David Malin Speaking at NUIG

HI all,

World Renowned Astro-Photographer to Speak at NUI Galway


The most famous Astro-photographer in the world, Professor David Malin of Anglo-Australian Observatory (AAO), and the RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia, is to deliver a unique lecture at the Centre for Astronomy, NUI Galway on Monday, 14th May at 7pm in the D'Arcy Thompson Theatre.

The event, which is a unique opportunity to meet the David Malin, will have the theme
David Malin - The Man Who Colours Stars: talks on Capturing Ancient Light

Announcing the event the Director of the Centre for Astronomy at NUI Galway, Prof. Michael Redfern said: “This talk is a unique opportunity to meet one of the world’s great astro-photographers. He was the person that made us all realise that the stars, galaxies and nebulae are not in black and white, but are in glorious colour. The wonderful images that we get nowadays, from Hubble, for example, owe everything to his pioneering work.”

Professor Malin said: “In this talk I will briefly review the history of astronomical imaging and the profound effect it has had on our knowledge of the universe. I will also discuss the art and science of colour photography in astronomy and how the vivid colours of clouds of gas and dust can be at the same time be real and yet invisible through the telescope. I will also describe ways in which the subtle colours of the brightest stars can be captured with simple photographic techniques.”

Photographs created by David Malin can be found in many popular astronomy books and magazines, and are displayed in museums and planetaria throughout the world. Previews of his work can be seen on www.davidmalin.com

Whilst working at the AAO, Malin developed several photographic processing techniques to maximise the ability to extract faint and low contrast detail from the non-linear response and high densities of photographic plates.

These techniques were initially devised to enhance the scientific return from photography, but Malin is now best known for the series of three-colour wide field images of deep space objects which have been widely published as posters and in books around the world. Most professional astronomical photographs are monochromatic, if colour pictures are required, three images are needed. During his career at the AAO, Malin made about 150 three-colour images of deep sky objects mostly using the 4m Anglo-Australian Telescope and plates from the 1.2m UK Schmidt Telescope.