Thurs 30th Dec (tomorrow!) at 9pm (3pm CST) our stella line up of Astro-Stars answer your questions LIVE on the astrobiscuit discord stage: https://discord.gg/mGfJS9SuKx

Find out more about the astrobiscuit discord server here: https://www.astrobiscuit.com/discord

Damian Peach: The best planetary imager on the planet.

Peach’s work has been used by NASA and ESA to illustrate what ground based telescopes can achieve in photographing the planets, and the support they can provide to professional space probe missions.

In 2011 Peach was crowned overall winner of the Royal Greenwich Observatory astrophotographer of the year competition, and was a prize winning finalist in 2012 – 2018. He also won 1st place in the National Science Foundation’s Comet ISON photo competition for his image of the comet which was used by the media throughout the world during the comet’s close approach to the Sun.

Helena (16) from Helena’s Astrophotography YT channel!

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCG5Hd14VipcinOzhlI5aXhQ

I started my YouTube channel in April of 2019, in the hope of shedding some light on this painfully humbling hobby! There were so many inspirational astrophotography YouTubers when I began filming videos, but one thing I noticed was nobody was starting their channel from the absolute beginning. A lot of them had already been taking photos for a few months, and me? Well, I knew nothing.

Another huge passion I have is inspiring younger women in science. In 2019, I could count the girls I knew who did astrophotography in one hand. Now, times have completely changed, and I’m honoured to be a part of that change. I’ve connected with the most incredible group of women, called STELA (Striving to Engage Ladies in Astrophotography) and I am a very proud team member.

Nico Carver from Nebula Photos YT channel

https://youtube.com/nebulaphotos

I am an amateur astrophotographer who has focused on widefield deep sky imaging. I am from Minnesota originally, but have been living on the east coast of the USA for the past dozen years.

Currently, I am in Boston where in my day job, I’m the Librarian for Collaborative Programs at the Centre for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian. My interest in astrophotography started in 2014 on a trip to Iceland to view and photograph the Aurora Borealis. I was mostly into time-lapse imaging at the time, but I was amazed at what could be captured in a single 15 second photo with a fast, wide angle lens. From there, I started dabbling in Milky Way shots before jumping in to deep sky in January 2016.

Apod winning Chuck Ayoub from Chuck’s Astrophotography YT Channel

https://www.youtube.com/chucksastrophotography

I consider myself very lucky. I worked in IT for around 20 years, but at the same time, I ventured into internet advertising around 15 years ago just as the field was taking off. It allowed me to retire at a relatively young age. Astrophotography became the perfect hobby for me to fill my days. It never gets boring and everyday there is something new to learn and improve on. So despite not working anymore, this hobby really keeps me on my toes and my mind thinking.

This is hard to believe, but I didn’t start DSO imaging until around 3.5 years ago. I would have started sooner but I had no idea what people could accomplish from their own backyard with affordable equipment. I was a complete beginner in early 2016 and started in the dead cold of winter, but I was so excited to capture something, the cold didn’t bother me at all.