT about learning about astronomy.
Thirdly, I ask myself if the activity is based on comraderie. Well, some of my most enjoyable times in astronomical activities have been crowding around a big dob with a bunch of fellow astronomers preferably with a beer or glass of wine or three. In fact (and I have not discounted this approach) if this were the main aim I would purchase a 25-30” dob which is easily transportable and travel around the various dark sites together with a case of my favourite wine Nothing attracts attention like a big dob and the views and the company improve into the night in direct relation to the amount of alcohol consumed. However, when I ask myself whether this is the approach I wish to take the answer in not a definitive but a general no.
Ergo I conclude that the satisfaction does not lie significantly with the comraderie.
Well, its simple, I hear you saying, its all really to do with the related disciplines of optics, electronics, computers and software all rolled up into the significant challenge of combining these factors to produce an optimal end result, and there is no doubt there is some truth in this view. However, if this were the simple truth then the amount of money expended would be irrelevant. Would it not be equally challenging to see what image you could obtain from a medium quality optic on a synta mount with a DSLR as compared to a RCOptic RC, Paramount ME and a high end Sbig camera. What behoves us to want to spend ever increasing amounts of funds in search of even greater quality of images NONE of which will come within a bulls roar of the quality of a Hubble image. In saying this I should be clear here. Of course many if not most imagers are constrained by funds, and thus the choice is not there for them, but this will not stop them saying “I wish I had an AP mount, and SBIG camera, 2” Astronomic filters etc etc.
Further, as you move up the technology and cost tree invariably the challenge decreases. For instance it is a hell of a lot easier to image with an AP refractor on an AP mount than a Synta refractor on a Synta mount so ergo the lower cost solution is the more challenging ergo surely the lower cost solution will give the most satisfaction. Unfortunately, this does not accord with my personal experience.
A similar line of argument relates to home observatories that are great in terms of access but invariably sub optimal in terms of seeing and light conditions.
I guess I could go on philosophising forever on this topic, but not necessarily come to any conclusion if in fact there is a conclusion to be had.
What I would like to hear from other imagers is an answer to the fundamental philosophical question “What do I really enjoy about astroimaging, and how do I go about maximising that enjoyment”. I don’t want to turn this into a pissing contest between low cost and high cost solutions. Let us assume that cost is no object. Astroimaging costs not only money but time away from other activities in life. Surely there must be a satisfactory satisfactional return and that must be dependent on certain parameters. I would like to really understand what those are.
If you have not fallen asleep reading this then I would welcome your feedback.
Cheers
Chris
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