Before showing a sampling of the deep space images taken by Lauren, here are some brief thoughts to give meaning to the term "deep space."

Besides the moon and planets, the stars are the most evident (and beautiful) features that we normally see in the night sky with our unaided eyes. Although a great many stars are much larger than our sun (also a star), they are so distant that they just appear as dots of light, no matter how strong the telescope.

There are many other objects including star clusters, galaxies and nebulas that are also visible but most of them require very dark skies and the aid of binoculars or a telescope to appreciate. Unlike stars, these "deep sky" objects - while equally or even more distant than stars - are much larger and can be seen as having shapes and other characteristic details.

One more thing about viewing. The human eye refreshes its image more than 20 times every second, and therefore can only accumulate a limited amount of light. So even with the strongest telescopes, we can only see limited detail. But when a photographic film is placed behind the telescope where our eye would be, the film can accumulate light for long periods of time and refine the available detail immensely.

The camera used at Astrocamp does not use film but an electronic charge coupled device, or CCD. So the images that you see here are recorded by a CCD.

Lauren's Deep Space Images

Lauren's Star