Our Sun is surrounded by planets, moons, asteroids and comets! These objects are tremendously closer than stars, nebula, and galaxies, but also MUCH smaller! People are amazed that most deep space targets do not require much magnification, but for planets and close ups of the moon or sun, very high magnification is often required. In fact, it is very difficult to image at these high magnifications because of the turbulent atmosphere we look through. To overcome this, we use a method called lucky imaging, which essentially consists of taking hundreds or thousands of video frames, then searching through those frames for the sharpest images captured during fleeting moments of atmospheric stillness. It’s really a whole different approach to astrophotography!
