Reading
The episodes on their own. Enough to work from if you already have images to practise on.
- 61 episodes across 9 modules
- 43 worked examples
- Module exercises, with answers
- One Teardown feedback session
- Every future revision, forever
- Lifetime access
- Thirty-day refund
Working
The episodes and the worked examples. What most people need, and what most people take.
- 61 episodes across 9 modules
- 43 worked examples
- Module exercises, with answers
- One Teardown feedback session
- Every future revision, forever
- Lifetime access
- Thirty-day refund
Complete
Everything in Working, plus a Teardown feedback session on an image of your own and every future revision of the course.
- 61 episodes across 9 modules
- 43 worked examples
- Module exercises, with answers
- One Teardown feedback session on your own image
- Every future revision, forever
- Lifetime access
- Thirty-day refund
Seats for a club or a society
Five or more people from the same group buy seats rather than copies. One invoice, one purchase order, and you assign the seats yourself. The per-seat column is there so the discount is visible rather than claimed.
| Seats | Price | Per seat |
|---|---|---|
| 5 | $795 | $159 |
| 10 | $1,450 | $145 |
| 25 | $3,200 | $128 |
| More than 25 | Ask | — |
Seats are arranged by email rather than through the checkout, so that the invoice can carry your purchase-order number and go to whoever actually pays.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a dark site?
No. That is the entire reason this exists. Every worked example was shot under a Bortle 8 sky, and the course is built around what a bright sky actually costs you — which is integration time, not the photograph. If you have access to a dark site you will get there faster; nothing here assumes you do.
Is it video or is it written?
Both, for every one of the sixty-one episodes. The video is filmed at the eyepiece and shows the move; the written version underneath is the same material in full, so you can search it, skim it, and reread the one paragraph you need outside at two in the morning with cold hands. You are not choosing between them and you are not paying twice.
What equipment does this assume?
A camera that takes manual exposures and something that tracks the sky. That is the floor. A short refractor and a small equatorial mount is the setup everything was made on. Modules 6 through 9 need no telescope at all — they work on frames you already have. The full table is on the curriculum page.
Is this a subscription?
No. One payment, lifetime access, no renewal and no expiry. The Complete tier includes every future revision; the other two get corrections and clarifications but not whole new modules.
Can I upgrade later if I start with Reading?
Yes, and you pay the difference rather than the full price of the higher tier. There is no time limit on doing it and no upgrade fee on top.
Can I buy seats for a club?
Yes, from five seats upward, on one invoice with a purchase order if your treasurer needs one. You assign the seats and they do not expire. The ladder is above; write and the invoice comes back the same week.
Is there a certificate?
No.
How long does it take?
That depends on how much of it you already know, and any number here would be invented. What can be said is that each episode finishes in one sitting, and that most of the course can be worked through without a clear night — which is the constraint that actually governs how long anything in this hobby takes.
What if I do not like it?
Email within thirty days and the payment comes back in full, no questions asked. Nothing is deducted, nothing is prorated against how much you read, and you are not asked to justify it.
Is this going to be another thing I start and abandon?
Possibly. That is the honest answer and it is worth being honest about, because it is the real question. What can be said is what was built against it. Episodes are short enough to finish in a sitting, so progress does not require an evening you do not have. The order is diagnostic rather than curricular, so you can enter at whatever is currently broken instead of starting at the beginning and stalling in module 2. And four of the nine modules work on images you already have, which means a run of cloudy weeks does not stop you. None of that guarantees anything. It does remove the three reasons people gave for stopping.