Yesterday was the first day of this year’s Northeast Astro-Imaging Conference (NEIAC 2010), and it was a blast. The fifth annual conference is taking place at the Holiday Inn in Suffern, New York, April 15–16. It prefaces the Northeast Astronomy Forum (NEAF), which begins Saturday. Speakers from around the country have come to NEIAC 2010 to show their latest images, talk about how they create those images, and offer tips on the art and science behind the images. Add to that the 30 vendors here to showcase their latest products, and you have one-stop shopping for all your astroimaging needs.
For the first time, the conference consists of three parallel tracks: introductory imaging, aesthetic imaging, and scientific imaging. Astroimager Wally Pacholka got the ball rolling this morning with a presentation of his breathtaking images. He called his talk “America the Beautiful,” and one look at his images shows why. Wally takes photographs of the night sky with scenic landscapes in the foreground. He captures most of his images at America’s national parks using nothing more than a 35mm camera on a tripod. If you haven’t seen his images before, take a look at some of them on The World at Night’s web site.
After Wally’s talk, former Astronomy editor Richard Berry jumpstarted the scientific imaging track with his talk on “The Art and Science of CCD Photometry.” When not writing books on imaging, Richard likes to shoot variable stars to track their behaviors. He’s developed his technique to where he can get detect brightness changes as small as 0.005 magnitude.
Talks continued throughout the day. One of my favorites was by Hap Griffin, who discussed how he modifies digital SLR cameras so they can effectively capture deep-sky objects. Most DSLRs have filters that block long-wavelength visible radiation and therefore transmit little of the Hydrogen-alpha (Hα) light that bright nebulae produce in abundance. By modifying cameras (Canon models in particular), Hap enables the camera to record Hα light and produce stunning nebula images.
NEIAC 2010 winds up tomorrow, after which attention will shift to this weekend’s NEAF. It looks to be a busy, and enjoyable, 4 days. Stay tuned to Astronomy.com for more NEIAC and NEAF updates!
And Bill Andrews will be tweeting about his experience here in Suffern, so be sure to follow him on Twitter (@AstronomyMag).