Intrigued by the latest images from Mars and Pluto but want to see what lies beyond?
Camp Verde AZ (April 13, 2017) – Saturday, April 22 between 2:00p and 4:00p, meet Mike Cadwell, local astrophotographer and a member of the Astronomers of the Verde Valley. Mike’s photographs of the night sky will be hung on the walls throughout the library and he will be available to talk about the images on display and give a brief glimpse into what makes astrophotography so special.
Mr. Cadwell has been involved in the physical sciences for most of his life and has been photographing the night skies for over 40 years. The dark skies in the Verde Valley area favor the long exposures required for beautiful astrophotographs of galaxies, nebulae and star clusters, some you may have seen before and some you probably have not. This exhibit will showcase some of the most colorful and unique objects to be found “out there” in deep space.
Astrophotography is a specialized branch of photography used to record aesthetically pleasing images of the sky, rather than images for scientific research. Besides recording the details of objects such as the Sun, Moon and planets, a branch of astrophotography called deep-sky astrophotography allows us to capture images invisible to the human eye such as dim stars, nebulae and galaxies. This is done by using long time exposures and a wide range of specialized equipment and techniques dedicated to the hobby. The exposure times for the photos in this exhibit range from two to twenty hours.
As a hobby, deep-sky astrophotography has many challenges that have to be overcome which are different than the challenges of conventional photography. In this type of photography, the telescope itself is used as the lens, collecting light for the film or the CCD of the camera. While using a telescope rather than a conventional camera lens allows for greater magnification and light gathering power to be used, it is one of the most difficult astrophotography methods.
Growing up in southern California, Mike studied physics, geology, astronomy and especially chemistry. Of his early years exploring astrophotography, Mike had to pack up all of his equipment and drive one hundred miles into the desert to escape the light pollution of southern California. Then he would set up everything and hope there were no clouds that night. “Now, living beneath the dark skies of Sedona,” Mike said, “I can just go out in my backyard and start taking images. I was very happy when Sedona recently became the newest International Dark Sky Community, one of only eight cities in the world to receive this designation. It makes my life a lot easier.”
Camp Verde Community Library is pleased to host Mr. Cadwell’s astrophotographs throughout the Discover NASA: From Our Town to Outer Space exhibition arriving the first week of May and running through the end of July. To learn more about this or any other program at the Library visit www.cvlibrary.org or call 928-554-8381.
Discover NASA: From Our Town to Outer Space, a traveling exhibit for libraries, is part of the STAR Library Education Network (STAR_Net) led by the National Center for Interactive Learning at the Space Science Institute. Discover NASA is supported through a grant from NASA.