Exploring the Wonders of Astrophotography

Join our astrophotography group to capture breath taking images of deep space objects, galaxies, and celestial phenomena within our solar system, including the moon, planets, and the sun.

Exploring the Wonders of Astrophotography

Join our astrophotography group to capture breathtaking images of deep space objects, galaxies, and celestial phenomena within our solar system, including the moon, planets, and the sun.

"We are made of star-stuff." — Carl Sagan

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Our Next Talk

To be announced .....

Nik Szymanek is an astrophotographer based in North Essex and has been imaging the deep sky since the mid 1980’s, starting out with film, as this pre-dated the digital revolution. He has been using CCD cameras to image the deep sky since they were first introduced in the early 1990’s from a back-garden observatory and more recently with CMOS cameras from a remote observatory in south-eastern Spain.

Nik spent many years travelling to Observatories at La Palma, Hawaii and Tenerife and carried out public-relation duties with observatory staff and occasionally collaborated with professional astronomers at the Isaac Newton Group of Telescopes on La Palma. He has contributed many articles and images to astronomical magazines including Sky & Telescope, Astronomy, and The Sky at Night. He is a long time contributor to Astronomy Now magazine and has written a monthly ‘Masterclass’ astro-imaging column for the last twelve years as well as three books on astronomical imaging, the latest of which is ‘Shooting Stars II’. He is an ‘Ambassador’ for the Telescope Live remote imaging platform and provides them with astro-imaging video tutorials.

Nik Szymanek

Wednesday, 27th May 2026 at 8:00pm

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HAGAS meetings are for club members. Join our Club for just £10 a year

Modern software and techniques have transformed how we image the sky and his talk will feature many examples of simple but powerful processing tips and tricks that in many cases can be carried out with free software such as Affinity Photo. AI has changed how we approach image processing and tools such as Blur Xterminator and Star Xterminator will be explained in simple terms. The talk will showcase colour images that were acquired remotely using a variety of equipment and will explain how amateur astronomers can access data taken with remote telescopes.

Nik is a regular speaker to astronomy and photographic societies. Other interests include meteorological photography and playing drums in heavy rock bands.

Meeting Location

Our meetings are held at the

Room 1A161 (Upstairs)
University of Hertfordshire
Lindop Building
College Lane
Hatfield
AL10 9AB

(What 3 words: stars.stones.energetic) and simultaneously on Zoom.

There is plenty of parking space around the venue which is free after 19:00

25th February - John Hayes - US based Astrophotographer (Zoom) - Topic TBA

Upcoming Meetings

Future meetings and discussions will play a significant role in shaping the trajectory of our projects. We will gather insights, address concerns, and collaboratively pave the way for success in our upcoming ventures.