WIRED Staff
Science

Slideshow: Backyard Paparazzi to the Stars

Digital photography is having a profound effect on amateur astrophotography. Cheap digital cameras, camcorders and even webcams are allowing amateurs to take pictures of the heavens that rival the pros' images. By Leander Kahney.
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Seip took this image of the Horsehead Nebula in January 2003.Stefan Seip

See related story: Backyard Paparazzi to the Stars

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Seip poses this year with his Astro-Physics 180mm f/9 StarFire EDT Triplet Apochromatic Refractor telescope.

Stefan Seip
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This photo of the Rosette Nebula in Monoceros was taken in February 2003.

Stefan Seip
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A whirlpool galaxy in Canes Venatici.

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Seip traveled to Kaufbeuren, Germany, to capture this image of the Solar Eclipse on May 31, 2003.

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A mapped image of the parade of all planets. A comet is also visible in the image: Utsunomiya (C/2002 F1), north of the Pleiades.

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Earlier this year, Stefan Seip snapped this astonishing picture of the sun that was chosen by NASA as the Astronomy Picture of the Day on July 7. He took the picture from his balcony during breakfast with his girlfriend, using a 4-inch refractor telescope, a special filter and an inexpensive digital camera.

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The lunar eclipse as seen in Stuttgart, Germany on Jan. 9, 2001.

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This image shows the awesome scale between solar-system objects as Mercury transits in front of the sun.

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The Eagle/Star Queen Nebula in Serpens Cauda in July 2002.

Stefan Seip