The Visible Universe

Our goal in this book is to help you choose, plan, and capture your best deep-sky images.  This is a reference guide for astrophotographers—both new and experienced—explaining  when, from where, and how the finest objects in the night sky can be photographed.

The 110 targets that we have selected include nebulae, galaxies, and star clusters visible from both the southern and northern hemispheres. We have included a range of sizes, concentrating on larger objects that are within the reach of widely available equipment.

We spent three years imaging all of these deep-sky objects using telescopes located in the UK, USA, Australia, Chile, France, and Spain. We captured more than 20,000 subexposures with total integration time in excess of 1500 hours. We also embarked on a separate project to capture the entire celestial sphere in a set of mosaics spanning 1300 megapixels. These full-sky mosaics reveal broader patterns, showing where the deep-sky objects are located in the context of the night sky as a whole 

In addition to the images themselves, information about each target is provided: its size, type, and designation in major catalogs. Each object also has a brief description with some history and information to help guide you in how to frame an object, what kind of filters to use, and how to approach processing. 

With this book, we have attempted to capture the majesty of the night sky above our heads. We hope that our efforts will help you to create your own beautiful images. So prepare your gear and start planning what you are going to capture on the next clear night. Whether it’s a new object for you, or a target that you’ve imaged many times, there is always something new to reveal. The Visible Universe awaits…