Old School Astro Comes Alive in the Digital World

Old School Astro Comes Alive in the Digital World
It's now amazing to see that many old school analog astronomical techniques are coming alive and being converted into the new digital world. Many of these techniques and methods need categorization.

* Digital Filters
Filters are made with numbers that dial in highly specific spectroscopic ranges using photo computer image processing

* Amping
Telescope apertures are electronically increased by factors of ten and one hundred

* Flashing
Digital images are treated like the retro film technique that applied a flash of light to the film to increase the density of the faint and dim astro image.

* Aberration Removal
Chromatic aberration and other aberrations are electronically removed.

* Dark Sky
A city setting has a lot of light pollution that did not exist years ago. Strip away some layers of light pollution using physical light pollution filters and/or a digital image process.

* Spectroscopic Film
Make your own "digital" spectral film by selecting the desired spectral characteristics using modern day filters and/or digital computer image processing.

Planet Saturn Blasts into View - Celestron Nexstar 6-inch SE

 

Saturn from decades ago, had a different ring tilt - more edge on.

Planet Saturn Blasts into View - Celestron Nexstar 6-inch SE

As the story goes way back in the 1960s, I was taking classes in Jr. high school and a friend was pacing his new Criterion 6-inch reflector telescope that evening along with the Pastor's large refracting Unitron telescope. I was experimenting with the paramount invention of a new film developer, with the resolution of Acufine and the contrast of Metol. I asked to take a couple of photos of the planet Saturn through the telescope, not expecting much of anything, and he said, sure ok. When the negatives were developed, the results were mind blowing!

Seeing conditions were exceptional that night when I attached my Praktina FX camera with a roll of film, Kodak Tri-X emulsion,  and snapped very few Saturn photos which were later developed that night in the astro photographic darkroom. When the negatives were printed, I was stunned and completely blown away as they had the appearance of an observatory telescope photo taken with an aperture of a much larger size. The ringed planet was obviously at opposition, closest to the Earth and the view was crisp and clear with many divisions in the rings clearly visible.

Now, with Saturn and the rings in a different angle of tilt position, more open to face on, it begins its long journey towards another apposition, and the nostalgic telescopes comes to mind. This time, the telescope is a high resolution catadioptric Celestron f/10 Nexstar 6-inch SE on an altazimuth tracking mount with GOTO features.