|
Ciao a tutti,
ECCAI sta per "East Coast Conference on Astronomical Imaging",
è una conferenza nata da poco e organizzata da Misti, Mazlin e
Benamati, ma che promette molto bene, qualcosa di simile all'AIC che
si svolge nella west coast ogni anno, e che alcuni di voi conoscono
molto bene. Si terrà a Philadelphia a fine settembre 2007, magari
qualcuno di voi sarà interssato alla partecipazione. Riporto a seguito
il programma in inglese, mi riprometto di tradurlo quanto prima e di
metterlo online.
Saluti
Andrea
2007 East Coast Conference on Astronomical Imaging
We are pleased to announce the 2007 East Coast Conference on
Astronomical Imaging, to be held in Philadelphia, PA on the
weekend of September 28-30, 2007.
We already have an impressive lineup of speakers, and while we may yet
add one or two speakers before the actual event, wanted to share these
details so that you can mark your calendars and make your travel
plans. Registration will be limited to the hotel's meeting room
capacity, and we will have to honor conference registrations in order
of receipt, so you'll want to sign up early to guarantee your place.
Our list of speakers (so far) is:
Adam Block (Expert Astro-Imager and Founder of Caelum Observatory)
Richard Crisp (Renowned Astro-Imager and Emission-Line Imaging Pioneer)
Terence Dickinson (Editor of SkyNews Magazine)
R Jay GaBany (Remote Astro-Imager and Creative Writer)
Doug George (Founder/President/CEO of Diffraction Limited)
Paul Jones (Star Instruments Founder/Owner/Master Optician)
Robert Nemiroff (Astronomy Picture of the Day co-editor)
"Dr. Clay" Sherrod (Arkansas Sky Observatory Founder)
Andrea Tamanti (European Astro-Imager)
A brief outline of the topics they will be presenting follows:
Adam Block (Expert Astro-Imager and Founder of Caelum Observatory)
------------------------------------------------------
Virtually all astro-imagers are aware of Adam's incredible body of
work, both from his days at the Kitt Peak Advanced Observer's Program,
and from more recent images as well as his popular (and expanding)
line of image-processing tutorial DVDs.
Due to the popularity of Adam's pre-conference workshop in 2006, he
will once again be conducting a Friday afternoon session covering the
basics of image processing, including image calibration with Dark and
Flat Frames, color combining of RGB frames, adding Luminance to form
an LRGB image, applying Levels and Curves to achieve proper image
density and contrast, and various image cleanup and enhancement
techniques, such as Gaussian Blur, Unsharp Masking, and using Layer
Masks and Color Range Tool features to selectively apply image
enhancements. This optional pre-conference workshop is being offered
separately for anyone who believes they would benefit from it, but
there is a separate fee of $50 to cover the costs of conducting the
workshop.
Adam will also be speaking during the regular conference session,
sharing with us some of the many techniques he brings to bear in
advanced processing of astronomical images.
Richard Crisp (Renowned Astro-Imager and Emission-Line Imaging Pioneer)
------------------------------------------------------
As a practicing electrical engineer with over 30 years design
experience in the semiconductor industry, Richard knows a lot about
what's inside those CCD cameras we (mostly) take for granted. He is
widely known for his firmly held convictions, and his willingness to
engage in vigorous debate about the foundations, equipment, and
techniques of our hobby.
An early practitioner of emission-line (or narrow-band) imaging,
Richard will be presenting some of the history and science behind
these techniques, as well as practical pointers in the capture and
processing of these images. Richard will also be discussing some
original research he has been doing in this area, which may well point
the way to new and exciting techniques in the near future.
Not content to just use off-the-shelf equipment, Richard has also
fabricated some of his own optical equipment, and will discuss the
goals, design, fabrication and testing of two different but highly
cost-effective optical systems he uses for astronomical imaging: a
widefield system based on the use of surplus medium format camera
lenses and a long focal length classical cassegrain telescope based
on a low-cost 18" f/12.6 optics set and a home built OTA made from
welded aluminum tubing with carbon fiber trusses.
Terence Dickinson (Editor of SkyNews Magazine)
------------------------------------------------------
Terence was a staff astronomer at planetariums in Toronto
and Rochester, N.Y. in the 1960s and 70s before becoming a full-time
astronomy writer and editor. For the past 13 years he has been the
editor of the Canadian magazine SkyNews.
He will share some thoughts on the characteristics of images that
publishers and photo editors tend to find appealing, and how our
attendees might go about maximizing their chances of getting their
images placed in magazines and books, or selected for on-line
distinction.
R Jay GaBany (Remote Astro-Imager and Creative Writer)
------------------------------------------------------
Many of us are familiar with the incredible images that Jay produces,
as well as the marvelous prose introductions to them that he provides.
As one of a new but growing cadre of remote astro-imagers, Jay gathers
his raw data from telescopes a thousand (or more) miles from his home.
He will discuss the pros and cons of imaging from his remotely
controlled observatory in New Mexico, describe processes he uses to
noiselessly enrich color information that can be used to tint and to
filter hidden details trapped in pictures and review some recent work
he has completed with a team of professional astronomers who research
tidal streams associated with many galaxies.
Doug George (Founder/President/CEO of Diffraction Limited)
------------------------------------------------------
Doug founded Diffraction Limited in 1992, with a mission to develop
high quality software and hardware tools for scientific imaging
applications. They produce hardware/software solutions in many areas,
but most of us are familiar with their flagship astronomy image
processing products MaxIm DL and MaxDSLR.
Doug will be sharing with us many of the insights, tips and techniques
he has developed over the years to make the most of our image capture
and processing efforts.
Paul Jones (Star Instruments Founder/Owner/Master Optician)
------------------------------------------------------
Paul established Star Instruments in 1976, and manufactures
professional-quality custom optics, specializing in Ritchey-Chretien
optical systems. Their customers include manufacturers of quality
tube assemblies and complete telescopes, universities, government
agencies including NASA, aerospace companies and discriminating
amateur astronomers throughout the world. (If you are in the U.S. and
have a Ritchey-Chretien telescope, the odds are overwhelming that Paul
is the master optician who produced those exquisite optics!)
Paul will be sharing with us some of the insights he has gleaned over
the years on the optical design and manufacturing of mirror-based
optical systems. He might even give us some insight into the
background and expected performance of his new line of
Ritchey-Chretien Astrograph optics!
Robert Nemiroff (Astronomy Picture of the Day co-editor)
------------------------------------------------------
Robert, an astrophysicist at the Michigan Technological University and
NASA Goddard, is a founding co-editor (along with Jerry Bonnell) of
the Astronomy Picture of the Day site (APOD).
Once again he will be sharing with our attendees some of the
characteristics of images that he looks for when selecting an image to
become an APOD. To demonstrate the points he makes in his talk,
Robert presents a truly awe-inspiring series of former APODs that is
sure to elicit more than a few "ooh's and aah's" from the attendees.
"Dr. Clay" Sherrod (Arkansas Sky Observatory Founder)
------------------------------------------------------
Dr. Clay has a long history in research and educational astronomy,
having devoted over three decades to the advancement of public
knowledge and appreciation of the pure and applied sciences.
He will be taking us well beyond the capture and processing of "pretty
pictures," and showing us how to do real science with those
instruments many of us already possess. Several of the specific
topics he will cover include 1) astrometry of NEOs and comets;
2) photometry of asteroids to determine multiplicity or shape;
3) photometry of cataclysmic variable stars, novae and supernovae; and
4) patrol monitoring of the atmospheres of Jupiter and Mars for
transient meteorological changes.
Andrea Tamanti (European Astro-Imager)
------------------------------------------------------
Andrea is an accomplished imager who lives under the Rome, Italy light
dome, and yet produces exquisite astro-images on a regular basis.
He will be discussing with us the techniques he uses to image
in this highly light-polluted environment, and special processing
routines he uses to overcome the inherent challenges of this
type of imaging. He will also be sharing with us his design
and construction notes on his 12" Ritchey-Chretien OTA, a
carbon-fiber and aluminum assembly that he created in his own
workshop, yet looks like it came from a high-end manufacturer.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
While we are still working to finalize the hotel facility, and have
commitments from several in the Philadelphia airport area, we have not
yet made our final selection.
In about a week, we will post another announcement listing the hotel
so that you'll be able to make lodging reservations, and will have our
registration process up and running on our web site. While the
meeting room and food service costs have increased from last year,
we'll have the same registration costs as last year: $225 for
conference registration (includes meals on Saturday and Sunday), and
$50 for those who want to attend Adam Block's pre-conference workshop
on Friday afternoon.
We're looking forward to a bigger and better conference than last
year, and we hope to see you there!
ECCAI Board:
Bob Benamati
Steve Mazlin
Jim Misti
|
Home
Iscriviti
La Bacheca
F.A.Q.
Login/Logout
,ma mi fa molto piacere che un'italiano sia tra i mostri americani.
