Computers and image-processing programs are providing astrophotographers with powerful new tools for bringing the most out of astronomical images.
It is a dark and stormy night - hardly a time for astronomy. Yet images of the starry universe glow before you on the computer screen. You can hardly wait to see the pictures you took with your friends during that long night of imaging with their CCD camera.
One of your friends now leans toward the computer screen. She checks the logbook and its list of the calibrated images they prepared a few days earlier. After a moment, she proclaims, "Let's start with NGC 7479."