We have all marveled at the photography of the cosmos taken by the professional observatories. Today, it is
generally acknowledged that "astrophotography" has played a key role in our understanding about the complexity of
our home in the universe. Anyone who has ever looked at the Milky Way on a clear, dark night has wondered about its mysteries.
Visually, it presents itself as a pale blue-gray band of light reaching across the night sky. Under
the darkest of night skies, the keen observer can trace out faint lanes of interstellar dust and can identify a few of the brightest nebulae and
star clusters. Long exposure photography with specially-designed "astro-cameras" and lenses reveal what human eyes cannot, a swirling spiral galaxy of 300 billions star-suns, crisscrossed by
vast regions of cosmic dust, gaseous nebulae, and great star clouds. Celestial objects both near and far are extremely faint. In order to collect the light of these remote subjects,
the photographer must track the camera and telescope for long periods of time, building up the photographic image.
The Photographer
John Gleason is widely acknowledged as an accomplished deep sky observer and expert astrophotographer with
over 25 years experience. During the past two decades he has produced professional results with
a variety of astronomical cameras and instruments readily available to the amateur astronomer. His beautiful
"Celestial Images" have been regularly published in magazines such as Sky & Telescope and Astronomy, as well as in
commercial advertising and books.
