Astrophotography Section

Section Director: Martin Heigan
Activity areas: Astrophotography, Video-astrophotography
Specialists & Collaborators: Dale Liebenberg, Brett du Preez, Hannes Pieterse, Jerome Jooste, Kos Coronaios, Martin Lyons, Gary Els, Neil Viljoen
Contact us: [ astrophotographyassa.saao.ac.za ]
ASSA Photo Gallery: Astrophoto Gallery
Archives: AstroSocSA on Flickr

How to do astrophotography

If you have never taken photos of the night sky, or would like to understand the processes behind astrophotography, consult our Guide to Astrophotography for advice. This is an evolving resource and you are welcome to propose areas of improvement.

Share your photographs

Photographers are invited to share their images with the ASSA Astrophotography Section. All images will be added to the ASSA Image Archive (on Flickr), which can be browsed on the Gallery page.  Send an e-mail to [ astrophotographyassa.saao.ac.za ] containing a description of the equipment used, settings, a description of the processing process, and any other relevant information. Don’t forget to also describe target, and include the image as an attachment. Make sure that the image is as high a quality as you can fit in an email, so as to best show off your work!

Astrophotography Section Contact List

Stay up to date by subscribing to the Astrophotography Section Contact List. This is a low-volume mailing list, that is used to share relevant Astrophotography news and events with the Astrophotography community in southern Africa.

Astrophotography Challenges

The Astrophotography Section regularly challenges its members to capture specific images. Some of these challenges are meant to push your skills, others are to establish a record of interesting events, and others are just meant to be fun! New challenges are periodically announced, sometimes in partnership with outside organisations.

Current challenges

Previous challenges

Older challenges can be found in the Website Archive.

Awards and Certificates

Every year, the Director has the option of recognising the efforts of South African astrophotographers by bestowing awards and certificates. Browse the gallery of past recipients.