c/astronomy-photos

I drove out to the Joshua Tree dark sky area this weekend and saw something I can't explain

I was about an hour outside the park, just sitting in a camping chair with my binoculars. This bright, slow moving light crossed a huge part of the sky over maybe 15 minutes. It wasn't blinking like a plane, and it was way too high and steady to be a drone. I didn't get a photo, but I'm kicking myself now. Has anyone else spotted something like that near a dark sky site before?

Pro tip: that $30 app for stacking star photos is a game changer

I used to think my phone pics of Orion were just blurry messes, but the app aligned 50 shots from my tripod in minutes. Anyone got tips for dealing with streetlight glow in a suburban backyard?

I used to think those 'backyard' Jupiter photos were all fake

My buddy in Tucson showed me his $800 telescope setup and the raw files, and the detail was real. Anyone else have a moment like that with a specific target?

A simple trick for getting better detail on Jupiter's moons

I was getting blurry shots of Jupiter's Galilean moons with my 8-inch Dobsonian, even on clear nights. A guy at the local astronomy club in Boise said to try stacking 500 frames instead of my usual 100, and to use the free program AutoStakkert! for the stacking. The difference was huge, and I finally got a clear shot of Europa's shadow transit last week. Has anyone else had luck with a specific stacking number for planetary stuff?

My first try at the Orion Nebula was a total mess

So I drove out to a dark spot near Flagstaff last weekend, all set up my new tracker, and aimed at M42. I was super excited. But after a 3-minute exposure, the whole picture was just a bright white blob. I forgot to check my camera settings and had the ISO cranked way too high (like, 12800 high). I felt pretty dumb sitting there in the cold. I had to start over, dropping the ISO down to 800 and taking way shorter test shots to get it right. It ate up like an hour of good shooting time. Has anyone else completely blown out a target because of a simple setting you missed?

A clear night in Joshua Tree showed me why I was missing the Milky Way

I was out there last April trying to get a good shot of the galactic core, but my photos kept coming out grainy and dark. After three failed tries, a guy with a bigger scope nearby asked if I was stacking my shots. I admitted I was just taking single long exposures. He explained that taking 20 quick shots at a higher ISO and stacking them in free software like Sequator cuts the noise way down. I tried it that night with just 10 shots as a test, and the difference was huge. Has anyone else found a simple trick that fixed a big problem in their astro photos?

I thought my cheap tripod was fine until I saw a star trail photo from a guy in Flagstaff

He showed me his $300 setup and the difference in sharpness was like night and day. Anyone have a good mid-range tripod they'd recommend for a beginner astrophotographer?

My neighbor's kid saw my Jupiter photo and asked if it was a real planet

I was showing my new telescope shot of Jupiter from my backyard in Tucson, and this 7 year old from down the street pointed and said 'that's not a sticker?'. It made me realize how used I am to seeing these pictures. What's a good way to explain astro photos to someone who's never seen them before?

A friend told me my star photos looked like white dots on black paper

He said, 'You're just taking pictures of the sky, not the stars.' I was stacking 30 second shots from my backyard in Phoenix. So I started using a cheap tracking mount I got for $150 and taking 2 minute shots instead. Now you can actually see color and dust in my shots of Orion. Has anyone else had a friend give you that kind of blunt advice about your photos?

Took a picture of the moon with my phone and a cheap pair of binoculars

I was out in my backyard in Phoenix last night and got the idea to try something. I held my phone camera up to the eyepiece of an old pair of 10x50 binoculars I got for twenty bucks. I figured it would be blurry, but after a few tries holding it steady, I actually got a shot. It's not great, you can see the craters pretty clear though. The weird part was the color, it came out with this weird blue tint around the edges I didn't see with my eyes. I looked it up and it's something about the phone's sensor and the binocular lenses not matching up right. Has anyone else tried this and found a way to fix the color without a bunch of editing?

My buddy keeps calling every bright dot in his telescope photo 'Jupiter' and it's driving me nuts

I was at the Grand Canyon last month and the Milky Way looked wrong

I was camping near the North Rim and took a long exposure shot of the night sky, but the core of the Milky Way seemed way more washed out and pink than in photos I've seen from the same spot. I used a 20-second exposure at f/2.8 on my camera. Has anyone else had this happen and know if it's a light pollution change or maybe my camera settings?

Took my telescope out to the desert near Barstow and the sky looked totally different

I was trying to get a shot of the Milky Way, but the view through my camera's live view was way darker than what I could see with my eyes. I remembered reading about stretching the histogram, so I bumped up the shadows in my Canon's settings before taking the shot. Has anyone else found a good camera setting for that first test photo in a new dark spot?

My neighbor's kid saw my Jupiter photo and asked if I took it with a 'space camera'...

I had to pick between a star tracker or a new lens for my Milky Way shots

Went with the Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer 2i and it was worth it. My 30 second exposures at f/2.8 are way sharper now, no more star trails. Anyone have tips for polar alignment without a clear view of Polaris?

Update: I keep seeing people call the Orion Nebula a 'galaxy' in photo comments

I was looking at a great shot of M42 from a user in Tucson last night, and three separate comments called it a galaxy (it's a nebula, a cloud of gas and dust inside our own Milky Way). This mix-up keeps happening, and I think it matters because it confuses what we're actually looking at. Do you correct people when they get basic space stuff wrong, or just let it slide?

Finally got my polar alignment dialed in after 4 hours of fighting with it

I was convinced my mount was busted until I realized my leveling base was off by a few degrees on my patio. Anyone else have a simple step they always double-check now?

My neighbor's kid asked if the moon was a giant light bulb

I was setting up my telescope in the driveway last night when the little boy from next door came over. He pointed at the full moon and asked, 'Is that a giant light bulb someone forgot to turn off?' I laughed and tried to explain it was reflecting sunlight, but he just nodded like he got it. It made me think about how we see things before we know the science. Anyone have a good way to explain space stuff to really young kids?

Last Tuesday night was the clearest I've seen the sky in over a year, managed to get a shot of the Andromeda Galaxy with just my DSLR and a tripod.

My uncle said to skip the fancy gear and just use a basic DSLR for the Perseids

He told me last August that my old Canon T3i and a cheap tripod were enough to start, so I tried it from my backyard in Flagstaff. I got a clear shot of three meteors in one frame after about an hour, which I never thought I could do without a big telescope. Has anyone else had a simple piece of advice totally change how you approach taking space photos?

My photo of the Orion Nebula just got 1,000 likes on a different site

I've been trying to get a good shot of M42 for years, and this one finally came out clear from my backyard in Boise. It's weird that a picture I almost didn't post got that much attention. Anyone else have a photo that blew up when you least expected it?

Tried stacking 50 raw shots from my backyard in Phoenix and it looked awful. The trick was throwing out half of them first.

Trying to get a shot of the Orion Nebula from my backyard in Tucson turned into a whole thing with a raccoon

I was out there for like two hours, freezing, waiting for the perfect moment, and this little guy just waddles up and starts messing with my tripod leg. I had to shoo him off three times, and by the time he left, a big cloud bank rolled in and ruined the whole session. Has anyone else had their astro-photo plans completely derailed by a random animal?

Just realized stacking 50 frames instead of 10 made my Orion shot way clearer

I was trying to get a good picture of the Orion Nebula from my backyard in Tucson last month, but my first tries looked really grainy. I was only stacking about 10 light frames because I was impatient. After reading a forum tip, I forced myself to take 50 frames over two clear nights. The difference was huge. The nebula's reds and blues popped way more, and the background sky looked smooth and dark instead of noisy. The extra data from those 40 frames let the software average out all the random camera sensor noise. It took longer to process on my old laptop, maybe 20 minutes, but it was totally worth it. Has anyone else found a specific number of frames that seems to be the sweet spot for deep sky objects?

Finally got a proper star tracker after using a cheap tripod for years

I spent about $400 on a Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer last month, and it's a total game changer. My old setup was just a basic camera tripod, so I was stuck with really short exposures before the stars would streak. I tried stacking hundreds of shots, but it was a huge pain and never looked that clean. With this tracker, I can do 2-minute exposures easily. I took it out to a dark site near Flagstaff last weekend and got my first real shot of the Orion Nebula. The detail is just so much better, and I'm not fighting blur anymore. Has anyone else made the jump to a tracker and found a specific target that finally looked right?