c/astronomy-photos

Spent $400 on a premium star tracker and it either made my photos or wasted my cash

I dropped $400 on a Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer for deep-sky shots from my backyard in Portland. First clear night I got a stunning Orion nebula stack with no trailing at all. But last weekend the polar alignment mechanism jammed up and I lost half the night trying to fix it. Has anyone else put money into a portable tracker and regretted it or loved it enough to ignore the flaws?

1 comments

jamesm38•8h ago

Tried stacking photos from my backyard vs a dark sky site near Flagstaff

I always thought my editing skills were the problem with my astro shots, but last weekend I drove 2 hours out to a Bortle 2 zone near Flagstaff. I took the same Orion nebula shot with my Canon 6D and 135mm lens from my driveway in Phoenix and then at the dark site. Stacked 40 frames from each in DeepSkyStacker and the difference was insane. The dark site stack had way more detail in the dust lanes and almost no gradient. Has anyone else been shocked by how much darker skies matter vs just taking more frames from your backyard?

2 comments

the_anthony•2d ago

Pointed my telescope at the wrong star on purpose and saw something wild

I've been into astrophotography for about 2 years now, mostly doing wide shots of nebulae. Last weekend I got bored with my usual targets and decided to just randomly swing my rig over to a dim star in Cassiopeia that looked kinda lonely. Set my camera to do 60 second exposures for 20 minutes straight, just to see if anything showed up. Turned out it was a double star system with a faint red dwarf companion that I never would have noticed if I didn't just take a chance on something random. Has anyone else had a lucky accident like that where you stumbled onto a cool detail nobody talks about?

2 comments

mitchell.lee•2d ago

My deep-sky rig took 4 hours to polar align at Cherry Springs

I spent a whole night last summer trying to get my mount dialed in at Cherry Springs State Park, and it ate up 4 hours before I realized the issue was a loose altitude bolt. The PA scope kept drifting because of that stupid bolt, and I was about to pack it all in. Has anyone else had a mechanical thing waste that much time at a dark site?

2 comments

susanm56•3d ago

That night at Cherry Springs State Park made me swear off phone cameras forever

I was up there last August for the Perseids, had about 30 people around me all set up with their fancy gear. I tried getting a Milky Way shot on my Galaxy S21 and every single frame had that weird warped star edge thing going on. A guy next to me let me look through his 15 second exposure on a proper camera and I just felt dumb for even trying. Has anyone else just given up on phone astrophotography after seeing what real gear can do?

2 comments

jana_scott•4d ago

Took a 30 second exposure of the Milky Way and got satellite streaks ruining half my frames

I went out to a dark spot near my town last night to shoot the Milky Way core. Set up my intervalometer for 20 shots at 30 seconds each, ISO 3200, f/2.8. When I got home and stacked them in Sequator, like 12 of the frames had bright white streaks from Starlink satellites cutting right through the data. I learned you gotta check the satellite tracker apps before planning a long imaging session now. Any of you guys had to toss half your data because of these strings of lights?

2 comments

diana_black•5d ago

Just saw the Andromeda Galaxy through my telescope for the first time and counted the stars visible in the field

I set up my 8 inch Dobsonian last night in my backyard and spotted the Andromeda Galaxy. I was absolutely FLOORED to count over 20 stars in the same field of view around the galaxy core. Has anyone else been surprised by how much detail pops out with just a simple backyard scope?

2 comments

emmag22•10d ago

Finally caught a clear shot of Saturn after 3 awful nights

I was out at Cherry Springs State Park in Pennsylvania last week, and after 3 nights of clouds and wind shaking my tripod, I finally got a decent image. The first two nights I couldn't even focus right because the air was so unsteady, so I switched to a lower magnification and shorter exposure time. It's not magazine quality or anything, but I can actually see the rings clearly for the first time with my 8-inch Dobsonian. Anyone else have nights where the conditions just fight you the whole time?

3 comments

eva_adams68•11d ago

Spent months shooting the moon with autofocus before I figured out the problem

I kept getting these fuzzy shots of the moon through my 200mm lens, and I thought it was just bad atmospheric conditions. Then a guy at the local star party in Flagstaff asked why my focus ring was on auto. I had been letting the camera hunt for focus on a bright object in a dark sky. Anyone else learn a basic technique way later than they should have?

3 comments

raymitchell•11d ago

Shoutout to the park ranger at Grand Canyon who called me out for using a phone camera through a telescope

I was at the South Rim last October trying to get a photo of the Andromeda galaxy through my 8-inch Dobsonian. This ranger walked up and said "you realize a phone sensor can't catch that detail, right?" I argued that modern phone processing could handle it. Then he pulled out a DSLR adapter and showed me the difference in 2 minutes flat. So what do you all think, is it worth investing in a dedicated astrophotography setup for mobile or should I stick with what I've got?

3 comments

hannahm39•12d ago

Tried stacking 60 frames on a nebula instead of my usual 15...

I always just did 15 to save time and figured more was overkill. Last week I tried 60 frames on the Orion Nebula from my backyard in Austin. The detail in the dust lanes was incredible, way more than I expected. Guess that old timer at the star party knew what he was talking about... Has anyone else experimented with way more frames than usual and seen a big jump in quality?

3 comments

jenkins.reese•12d ago

That old-timer at Kitt Peak told me to stack 30 frames minimum for nebula shots, I thought he was crazy.

I did 15 frames on the Orion Nebula last week and got nothing but noise, tried his method with 32 frames and the detail popped out like magic. Anyone else ignore advice from the greybeards and regret it?

2 comments

the_wyatt•14d ago

That $100 planetary camera from a random brand was a gamble I won

I picked up a no-name planetary camera for 100 bucks on Amazon to try imaging Jupiter, and it actually pulled through with decent detail. Anyone else had luck with cheap gear or did I just get lucky?

3 comments

sam_thomas•14d ago

I finally got a sharp photo of Andromeda after 3 months of trying

Last Thursday night I set up my telescope in the backyard around 10pm. The moon was barely up and the air felt still for once. I have been trying to photograph the Andromeda Galaxy since June and every shot came out blurry or noisy. This time I used a Bahtinov mask to focus and took 45 individual 2 minute exposures. Stacked them in DeepSkyStacker and when the final image came out I could actually see the dust lanes clearly. It is not Hubble quality but it is the best shot I have ever taken of a galaxy. My wife came out to look and said oh that looks like a real galaxy now. Has anyone else had that moment where something finally clicks after failing for weeks?

3 comments

reese_nelson•14d ago

Just noticed I've cataloged over 500 individual deep sky objects in my photo archive

I was organizing my hard drive last night and saw the folder count. 500. That's way more than I thought I had. Started with just the moon and planets back in 2021, and now I've got galaxies, nebulae, clusters from all over the sky. Each one took at least a few hours of capture time plus processing. Kind of wild to think about the total hours invested. Has anyone else ever counted up their total targets and been surprised?

3 comments

grantf73•15d ago

Flagged a blurry nebula photo in a Facebook group and got roasted by the admin

Last month I posted a shot of M42 I took from my backyard in Phoenix, and the Orion Nebula looked like a smudge because I forgot to tweak the focus ring after swapping filters. The admin called it out saying it was ruining the group's credibility. Anyone else get scolded for a lazy upload in a forum or photo community?

3 comments

gibson.sarah•15d ago

My dad dropped by my observatory last weekend and stopped me mid-frame

He said my photos all looked like they were taken through a frosted window because I kept stacking too many frames. I was getting 200 exposures on M31 and he told me to cut it to 60 and focus on quality light instead. Now I'm wondering if I've been overprocessing this whole time and how many good nights I wasted. Has anyone else had a family member point out something that made you rethink your whole editing workflow?

3 comments

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dakota_patel98•16d ago

Just hit 500 saved APOD wallpapers and didn't even realize I had that many

I was cleaning out my downloads folder and found 500 space pics from the Astronomy Picture of the Day site that I've been collecting for like 3 years, had no clue I had that many stored up.

2 comments

karen_roberts4•17d ago

Tried to stack 30 minutes of Orion Nebula data but got a weird purple halo around the core

I was out last Saturday with my Canon T7 and 200mm lens, shooting 30 second subs at ISO 1600. After stacking in DSS I noticed this awful purple glow around the bright stars that wasn't in the individual frames. Turns out my UV filter was causing internal reflections - took it off and tried again on Monday and the halos disappeared. Anyone else run into filter ghosting ruining their widefield shots?

2 comments

grantmartinez•17d ago

Appreciation post: How the 2009 Texas Star Party changed my whole approach to astrophotography

I went to the Texas Star Party back in 2009, my first time at a big event like that. I had been messing around with a cheap telescope and a point and shoot camera for years, getting blurry photos of the moon. Then one night I saw a guy named Dave with a tracking mount and a DSLR. He let me look at his screen and I saw Jupiter with three moons crystal clear. That moment made me realize equipment matters more than I thought. I ended up spending $800 on a used mount and camera after that trip. Anyone else have a single moment at an event that totally shifted how you take photos?

2 comments

davis.ruby•17d ago

Finally got a decent photo of the Milky Way from my backyard

I spent months trying to shoot the Milky Way from my driveway in Phoenix but the light pollution was killing every shot. Then I tried stacking multiple short exposures using free software called Sequator instead of one long exposure. It cut down the noise and pulled out way more detail than I ever got before. Has anyone else had luck with stacking in heavy light pollution?

3 comments

elliotm70•18d ago

That deep sky stack I spent 6 hours processing turned out to be a camera sensor defect, not Andromeda

Spent last Tuesday night fussing over what I thought was a faint galaxy in my data, even showed it to a buddy who said something looked off. Turns out it was just a hot pixel cluster from leaving my Canon T3i out in 40 degree weather - anyone else chase phantom objects in their subs before realizing it's just gear acting up?

3 comments

nancythomas•18d ago

Still stuck on that one guy's comment about my Orion nebula shot

I was at a local meetup in Denver last month, showing my stacked photo of the Orion nebula on my laptop. This one guy walks up, barely looks at it, and says 'nice try but you clipped the core and the color balance is totally off.' He then spent 10 minutes zooming into the black point while I just stood there. Has anyone else had some random stranger tear apart your image at a gathering like that?

3 comments

grace_wright•20d ago

I tried stacking 200 photos of the Orion nebula and got a blurry mess instead of crisp detail

Last Tuesday night I set up my 8-inch dob in the backyard around 10pm, tracked 200 frames of M42 with my phone adapter. Spent 3 hours stacking them in DeepSkyStacker and the result looked like someone smeared butter on the lens. Turns out my polar alignment was off by like 5 degrees because I was rushing. Anyone else find that spending 20 minutes on alignment saves 3 hours of frustration later?

3 comments

hayden144•21d ago

Tried to photograph the Milky Way last night, ended up with 47 blurry shots of my own thumb

Was out in the desert near Moab, set up my tripod on what I thought was solid ground, but turns out it was a patch of loose sand. My camera kept sinking and every shot came out looking like a drunk spider web. Anybody else accidentally document their own incompetence instead of the stars?

3 comments