CCD Resource and Reading List

This page is a work in progress. Please help by suggesting more resources and reading material.

The idea is to assemble a list of freely available knowledge on CCD observing, image processing and related products from the Internet. If you know of any interesting or valuable resources we should include here email AAVSO HQ with links, urls, book titles, etc.

Books:
(remember to order them from Amazon Smile. Select AAVSO as your Smile organization and a portion of the purchase price will be donated to AAVSO!)

There are many other books with reviews in the AAVSO Variable Star Bookstore that may not specifically relate to CCD observing, but are about variable star related subjects.

Asteroids and Dwarf Planets and How to Observe Them (Astronomers' Observing Guides) by Roger Dymock

Astronomical Photometry: Past, Present, and Future (Astrophysics and Space Science Library) by Eugene F. Milone and C. Sterken

Handbook of Astronomical Image Processing with CD ROM (AIP4Win), 2nd Edition, Hardcover Book by Berry & Burnell

Handbook of CCD Astronomy, 2nd Edition (Cambridge Observing Handbooks for Research Astronomers) by Steve B. Howell

A Practical Guide to Lightcurve Photometry and Analysis (Springer) by Brian D. Warner

Introduction to Astronomical Photometry (Cambridge Observing Handbooks for Research Astronomers) by Edwin Budding and Osman Demircan

Scientific Astrophotography: How Amateurs Can Generate and Use Professional Imaging Data (Patrick Moore's Practical Astronomy Series) by Gerald R. Hubbell

A Practical Guide to CCD Astronomy (Practical Astronomy handbook Series), Patrick Martinez and Alain Klotz (Cambridge University Press, 1998)

The Art and Science of CCD Astronomy (Patrick Moore's Practical Astronomy Series), David Ratledge (Ed.) (1998)

Astronomical Photometry (Willmann-Bell) by Arne Henden and Ronald Kaitchuck

Photoelectric Photometry of Variable Stars (Willmann-Bell) by Douglas Hall and Russell Genet

The New CCD Astronomy (New Astronomy Press) by Ron Wodasky

Handbook of practical Astronomy by Günter D. Roth

The Sky is Your Laboratory by Robert Buchheim

To Measure the Sky: An Introduction to Observational Astronomy by Frederick R. Chromey

Observing the Universe: A Guide to Observational Astronomy and Planetary Science by Andrew J. Norton

Cataclysmic Cosmic Events and How to Observe Them (Patrick Moore's Practical Astronomy Series) by Martin Mobberley

Supernovae: and How to Observe Them (Patrick Moore's Practical Astronomy Series) by Martin Mobberley

Eclipsing Binary Stars: Modeling and Analysis by Josef Kallrath & Eugene F. Milone

Astronomical Spectroscopy for Amateurs (Patrick Moore's Practical Astronomy Series) by Ken Harrison

Grating Spectroscopes and How to Use Them (Patrick Moore's Practical Astronomy Series) by Ken Harrison

Practical Amateur Spectroscopy (Patrick Moore's Practical Astronomy Series) by Stephen F. Tonkin

Astrophysics is Easy! (Patrick Moore's Practical Astronomy Series) by Michael Inglis

Observer’s Guide to Stellar Evolution The Birth, Life and Death of Stars (Patrick Moore's Practical Astronomy Series) by Michael Inglis

Starlight An Introduction to Stellar Physics for Amateurs (Patrick Moore's Practical Astronomy Series) by Keith Robinson

Real Astronomy with Small Telescopes Step-by-Step Activities for Discovery (Patrick Moore's Practical Astronomy Series) by Michael Gainer

Blog posts:

Good data, good science: simple advice for better CCD photometry, Matt Templeton, 2012

Webpages:

Transforms: Everything you need to transform your observations

CCD Photometry by E. Norman Walker BAAVSS

AstroPhotographs page by Bruce Gary has articles on all sky and differential photometry

Photometric Standards M67 Field 

Photometric Standards NGC 7790

PDF documents:

AAVSO CCD Photometry Guide

AAVSO Guide to Photometric Uncertainty (formerly "Uncertainty About Uncertainty"), Aaron Price et al. (2011?)

Photometry Transformation Coefficients, Gordon Sarty, 2008.

CCD Transformation Coefficients by Priscilla Benson, 1993.

Computing and Using CCD Transformation Coefficients, Lou Cohen, 2002.

A Users Guide to Stellar CCD Photometry with IRAF, P. Massey 1992

An Introduction to Astronomical Photometry Using CCDs, William Romanishin (Oct 2006)

Exoplanet Observing for Amateurs, Bruce L. Gary (2010)

Exoplanet Observing Manual, Dennis Conti (2018)

Commercial Products:

CCDs and CMOS APS Detectors

ATIK Cameras

Finger Lakes Instrumentation (FLI)

Quantum Scientific Imaging (QSI)

Diffraction LImited (SBIG)

Starlight Xpress Cameras

Software

Maxim DL

Mira

MPO Canopus

Peranso

Freeware:

AIP4Win

Aladin Sky Atlas

Astrometry.net

Aperture Photometry Tool

IRIS

LesvePhotometry

Munipak

VPhot (free with AAVSO membership)

Books/Blogs/Discussions (and video!)

Another way to get a pile of resources is to use google search for books, blogs, discussions (and video!)

Search Google (CCD observing image processing photometry astronomy)
Narrow the search by selecting the dropdown for:
-Books
-Blogs
-Discussions
-Video