Yuri Beletsky [Chile]
Born in Belarus, Yuri lives in Chile where he works as an astronomer at ESO La-Silla Paranal observatory. His research interests focus on extragalactic giant molecular clouds. Besides working in the observatory, Yuri is also a vivid amateur astronomer since childhood. With the rapid development of digital imaging technology he discovered his new passion for astrophotography. Observing under extremely dark sky above Cerro Paranal mountain in Atacama Desert provides a unique opportunity to reveal all beauty of the night sky. During his spare time at the observatory Yuri likes to take wide-filed panoramic images of the Milky Way and some natural phenomena. Very short exposures can deliver fascinating views of the surrounding landscapes at dusk or dawn, while more deep exposures produce a breathtaking pictures of the starry sky. |
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Filippo Ciferri [Italy]
Filippo Ciferri, a theoretical physicist working as IT consultant is an astrophotographer, who likes to experiment with several different optical and mechanical configurations. He is particularly interested in using the most innovative deconvolution algorithms to improve the processing of his images. His current equipment includes a Takahashi FRC-300 mounted on a Paramount ME, a Takahashi TOA-150 mounted on a Takahashi EM-400, a Takahashi Mewlon 250 and a Takahashi FSQ-85, used mainly for his astro trips. Additionally a customized Celestron C14 is used for some visual observations. His preferred cameras are: SBIG STL 11000, SBIG ST8300, Canon 50DH. Starting from 2010 he moved to a quite dark place in Umbria, where he is building a small astrofarm to host all his instruments. |
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Ivan Eder [Hungary]
is one of the best Hungarian astrophotographers. He uses several different telescopes: a 130-diameter TMB refractor and a fast and corrected Newtonian reflector with 30 cm diameter. His preferred camera is a Canon EOS digital SLR camera. Ivan lives in Budapest, where devotees of astronomy are in great difficulty because of the amount of light pollution. So he takes his equipment and travels 100 km to reach a dark place in the heart of the Matra Hills, which serves as a base for many Hungarian amateur astronomers. |
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Peter Eppich [Germany]
was born in Vienna in 1971, but nowadays he lives and works in Baden-Württemberg, near Freiburg. For many years, Peter was a computer scientist in Hamburg, Hannover and Freiburg. In his spare time, he works on photography and astrophotography and is a member of the IAS, VDS and the Breisgau amateur astronomers. Most of his astro images were primarily taken at the club's observatory on the Schauinsland mountain (near Freiburg), or at IAS at Hakos, Namibia. |
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R. Jay GaBany [USA]
is a first-class astrophotographer, using mainly remotely controlled instruments located under very dark skies in New Mexico and near Melbourne, Australia. Besides his excellent work in astrophotography, which is often a part of scientific projects, he is a member of the Board of Directors for the annual Advanced Imaging Conference and a member of the Kitt Peak Visitor Center. He is well known for his excellent talks and for his fine articles in various magazines. |
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Dietmar Hager [Austria]
is a very dedicated astrophotographer from Austria who is busy with local and remote astrophotography. He is Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, member of the International Dark-Sky-Association (IDA), member of the british dark-sky campaign (CfDS) and he is counsellor of the Ars Electronica Center. In the past he did a lot of invited talks, workshops and presentations in Europe and USA, image publication in educational books and videos, NASA, as well as astronomical journals. |
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Jukka-Pekka Metsävainio [Finland]
is a finnish astrophotographer who enjoys to be able to reveal some of the hidden beauty of our Universe. Publications of his images: NASA, National Geographics, LPOD, Sky & Telescope, Universe Today and many others. His observatory locates in the very center of the city Oulu, Finland. Due the massive Light Pollution he mainly does narrow band imaging of Emission Nebulae.
He is also famous for his outstanding 3D astro-images! |
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Fabian Neyer [Switzerland]
is a well known Swiss astrophotographer, who works mainly with a monochrom STL11000 CCD-camera. Occasionally, for special events or in case of fast moving objects, he also uses a DSLR camera. His current main imaging instrument is a 4" Borg refractor which provides an excellent focal length for wide field imaging. Tracking is performed by an AstroPhysics 1200 GoTo mount.
In his daily business he works on a PhD project in geodesy. Satellite data are used to create 4D models of larger land mass movements on Earth, i.e. real 3D models that change in time. Such models can then be used to understand and predict these mass movements and the physical characteristics underneath. |
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Giovanni Paglioli [Italy]
Giovanni Paglioli is an Italian astrophotographer who studied art and architecture. Nowadays he works as a sound engineer and is very active in the field of digital video and computer generated graphics and postproduction. Giovanni has worked within many National and International video and film productions.
Astrophotography has been playing an important role since his childhood. His actual equipment includes a 14" RC from Officina Stellare on a Paramount ME, a Takahashi Epsilon 210 and a Borg 125mm apo refractor together with some other small telescopes. Giovanni's preferred cameras are a FLI Prolines with a 4710 back illuminated chip and a QSI 583. Colours play an important role in his work as astrophotographer. So, he developed his own techniques in capturing and processing colours in deep sky astrophotography, which he will show us in his workshop. |
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Vicent Peris [Astronomical Observatory of the University of Valencia, Spain]
With thirteen years of experience in astronomical imaging, Vicent Peris became a professional astrophotographer at the Astronomical Observatory of the University of Valencia (Spain) four years ago. Today - in collaboration with Calar Alto Observatory in Southern Spain - he leads a professional astrophotography program using multi-meter telescopes with optical and infrared cameras.
Vicent Peris is also known for his collaboration with the PixInsight development team (PTeam) for the last seven years. He has created a completely new image processing methodology using multiscale (wavelet-based) algorithms implemented in PixInsight. His multiscale processing techniques constitute a new aesthetic and technical approach to image processing in astrophotography.
He is also co-founder of the Documentary School of Astrophotography, the first conceptual school of thought in the astrophotography community. |
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Gimmi (Gian Michele) Ratto [Italy]
is an Italian physicist, working as a neurophysiologist. He built an observatory in Tuscany, on a hilly town nearby Pisa in year 2006. Beforehand he traveled around searching dark spots for imaging, reaching as far away as Joshua Tree or the Andes. His excellent images are mainly captured with a 10" ASA and a SBIG STL11000, placed on the Hungarian mount G42. At the moment he is building a robotic observatory in the south of Tuscany together with other equally mad fellows ;-) |
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Mischa Schirmer [Germany]
is an astrophysician at University of Bonn, Germany. He is involved in the THELI project, an automatic pipeline for the reduction of optical and near-infrared wide-field imaging data. Mischa is also an amateur astrophotographer, taking pictures primarily from the Roque de los Muchachos in La Palma, Spain. |
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Babak A. Tafreshi [Iran]
was born in 1978 in Tehran. He is a photographer and science journalist, the founder and director of The World At Night (TWAN) international photography project, also a board member of Astronomers Without Borders. Tafreshi received the 2009 Lennart Nilsson Award, the world's most recognized award for scientific photography, for his global contribution to night sky photography. |
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Daniel Verschatse [Chile]
was born and raised in Flanders. His fascination with astronomy began at an early age. After graduating as a radio frequency engineer, Daniel left his native Belgium to start a technical-commercial career that took him to a number of countries and left little room for his astronomical pastime. In 1999, his job brought him to Chile where he finally took advantage of the opportunity to make a childhood dream come true: His own observatory under good skies!
Daniel's images have been published in various media. Several have been seen as NASA's APOD, and hundreds of his images have appeared in various magazines and books. His Horsehead image will be used on a stamp to be issued in August 2011 by the German Postal Services. |
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Günther Wuchterl [Austria]
is a professional astronomer from Vienna/Austria and is currently working at the "Thüringer Landessternwarte" in Tautenburg, Germany. He is Co-investigator for the CoRoT space telescope and his work focuses on the theoretical models of the formation and evolution of (exo-)planets. He is also president of the association "Kuffner Sternwarte" in Vienna, and head of the Austrian chapter of the International Dark-Sky Association (IDA). |
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