Old Glass, New Tricks

Digital sensors and image processing software have revolutionized astronomy and astrophotography, but we still depend as much as Galileo on collecting photons. In our world of cooled cameras and image stacking, how much do we need the latest and greatest telescopes? MAS member Dan Bush will share his results from a recent experiment in combining new and old technology to image a familiar target, and perhaps spark some ideas about taking advantage of your older gear!

Dan Bush is a recent astrophotography hobbyist and longtime astronomy enthusiast. Many years ago he was a physics/astronomy major, interning at the Space Telescope Science Institute and getting very sick on an observing trip to Kitt Peak. Eventually, his other interests and inability to grok differential equations led him down a different path. Dan lives on the Bortle 8 north side of Madison with his wife and 7th grader, whom he is dragging to Mount Palomar on their spring break trip to Southern California. He works as a Medicaid program manager for the Wisconsin Department of Health Services.

This meeting will take place in-person at our usual Space Place classroom location. It will also be streamed live to our Youtube channel at https://www.youtube.com/@madisonastronomicalsociety.