Francesco di Biase
Francesco brings his background as an award-winning astrophotographer and web developer to the Voyager team. Read on to learn about his lifelong passion for astrophotography, how he discovered Voyager, won an APOD, and his sage advice for people considering using Voyager.
RA: Tell us about your astrophotography career – how did you get started and what are your interests today?
Francesco: When I was a child, like many at that age I wanted a telescope, but my parents didn’t buy it for me, and this desire was long dormant. At the age of 29, looking at the Discovery Channel, I decided it was the time to satisfy that desire. I bought an 8″ Meade SCT and immediately wanted to connect my reflex camera to try to see more and to share it with friends. Since then, from the first blurred photos, I realized that I had to improve. This desire grew more and more. In a short time I switched to astronomical instruments more photography-oriented, like a German Equatorial Mount, a Cooled CCD camera and so on.
I first built, then personally automated, a small observatory on the roof of the house, near the town (about 19.40 SQM at the zenith). In my area there are no very dark skies.
Here I found a way to refine the settings using the instruments very frequently. I learned how important it is to plan and take care of all aspects. I started to improve my processing technique, helped with the advice of some friends.
Now I’m a nomad astrophotographer and I carry around my travel setup made up of: RC 12″ 2432mm f/8 truss GSO, CCD Moravian G2-4000 with Astronomik filters (9*36mm unmounted), Active Optics StarlightXpress with OA and Lodestar X2 and ASI174mm mini guide cameras, and finally a 10micron 2000HPS2 Ultraportable, a light setup ideal for traveling 🙂
RA: With your addition to the Voyager team we now have two NASA APOD winners – you and Leo. Congratulations! We’d love to know more about that experience.
Francesco: Thank you very much Rowland, my APOD came in the summer of 2015. That was a very proific season. I don’t know APOD’s formula, it may have been only luck. I made many photos using broadband and narrow band filters due to the light pollution, integrating for many hours and struggling with gradients. M27 was an ideal target for me with great Halpha and OIII line emission, and a spectacular shape. With a lot of integration time with single 30min sub exposure at 2000mm f.l. it shows the outer part of the shell. I think this may be the thing that has characterized my image. When I received the email from Mr. Bonnell I was in my observatory, trying to improve the wiring, and I had to read the content twice before realizing it was true. I keep a beautiful memory of that night.
RA: Where can we find more of your images?
Francesco: All of my images are on my website https://www.astropixel.it and also on my FB page at https://facebook.com/astropixel.it
RA: How did you discover Voyager? What impact has using Voyager had on your astro imaging?
Francesco: I discovered Voyager talking with Leo about my trouble with other automation software. In particular I needed to automate the complete meridian flip procedure, that in my case involved the Active Optics system and the camera rotator. My requirement was that the camera rotator may rotate by 180° and use the same guide star which it was using before the pier flip, perform the autofocus and continue the session, all in unattended mode.
I explained my difficulties to Leo, during a friendly phone call. The developer of that other software had not considered my request, so Leo told me about an imaging automation software he had written for himself and invited me to try it. Leo added rotator management during the meridian flip and everything started to work very well, and continues to do so today.
RA: What will your focus be as a member of the Voyager team? Any hints of what the Voyager community can expect?
Francesco: As a member of the Voyager team, I will take care of helping Leonardo in developing a series of web tools that will allow the use of Voyager in a different way. There is good news coming up, but I don’t want to spoil it, it will not take a long time 🙂
Q: Help us know you better as a person – what else do you like to do besides astrophotography and web development?
Francesco: I’m 39 years old, have a beautiful wife and lovely boy (2y). Professionally I’m coming from the visual design and advertising industry. I like electronic music (I’ve been a DJ for 20 years), and of course I love the night sky.
Q: Any advice for people just discovering Voyager?
Francesco: Astrophotography can be compared to a long and complicated journey. Voyager represents the best ally and a travel companion to help you on this adventure, on which you can always count.
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