A Little About Me…

So who am I and what business do I have creating a website about Astrophotography?

My name is Patrick Cosgrove.

Am I an expert in Astrophotography? 

Hardly - my very first image - which you can see on this website HERE - was taken in August of 2019 and it was a pretty poor image! But that did not matter at the time - I was elated to get any image at all back then!

Since then I have developed my skills and have seen a real improvement in my images.

Astrophotography is hard.   The number of hurdles that a person has to overcome just to get to that first image is significant.  It trips up a lot of people who attempt it. 

I have overcome many of those hurdles. If I can share what worked for me, perhaps I can help others still working their way through it. As I will explain below, this was one of my motivations in creating this website.

Early Interest in Astronomy

I developed a very early interest in astronomy and even had a Sears brand 2.4” refractor when I was a teenager with the wobbliest mount you have ever seen - but I used it a lot. I can also remember using a pair of binoculars wedged in an open window of my bedroom and carefully drawing star patterns I saw. Then I would go to my star atlas and look up the stars I drew and annotate the drawings. I was also interested in photography at an early age - developing my own B&W film in a basement darkroom. I would put my camera on a tripod and point it towards a constellation and open the shutter for 5 minutes. I would make prints, draw a dot at the start of each star trail and then look up what stars were there. When I went to college and took image science courses, it just fed my interests as now I had a better understanding of the physics around astronomy and the science and engineering behind optics, imaging, and image processing.

In the late 1980’s I became very involved in Astronomy, joining ASRAS - the Astronomy Section of the Rochester Academy of Science. I made some close friends there and did a lot of visual observing. My main scope back then was a 14.5” Dobsonian scope that I built.

In the Early 1990’s I went back for my graduate degree, took on more responsibilities at work, built a new house, and started a family. Suddenly there was no time or energy for Astronomy. But I knew that I would go back to it once I had the time. “When I retire…” I kept saying to myself!

I finally did retire in June of 2019 and decided I was ready to get back to my astronomical interests. As I dug into it - I realized that the technology had changed a lot - cooled digital cameras, platesolving, stacking, auto-guiding, and autofocus. I was like a kid in a candy shop! So I dove in and have been developing my astrophotographic abilities day by day since then.

Background

I thought I had a pretty good background for this:

• An interest in Astronomy for most of my life - that helps. 

• I'm retired now, so I have time - (that really helps!).  

• From a career perspective, I have a good understanding of Image Science, Image Processing, Imaging Systems, computers, and optics.  I used to lead Research teams at Eastman Kodak (before they sank into the dust of history) that developed automated image enhancement algorithms for the consumer sector.  That certainly helped (and at times hurt - astronomical images are nothing like consumer images!).

• And finally - I am, by nature, a curious and inquisitive guy who loves technical challenges.  So - this should be easy for me right?

Wrong!

The Challenge of Astrophotography

Astrophotography requires you to develop methods and techniques that not only allow you to capture your image data - but to do so in a way that you maximize the quality of that data. There is a significant learning curve here.  It requires you to use a host of software systems and tools that are somewhat unique to Astrophotography.  Then there is image processing. Some of this is math and science-based, and I am comfortable with that. But a lot of the needs here are unique  - the signal-to-noise ratio on some of these images is almost laughable - nothing I learned in consumer imaging is that useful here!  When most of your code values are only a few units above the noise floor - you can't really compare that with consumer images that are extremely bright and detailed.  And while image processing leverages very sophisticated techniques - there is still a large element of art in how they are applied to produce a pleasing image. One must develop an eye for this - and the final result most certainly carries the stamp of the unique style developed by each Astrophotographer.

So Astrophotography is hard.  But - I still remember the thrill of getting that first image off my camera.  The fact that I was seeing details that - in the past - I only saw in professional images from great observatories around the world.  I was HOOKED.   Working for days (nights really) to capture data and then getting that first look after the data is freshly stacked - priceless.

Progress and the Value of a Helping Hand

So in the last two years, my images have improved and I have learned a great deal.  Some of this happened because I have the right technical background and personality type that I think laid a good foundation for this. But another reason it happened was because of the Astrophotography Community itself. 

I was super fortunate to meet a couple of truly accomplished Astrophotographers in my local area that have been practicing for a decade and routinely produce world-class results.  I’m talking about you Dan Kuchta (Dan’s Astrobin) and you Gary Opitz (Gary’s Astrobin).

Dan is an egineer’s engineer and when he digs into a problem he leaves no stone unturned. He is an OSC maestro.

Gary is a pure narrowband artist. Early on I fell in love with the look of Gary’s Narrowband images. Gary has color and noise reduction developed into a fine art form. I aspire to achieve even a portion of his look, in my work.

They have been very generous with their time and knowledge - and they were also super encouraging - and that went a long way.  There is a huge debt there!

There is another community I should mention as well - the greater Astrophotography community at large.   I mean all those people who create Youtube tutorials, and people on Astro websites that take the time to comment and critique my images.  The people on forums that offer help and assist in problem-solving - all of these things were a huge help.

Pay It Forward

One of my motivations for creating this website is so that I can share my images with others in a way that gives me the freedom to tell the stories the way I would like to tell them.

Another reason is to pay back the broader Astrophotography community for all the help and support I have received I the last two years. Can I tell you the best way to go about doing something in Astrophotography? No - but I can tell you how I do it and perhaps in sharing that, I will help someone else who is stuck.

These last two years have been a journey of learning and discovery - one that has given me great joy and satisfaction. It has also, at times, led to me tearing out what little hair I still have left!

With this website - I would like to share my excitement for Astrophotography and I would like, at least in some small way - to share what I have learned where I can, and help those making the same Journey.

Astrobin: https://www.astrobin.com/users/pcos/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/CosgrovesCosmos

Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/patrick_cosgrove/

FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/CosgrovesCosmos

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxDpYsPVUY61s6rGFsZHEXg

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cosgroves_cosmos/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrickacosgrove/