Astrophotography, also known as astronomical imaging, is the photography or imaging of astronomical objects, celestial events, or areas of the night sky. The first photograph of an astronomical object (the Moon) was taken in 1839, but it was not until the late 19th century that advances in technology allowed for detailed stellar photography. Besides being able to record the details of extended objects such as the Moon, Sun, and planets, modern astrophotography has the ability to image objects outside of the visible spectrum of the human eye such as dim stars, nebulae, and galaxies. This is accomplished through long time exposure as both film and digital cameras can accumulate and sum photons over long periods of time or using specialized optical filters which limit the photons to a certain...
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1851 07 28 Berkowski.jpg
Johann Julius Friedrich Berkowski made the first solar eclipse photograph on July 28, 1851, also usi...
Afocal image of Jupiter.png
Taken using a Panasonic Lumix camera and a reflecting telescope from the UK by George Kristiansen.
Afocal image of the Apennine Mountains.png
Taken using a Panasonic Lumix camera and a reflecting telescope from the UK by George Kristiansen.
Celestial tree under the milky way.JPG
iran - fars - arsenjan
Comet-Hale-Bopp-29-03-1997.jpeg
Photo of the comet Hale-Bopp above a tree. This picture was taken in the vicinity of Pazin in Istria...
Comet over Munich 1.jpg
Comet Hale-Bopp over Munich. Analog photo with 1:4 / f=300mm, converted with NIKON D90
Earth-moon.jpg
This view of the rising Earth greeted the Apollo 8 astronauts as they came from behind the Moon afte...
Fall - Late Summer Milky Way.jpg
In going back through archives on an old computer, I found a cache of 35mm color-film images I'd mad...
Gibbous Moon.jpg
A composite of several photos taken via eyepiece projection from a a vintage Celestron C8. Images aq...
HST-SM4.jpeg
The Hubble Space Telescope as seen from the departing Space Shuttle Atlantis, flying STS-125, HST Se...
He1523a.jpg
Artist's impression of "the oldest star of our Galaxy": HE 1523-0901
About 13.2 billion years old
Ap...
Henry Drape Orion nebula 1880 inverted.jpg
First photograph of the Nebula in Orion. Taken by Professor Henry Draper in 1880. The large stars, b...
Henry Draper.jpg
International Space Station star trails - JSC2012E052684.jpg
Star trail composite image created by International Space Station Expedition 30 crew member Don Pett...
John W Draper-The first Moon Photograph 1840.jpg
First Astronomical Photograph - John W. Draper's Moon Daguerreotype. It was taken on March 26, 1840 ...
M31(Kennett).jpg
The Great Andromeda Galaxy (M31)
Single 40 minute exposure with Fujichrome 400F Provia using a Meade...
M8-20.jpg
== Summary ==
The Trifid (NGC6514) and Lagoon (NGC6530) Nebulas: These two beautiful nebulas lie in ...
NGC 281, the 'Pacman Nebula'.jpg
NGC281, popularly the 'Pacman Nebula', imaged using a Skywatcher 130P-DS and astro-modded Canon 450D...
Optolong L-Extreme Bandpasses.jpg
Bandpasses of the popular Optolong l-extreme narrowband filter, allowing only narrow bandpasses acou...
Crab Nebula.jpg
This is a mosaic image, one of the largest ever taken by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, of the Crab ...