Background & practice
Knowledge
Understand the astronomy and processing behind the images, from celestial motion to a careful final edit.
Knowledge, step by step
Choose the topic you need right now. Detailed explanations have their own pages, so you can explore one subject at a time.
Understanding astronomy basics
Understand distances, brightness, sky motion and orientation for observing and astrophotography.
Explore this topic →Exposure time, stacking and image noise
Understand individual exposures, total integration and signal-to-noise ratio in astrophotography.
Explore this topic →Calibrating astrophotos: lights, darks, flats and bias
Image calibration and preparing astronomical exposures before stacking.
Explore this topic →Field of view, mosaics, dithering and drizzle
Understand focal length, framing, mosaics and drizzle in astrophotography.
Explore this topic →Processing astrophotos: from stack to finished image
Background correction, colour, stretching, sharpening and noise reduction for astrophotos.
Explore this topic →Checking, organising and archiving astrophotos
Check exposure quality, organise multiple nights and archive your original astrophotography data.
Explore this topic →A good starting point
Start with astronomy basics. For your first astrophotos, continue with exposure time and stacking, then image processing.
From knowledge to observing
Find sky conditions, moonlight and the right time on the planning page.
Plan your observation →