About Us & General Information

The personal observatory data gallery contains data that was both acquired and processed in house at Fundy Archipelago Observatory. It means we have full control over the entire endeavour, from planning and capture to processing.

Alternatively, the two other galleries represent data that was acquired by other means; for example, the remote observatory data gallery consists of data that was captured at other Earth-based observatories, and the orbital observatory data gallery represents data captured by NASA, & ESA through either the Hubble or James Webb space telescopes.

Unlike the personal observatory data gallery, our involvement in the production of the final images within these galleries is exclusively in the image processing phase. We acquire unprocessed data from these sources, and through processing the data in-house, we hope to leave an undeniable Fundy Archipelago Observatory imprint in the final result.

Image capture or acquisition is comprised of anything from the selection of gear to setup and maintenance, along with choosing and framing a target and the actual collection of the photons from the sky. This demands that the equipment be able to exactly counter the rotation of the Earth, so to the telescope, the sky appears to stand still.

To get an image with more detail, clarity, depth, and less noise, it is required to take a number of long exposures of the same target—for hours and nights on end. These "sub-exposures" can range from a few seconds to tens of minutes, and depending on the target, a "total exposure" of about twelve hours usually yields excellent results. We tend to shoot for as many hours on target as is within reason.

It is almost appropriate to think of astro-image processing as piecing together a puzzle or perhaps building a delicate model airplane. However, in its own right, it is a unique combination of math, science, and the arts in which you must strive to preserve the reality of the data you are working with while still trying to create a mind-bending piece of art. 

Firstly, you must inspect the data for bad exposures caused by disturbances like wind or clouds. The data must then be calibrated to remove noise produced by the sensor and environment, as well as physical imperfections within the equipment. For example, it is necessary to take exposures of the dust and vignetting inside the telescope to subtract from the sub-exposures! 

Once the data is calibrated, you can then move on to piecing it all together. This step is especially intensive if the information you are working with comes from a monochrome camera. In this case, because the primary colours are all captured separately, you must create a "master stack" for each filter used and then assign each master to a colour channel.

The primary colours in terms of light are red, green, and blue, which have corresponding filters; however, there are also narrowband filters. These filters are designed to pick up very specific segments of the light spectrum, negating most frequencies while passing the frequencies that really shine.

An example of a filter like this would be a hydrogen alpha filter, which works by only letting frequencies emitted by ionized hydrogen gas through. Ionized hydrogen glows pinkish-red in its true nature, while ionized oxygen glows blueish, so as astrophotographers, we can still strive to represent these narrowband filters within the realm of reality! To anyone questioning, authentic astroimages are not fake in any sense of the word.

If you want a better look at image processing, you can check out the video below. It is a tutorial we created that represents a very basic workflow, using tools only within a program called Pixinsight. 

Click here to see the tutorial

It is the culmination of everything, beginning with target acquisition and right up to the end of processing when an image is finished. However, there are notable measures we take before, during, and after image processing to ensure the images turn out well and also print accurately.

Measure 1. The computer monitor used to process the photographs has a calibrated screen. This means it will display colour and brightness accurately, determined directly by the warmth and intensity of ambient light in the environment wherein the computer monitor resides.

Measure 2. During image processing, there is an important tool called spectro-photometric colour calibration. This tool compares the stars in a given image against a detailed and accurate catalogue of stars, which contains positional and spectral information on billions of stars. By referencing the image against the catalogue, the tool knows how to adjust your image in a way where the resulting colour will be true to life—at least this is true if broadband filters are used. Broadband specifies that the filters are only picking up the visible part of the light spectrum. This step ensures your image accurately represents the sky.

Measure 3. Another couple steps in ensuring our prints turn out as intended and professionally are the assignment of an acceptable ICC colour profile to guarantee the printers interpret the image properly and the adjustment of the actual resolution of the image. We guarantee that anything you purchase from the store, whether wall art or merchandise, is at least the industry standard of 300 dpi or higher.

Measure 4. We chose amazing print providers to dropship our art for us; all items are printed in-house by each company, ensuring maximum quality control for every item we offer. Some companies outsource their printing, which can lead to inconsistency and sometimes outright bad results. 

Fundy Archipelago Observatory is not an observatory in the sense where scientific research is performed. We do, however, observe the night sky, and it is impossible not to learn a lot while you are at it! 

I am going to write in first person here for a moment. My name is Kyle Ingersoll, and FAObservatory is sort of the result of an obsession with space and ancient life. I have been interested in space and science since I was a child; watching Star Wars, Lost in Space, building space ships out of Lego, and Mom's stashes of art class projects reflect that interest as well. There were, of course, other interests spattered throughout, but the more I think about it, the more I have always wondered what was out there.

Through high school and my early twenties, my interest veered into music. I had a few high school music performances and went on to take an audio engineering course at the Centre for Arts and Technology, located in Fredericton, NB. During this time, I would always have a documentary on to study or help me sleep; oftentimes it ended up being a space documentary. Now that I was older, I better understood what it was I was looking at and hearing about. It didn't take long for my interest in astronomy to spike again, and around the same time, I found videos on YouTube of people taking pictures of space with amateur equipment. I also remember wishing that I had shirts or wall art featuring the images I was seeing back then, or at least something I knew was authentically a picture of space.

After school, I determined city life was not for me. I moved home, and it didn't take long for me to realize how special my local sky was. Even after spending only two years in a small city, I would say coming home was a night-and-day difference. The sky exploded from tens of stars to hundreds, possibly thousands, visible to the naked eye on a moonless night. It wasn't long before I had a very basic beginner telescope, purely for visual astronomy, called a Celestron Astromaster 114EQ that my father gifted to me after completing my courses. 

This telescope gave me my first personal views of the moon and some planets, a handful of star clusters, and some galaxies that visual astronomers refer to as "faint fuzzies." During this time, I bounced between jobs but eventually started lobster fishing, and over the years, I found some pretty serious equipment to be within my reach! Once the first pieces arrived, I really dove into research about how to run and maintain the equipment. That pretty well brings us to now, where Fundy Archipelago Observatory exists as a shed full of equipment in my backyard and a computer in my basement, which I run and process everything from, including this website! 

Needless to say, I am pouring myself into every aspect of this, and I hope one day it can at least be a source of learning or inspiration for anyone. I also hope that someone agrees that clothing featuring images of space is a great way to spread interest and that it looks cool!

Thank you to anyone who takes the time to read any of this, and I hope everyone enjoys the website!