Russell Croman's website contains not only photographs of the infinite beauty of the universe. He adds a creativity to his work. He composes photos of the planets and of galaxies long ago and far away. What amazes me is that this is not one of the astoundingly fine commercial sites like Space.com or the gift from the heavens: The Astronomy Picture of the Day, AOPD. . Those are all beyond fun and always of interest and astronomical fascination.They offer up pictures from Hubble, Spitzer, other observatories' and current pictures direct from passing spacecraft. Like the commercial part of Croman's site where you can buy fine prints; they too, offer (Space.com for instance) wallpapers, screensavers, astronomical viewing software, etc.
Croman is an amateur in the best sense of the word: he loves his subject and his photos show it. The amazing part is is his "backyard observatory" and the tools he uses to make his pictures — digital, software, CCD imagers and even telescopes and cameras.
When I was a boy a telescope was something to be dreamed of, pined for and never received. One older friend tried to make one from a kit in "Popular Science" but I could never see any wonders through the tiny, homemade eyepiece. I swiped my uncle's Zeiss 8x50 binoculars and looked at as much as I could see from a city that was quicly becoming light polluted. It was disappointing and I read and looked at the poorly reproduced photos from Mount Palomar and other observatories. Those few that were available. Florida did not then have planetariums — books were rare enough.
Now, the digital world that created satellites and spaceships and digital transmissions has also spun off internet sites like this as well as fine photo reproductions.. You cannot help but enjoy them. Russell Croman's site along with Space.com and the fantastic APOD are the treasures I waited for in my backyard at night and roaming the sparsely filled shelves of the Tampa Public library when I was a boy. If these sites had been around (if computers had been around) what a different world it would have been and I different life I might have led. Now they exist to astonish, inform and entertain — which they do well.
Visit his site at Russel Croman Astrophotography. Note images are ©Russell Croman.
A favorite at the moment is Colors of the Moon.
Give my regards to Flash Gordon, HAL, and E.T.
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