Astrophotography in India - V
Astrophotography in India - V Stacking As a child, I used to find NASA images hauntingly beautiful. Resplendent nebulae looked like carefully sprinkled gulal across the canvas of the universe; they were nothing short of mesmerizing. I am sure I was, but one of billions, who found inspiration from those photographs. As a grown up, I got a chance to work in labs where instead of peering up though telescopes, I was looking down the eyepiece of microscopes. The microscopic world can be just as mesmerizing as if it is a universe unto itself. The issues that astronomers face is often the same ones plaguing those who are trying to image the universe of microbes – poor signal to noise ratio, optical train effects etc. Over my years of experience with optical microscopy, I learnt important image processing techniques and basics. Little did I know then, that they would come in very handy when I started astrophotography. Deep-sky astrophotography if often an uphill battle against noise. Fo