Astrophotography & Night-Sky Math: Image Scale, Telescope Optics, Star Trails, Stacking & Moon Phases
Plan night-sky images: framing, image scale, exposure limits, stacking time and dark windows, with every cell checked as you go.
One-time payment · lifetime access · lessons, labs, exam and certificate included · no subscription.
About this course
In this course you plan a fictional imager's deep-sky season in a spreadsheet, one checked formula at a time. You turn sensor size and focal length into the field of view with ATAN and DEGREES, compare it with target sizes and work backwards to the right focal length. You calculate image scale in arcseconds per pixel and flag sampling against the seeing, then focal ratio, magnification, exit pupil and resolution limits. You limit untracked exposures with COS of the declination, plan star trails, size a stack with the square-root rule, rate sky brightness, follow the moon's age with MOD and total a session log with a chart.
Lessons
- Framing: Field of View in Degrees and Arcminutes vs Target Sizes Pro
- Image Scale: Arcseconds per Pixel, Seeing and Sampling Flags Pro
- Telescope Optics: Focal Ratio, Magnification, Exit Pupil & Resolution Pro
- Untracked Exposures: Star Drift by Declination, Pixel Trailing & Star Trails Pro
- Stacking: Signal-to-Noise, Sub-Exposure Counts & Total Integration Time Pro
- Sky Brightness: mag/arcsec², Darkness Classes & Limiting Magnitude Pro
- Planning by the Moon: Moon Age, Illumination & Dark Windows Pro
- Session Log & Dashboard: Integration per Target, Storage & Chart Pro