Astrophotography

Astrophotography is the specialised pursuit of photographing celestial objects, celestial events and areas of the night sky, distinct from both the live general Photography hobby and the live Astronomy hobby already on this atlas: its own defining technique is capturing objects far too dim for the naked eye, such as faint stars, nebulae and galaxies, by holding a camera shutter or sensor open for an extended exposure so it accumulates light over time, sometimes aided by filters that isolate particular wavelengths. The first photograph of an astronomical object was taken in 1839, of the Moon, though it was not until the late nineteenth century that improving technology allowed for detailed stellar photography, and extended exposure imaging went on to transform professional astronomy itself, recording hundreds of thousands of previously unknown stars and nebulae onto photographic plates through telescopes used essentially as very large cameras, and contributing heavily to sky surveys and the classification of stars. Contemporary professional astronomical observation still relies almost entirely on photographic and digital imaging, but the word astrophotography today typically refers instead to the amateur pursuit, practiced for its aesthetic rather than its scientific results, using its own range of specialised equipment and technique.