I’m an opera singer living in Varna, Bulgaria (or in Vienna, Austria)  with my wife Eli and the east-european short haired tom-cat Ronnie (O’Sullivan). I was born in Rom (Italy), but I grew up in Bulgaria. From an early age I am fascinated by the stars and the opera. When I was nine years old I built my first "telescope" - from a single spectacle lens and an opera binoculars objective. In the late seventies I did my first astrophotos with a small Russian 35 mm camera (see the equipment page).

   I decided to study astronomy and was admitted to the Sofia State University, where I studied for two years.At this time I started to develop a singing talent and switched to the Music Academy which I finished five years later. Then begun my operatic career, which for more than 20 years led me in the greatest opera stages of the world.Of course at that period because of my busy schedule I had no much time to watch the stars, but my passion for astronomy remained forever.

         Since 2009 I'm proud owner of an ASA 12 inch Astrograph fitted on an ASA DDM85 direct drive robotic mount. This gave me the possibility of making a deep sky imaging. Unfortunately I live in the very center of the city, which means a lots of light pollution. In this conditions the only thing I can do is a narrowband imaging.

Thus if I want to make a traditional RGB image I have to travel to the dark sites. A perfect one is the National Astronomical Observatory Rozhen. In fact most of my deep sky images are done there.

Here I must say that my astrophotography ventures would not be possible without my wife, Eli,who not only tolerates the long sleepless nights, but actively helps me in the process of image aquiring.

         I hope you enjoy the visit to this site. Please do not hesitate to contact me at mail(at)emilivanov(dot)com