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AMATEUR ASTRONOMY Talent amateur astronomer captures the heavens with high-tech cameras Talent photographer develops brilliant images with high-tech cameras Comment By Tony Boom for the Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By Tony Boom for the Mail Tribune Posted May. 24, 2015 at 12:01 AM By Tony Boom for the Mail Tribune Posted May. 24, 2015 at 12:01 AM » Social News TALENT — With his backyard telescope, Sean Curry has captured images of a twin quasar 8.7 billion light years away and tracks planets as they cross stars in distant galaxies. He then creates images that wouldn’t have been possible just a few years ago. Curry’s telescope isn’t the tube-like device on a wobbly tripod he started with as a kid. Now he’s got a 12-inch, 50-pound telescope to view galaxies, stars and nebulae, a computer-controlled, 4-foot-tall mount to track them, digital cameras to record them and programs to make it all work. “Everything had come together in the last couple years. It’s a pretty exciting time for amateurs,” said Curry. “There’s also a lot of software now of locating interstellar objects and processing other data.” Dedicated astronomy cameras have replaced older film and consumer digital units. To cut down on electronic noise in the images, Curry’s latest camera operates at -20 degrees Celsius (-4 degrees Fahrenheit). It has sensors similar to those found in iPhones or modern digital cameras. From a hill outside town at 2,100 feet, Curry makes five- to 10-minute exposures with the camera. That makes the tracking essential, but the computer-controlled mount with internal motors takes into account the Earth’s rotations so that the sky doesn’t appear to move. The mount is firmly anchored in a concrete base. Computer programming runs the telescope, camera and mount throughout a night, which can be as short as four to five hours in the summer, while Curry gets to sleep. In the old days, with film cameras, all-nighters were a norm. Curry pre-programs sequences, but that comes easily to a guy whose day job is putting together databases and running websites. A final image is a compilation of several hundred images that have been taken over weeks or even a month, due to the weak light coming from so far away. The light captured from tiny galaxy PGC28225, visible in one of his images, originated 170 million years ago. ”If I were to show you an individual image you can’t even see anything,” Curry says. A final image can take 30 to 40 hours to put together after he’s got the shots. “It’s so painstaking, it teaches you a lot of patience,” Curry says. “It’s a nice combination of science and art — it’s got a lot of techy stuff, but you end up with a really nice product at the end. And you get to go outside at night.” There’s too much light in the sky above Medford to allow Curry to shoot in that direction. Rain, storms and clouds obscure the sky in the winter, and smoke from wildfires sometimes curtail shooting in the summer. Curry has just completed a portable unit with telescope, mount, camera and battery that he will take when he visits his off-the-grid cabin near the Scott River in Northern California. The unit doesn’t have the strength of his home setup, but clearer skies with less light pollution will help him gather images. Curry says the hobby isn’t cheap. “Some people buy boats or motorcycles or ATV’s. I don’t have any of that stuff, I put it into gear,” Curry says. Telescopes and mounts tend to hold their value, but the cameras depreciate, he notes. Those without equipment can get started in astronomy through the Southern Oregon Skywatchers, says Curry. For information, see www.orskywatchers.org . Reach Ashland freelance writer Tony Boom at [email protected] . By Tony Boom for the Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By Tony Boom for the Mail Tribune Posted May. 24, 2015 at 12:01 AM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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