Scott Lange/Nick Foster
Four years ago, friends Scott Lange and Nick Foster set out to photograph the sky. Since then, armed with an 8-inch telescope and a Canon DSLR camera, the amateur photographers have captured some incredible images of space and the night sky.
Photography is just a hobby for Lange, a pedi-cab driver and full-time student of astrophysics, and Foster, a mechanical engineer, but that hasn't stopped them from creating some mind-blowing pictures.
Lange and Foster share their work on their website and self-published a book last December. They are currently raising money for a trip to capture the perfect photograph of the Milky Way galaxy. Learn more about their "Operation Milky Way" project on their Kickstarter page.
Scott Lange/Nick Foster
Lagoon nebula
Learning to photograph space took a lot of trial and error, Lange said, but eventually the duo figured out a method.
Scott Lange/Nick Foster
Crescent moon featuring Earth shine
The telescope is fixed on the object in space that they want to shoot. They can then track the object and take several long-exposures with an attached camera. Finally, these multiple exposures are combined and cleaned-up with special software.
Scott Lange/Nick Foster
Black Rock Road with telescope, Arizona
Lange and Foster must seek out locations far from any light pollution, such as Death Valley, and this western Arizona desert.
Scott Lange/Nick Foster
Trifid nebula
"It is super exciting to see," Lange told CBS. "You are staring at the sky and it is completely dark and you can't see much, and then you take a 90-second exposure and there is a galaxy sitting there - that never really gets old."
Scott Lange/Nick Foster
Coral pink sand dunes, Utah
Scott Lange/Nick Foster
Full moon
Scott Lange/Nick Foster
Crater lake, Oregon
Scott Lange/Nick Foster
Andromeda galaxy
Scott Lange/Nick Foster
Lunar eclipse
Scott Lange/Nick Foster
Triangulum galaxy
Scott Lange/Nick Foster
Orion nebula
Scott Lange/Nick Foster
Pleiades star cluster
Scott Lange/Nick Foster
Pinwheel galaxy
Scott Lange/Nick Foster
Annular solar eclipse approaches annularity, May 20, 2012
Scott Lange/Nick Foster
Mahogany Flats, Death Valley Milky Way
Scott Lange/Nick Foster
Sky near Big Sur
Scott Lange/Nick Foster
Star trails, Panoche Hills, Calif.
Scott Lange/Nick Foster
Eclipsed moon through clouds
Scott Lange/Nick Foster
The Double Cluster
Scott Lange/Nick Foster
The Horsehead Nebula
Scott Lange/Nick Foster
The Veil Nebula
Scott Lange/Nick Foster
Telescope with Venus, Santa Cruz, Calif.