The Temples created this falsecolor image of the Rosette Nebula

(NGC 22379/46) with their 4-inch

Stellarvue Raptor SVR105 refractor
at f/7 and a QSI 583wsg CCD camera.
It required four hours of exposures
through each of H, OIII, and SII filters.

TWO IMAGERS

are better than one

This husband and wife team is so dedicated to high-quality photos that they upgraded equipment,
software even their home. text and images by Craig and Tammy Temple

Our interest in astroimaging started with

a spark that Craig ignited the night he
called me outside to show me my first
view through a telescope. Craig has had
an interest in the night sky since he was
a boy, but my interest didnt kick in until
much later in life.

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A ST R O N O M Y JA N UARY 2017

As a surprise for Christmas in 2004, I

gave him a 3-inch go-to reflector, which he
eagerly set up on the next clear night. As I
sat inside, warm and cozy, he opened the
door and called out to me, Honey, you
need to come see this. I was reluctant to
leave the comfort and warmth of my spot

on the couch, but I headed outside to see

what his excitement was all about.

The spark
He told me to look through the eyepiece,
so I did. I saw lots of stars, but nothing
else. He said, Do you see that? I said,

Above: This image of the Pleiades (M45)

was the first one the authors captured from
their new rural home. They used a 3.2-inch
Stellarvue SV80S refractor at f/6 and a QSI
583wsg CCD camera. The image combined 175
minutes of luminance exposures with 60 minutes each of red, green, and blue exposures.
Right: The Pinwheel Galaxy (M33) was a target
the authors captured in 2011. They used a
4.7-inch Sky-Watcher Quantum 120 refractor
and a QSI 583wsg CCD camera. Their LRGB
image had exposures equaling 360, 52, 52, and
52 minutes, respectively.

The stars? Yes, I see them. He said, No,

the Andromeda Galaxy. I said, I dont see
any galaxy at all. He said, Look again.
Do you see a fuzzy patch in the middle?
I replied, Do you mean that smudge on
the eyepiece? He joyfully responded, Yes!
Thats the Andromeda Galaxy.
I, with less enthusiasm, said, Thats
cool, but it doesnt look like what you see in
books and magazines. He then took the
time to explain to me why it didnt look
like the print images. I proceeded to ask
how people get pictures of galaxies and
space stuff and he said he didnt know, but
we could do some research and find out.
With lots more enthusiasm, I said,
Now that would be cool. Thats what I
want to do! So, a spark that started from a
single view of one object has exploded into
a flame of passion for imaging night-sky
gems as well as our daytime star, the Sun.

Early days
When we got started in 2005, Craig and
I quickly discovered that we each had a
niche in this hobby. Craigs colorblindness
played a big role in deciding who would
handle what, as did the fact that I have
a flair for art and creativity, while Craig
doesnt have an artistic bone in his body.

That being said, we determined that

Craig would handle research on equipment
and software, pre-processing our images,
and other non-color-related, non-artistic
tasks. He also does the heavy lifting with
setting up the equipment and getting
everything hooked up and ready to go
for a session.
I handle the making-pretty tasks of
framing, focusing, and post-processing the
images. Its a good thing Craig is more
than willing to do the heavy lifting,
because we set up and break down our
equipment every night we want to image.
We have never had a permanent setup or
observatory. Would we love to have one?
Absolutely! However, until we get another
mount, its not practical because we travel
so often.

On the road
When Craigs brother generously gave us
a camper he no longer wanted, we discovered that we could marry our passion for
the great outdoors with our passion for
astrophotography. This is also how we ventured into public outreach.
Our first astro-camping adventure
took us all the way from our home in
Tennessee to the Outer Banks of North
Carolina, where we imaged under pristine
skies for the first time. We captured the
Ghost of Cepheus (vdB 141) right from our
campsite just 100 yards from the ocean.
Craig and Tammy Temple shoot the sky both
day and night from their home in Portland,
Tennessee when theyre not on the road.
W W W.ASTR ONOMY.COM

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