Breakthrough!

Early Days: Glass Plates.- Emulsion: Black and White.- Emulsion: Color.- Emulsion: Tricolor.- CCD: Early.- CCD: Modern.- Multi-wavelength.- Space Probes and Manned Space Missions.

Robert Gendler is a physician who began doing CCD astrophotography in the early 1990's. He spent his first decade imaging from his home using a portable setup. With advances in internet accessibility and worsening light pollution at home Gendler began imaging remotely in 2005 from observatories in the southwest USA and later in Australia. Gendler now spends much of his time mining professional astronomical archives and assembling unique composite images from a wide variety of data sources including the Hubble Space Telescope, Japan's 8.2 meter Subaru Telescope and various ground-based professional and amateur systems.

Gendler has published four books on astrophotography including "A Year in the Life of the Universe" (Voyageur Press, 2006), "Capturing the Stars: Astrophotography by the Masters" (Voyageur Press, 2009), "Treasures of the Southern Sky" (Springer, 2011) and most recently "Lessons from the Masters: Current Concepts in Astronomical Image Processing" (Springer, 2013).

In 2008, he was featured in the PBS documentary "Seeing in the Dark" by Timothy Ferris who referred to Gendler as "one of the great astrophotographers in all of history." Gendler's images have been featured in two national stamp series (United Kingdom 2007, Germany 2011). In 2007 he was the recipient of the "Hubble Award" at AIC. His images have been featured by the NASA site "Astronomy Picture of the Day" 93 times as of July 2013, more than any individual astrophotographer in the world. This work has earned him international recognition, and in February 2013 the Hubble Heritage team released a multi-panel mosaic of the spiral galaxy M106 which Gendler assembled for them as a special collaboration between professional and amateur astronomers.

Selected by Choice magazine as an "Outstanding Academic Title" for 2016

"It is a beautifully illustrated volume starting with a daguerreotype illustration of the moon (1852) and ending with a picture of the Mars Phoenix lander on the Martian surface (2008). ... This excellent book should be on the shelves of all libraries. Summing Up: Essential. All readership levels." (C. G. Wood, Choice, Vol. 53 (8), April, 2016)

"Breakthrough! begins with a short history of astrophotography and the methods that have been used from the middle of nineteenth century all the way to present day, describing on the way the difficulties that were associated with photographing specific objects with specific techniques. The book presents astronomical images that have changed our understanding or perception of the objects in some meaningful way together with an explanation of what and how it changed. ... It's a wonderful book." (AstroMadness, May, 2017)

"Breakthrough! is a marvelous history of imaging. ... this marvelous collection of images, supported with excellent descriptions, offers a concise history of the art and science of astronomy, recording the greatest milestones in the history of modern astronomy. I thoroughly recommend this book ... . This is a volume worth keeping as a reference source for many years to come." (Mario Motta, Sky & Telescope, December, 2016)

"This new book is welcome, succinctly telling the story of modern astronomy via a superb gallery. The authors ... provide detailed commentary on each image, ably weaving together technical and scientific information. ... it's a beautiful summary of the best that astronomy has to offer." (Pippa Goldschmidt, BBC Sky at night magazine, Issue 130, 2016)