Books
There are many more astrophotography books out there, but these are the ones that I have read through the years and have found useful:- Astrophotography for the Amateur - Michael Covington
- Practical Astrophotography - Jeffrey R. Charles
- Digital SLR Astrophotography - Michael Covington
- Wide Field Astrophotography - Robert Reeves
- Lunar and Planetary Webcam User's Guide - Martin Mobberley
Online Articles
There is a wealth of information on the internet to help you out in astrophotography. These are online articles I have come across:- Astrophotography Techniques - A series of articles by Jerry Lodriguss
- Digital Image Processing - A set of articles by Jerry Lodriguss
- DSLR (especially Canon) Astrophotography - by Michael Covington
- Astrophotography - several articles from Sky and Telescope Magazine
- How-To: Astrophotography 101 - A good introductory article
- Webcam Astrophotography Tutorial for Planets - by Ray Shore
- Digital SLR Astrophotography Tutorial - by Ray Shore
- How to Take Astronomy Photographs - How-to guides on Greenwich Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition website
- Five Tips for Enhanced Webcam Astrophotography - by Ray Shore
- How to capture the color of the Moon - Learn how to create a color-saturated image of the Moon
Software
- Starry Night - It allows you to view the sky from any location on Earth on any date from the past of future, including special events (eclipses, transits, etc.). It's a great aid in planning astrophotography (or observing) sessions. You can see when things rise and set, which direction and where in the sky they'll be visible, and you can even zoom in to get an idea of how things will look when magnified through your telescope.
- Stellarium - If you want a Starry Night like planetarium sofware for free, then Stellarium is a great option. It will suffice to show you when and where the moon, stars, planets, and more will appear from any location on Earth. Give it a try, you could find that it's all you ever needed when it comes to planing your astronomy or astrophotography adventures! And the price couldn't be more convenient!
- Photoshop - This is practically one of the best image editing software available and can be used to enhance your pictures. You may not need such an advanced program, but at some point you'll probably want to see how you can enhance your pictures digitally. Some basic information about digital processing that will help you make use of such a program as well as others is covered in the books and articles listed above. I've definitely been able to improve the quality of my pictures by digital enhancement. More astrophotgraphy-specialized programs are available for specific tasks (such as stacking, making star trail pictures, etc. - see below), and can be more efficient and easier to use than Photoshop for those specific tasks.
- Registax - This program is very useful for processing webcam images. It allows you to select the best frames from video webcam recordings, combine these frames, and process them to bring out the details. Registax can also be useful for digital processing of non-webcam images. This program is free.
- DeepSkyStacker - Is useful for processing deep-sky images. You can combine several images, subtract dark frames, and other processing and post-processing tasks. This program is free.
- Startrails - Makes combining consecutive exposures to make startrails extremely easy. This program is free.
- Starstax - Allows you to make startrails in addition to a "cumulative saving" option, which is helpful for making individual frames for a star trails movie.
- Neat Image - A useful free program for noise reduction
Manufacturers and Retailers
- Meade Instruments
- Orion Telescopes
- Celestron
- Adorama (Photography)
- B&H (Photography)
- OPT Telescopes
Lebanese Astronomy and Astrophotography
- Lebanese Astronomy Group (Official website) - Astronomy club in Lebanon
- Lebanese Astronomy Group (Facebook group)
- AstroBob Group - Lebanese and international astronomy
- The Blue Planet Diaries - An astronomy blog by Alina Razzouk
- Lebanese Astrophotographers Flickr Group.
- Lebanese Astrophotographers Facebook Group.
- Lebanese Astrophotographers Blog
- Night Collective - A Lebanese Night Photography Group
- LAU Byblos Astronomy Club - Official Facebook Page
- AUB Astronomy Club - Official Facebook Page
General Astronomy Websites
- Space.com - News and more astronomy
- Astronomy Magazine
- Universe Today - Daily space and astronomy news
- Astronomy for Beginners - Astronomy and astrophotography
Astrophotography Websites
- Ray Shore's Astrophotography - Contains useful information and tutorials
- Donegal Skies - Astrophotography by Brendan Alexander
- Covington Innovations - Author of Astrophotography for the Amateur
- Robert Reeves' Celestial Photography - Robert Reeves' Astrophotography
- Astronomy Photographer of the Year - Greenwich Observatory annual competition
- Catching the Light by Jerry Lodriguss - Images and techniques
- Views of the Solar System by Damian Peach - One of the best amateur solar system imagers in the world.
- NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) - Images with professional explanations
- Lunar Photo of the Day (LPOD)
- Hubble Space Telescope Images - Free to download
Useful Tools
- Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) - The current state of the Sun from NASA. Useful for tracking sunspots.
- Calsky - Detailed sky calendar for worldwide locations. Includes a wealth of objects and events which can be tracked.
- Minor Planet and Ephemeris Service - Get detailed and updated coordinates for minor planets and comets from NASA
- Clear Sky Clock - Seeing conditions for certain areas in North America