c/astronomy-photos

10

troyjackson•5h ago

Rant: The whole week of July 15th was a bust for deep sky photos

I had a new camera filter ready to test on the Veil Nebula. Every single night that week, a thin haze rolled in right after sunset, like clockwork. By 10 PM, the stars looked soft and washed out. I checked the weather logs and the humidity stayed above 85% all five nights. It was so frustrating to have perfect gear and a clear calendar, but the sky just would not cooperate. Has anyone else had a whole week ruined by persistent high humidity like that?

12

reese177•1d ago

I think the 'enhanced' versions of the Pillars of Creation look totally fake now

I was looking at the original Hubble shot from 1995 and the new JWST infrared image side by side. The new one is amazing for the science, sure, but the colors they assign to make it a 'photo' for the public? It's gone from a majestic, almost ghostly structure to something that looks like a neon painting. They cranked the contrast and saturation so high to show the new dust details that it lost all sense of natural depth for me. It looks like a video game render. Am I the only one who preferred the more subtle, haunting look of the older processing?

9

sean_foster52•4d ago

Showerthought: My Orion Nebula shots went from a gray blob to actual color in just one year

I got my first telescope, a basic 6-inch reflector, about a year ago and was so excited to point it at M42. My first photo was just a fuzzy gray smudge, even with a 30-second exposure from my backyard in the suburbs. I was pretty bummed. Then I saved up and got a decent light pollution filter and a motorized tracker. Last night, I stacked 50 two-minute exposures from the same spot. The difference is crazy. I can actually see the pinkish-red gas clouds and the faint blue around the Trapezium stars. It's not Hubble, but it's mine. It really shows how much gear and processing technique matter, not just the target. Has anyone else had a specific target that looked totally different after you upgraded one key piece of equipment?

18

mason.paige•5d ago

Hot take: I finally got a decent shot of the Milky Way from my backyard in Flagstaff

Honestly, I've been trying for months but my shots were always just a grainy mess. I read that stacking multiple exposures helps, so I took 30 shots at 15 seconds each with my Canon EOS Ra and stacked them in DeepSkyStacker. Ngl, the difference was crazy, the core actually looked detailed instead of noisy. Has anyone else had luck with this method from a Bortle 4 zone, or is there a better free stacking program you'd recommend?

18

jennifer_west•7d ago

Question about the green flash at sunset

I was watching a video from an astronomy channel last night and they mentioned the green flash you can sometimes see just as the sun dips below the horizon. The host said it's a real thing caused by light refraction in the atmosphere, not just a camera trick. I always thought it was a myth or a Photoshop effect. Has anyone here actually managed to capture a photo of it? I'd love to see one if you have.

10

sam530•7d ago

Just realized I've taken over 10,000 photos of the same galaxy cluster

I was cleaning up my hard drive last night and ran a count on my M81 folder. It's been my main target for three years, just trying to get a cleaner shot each time. I never kept track, but seeing that number pop up felt crazy. It's a ton of data for one fuzzy patch of sky. Has anyone else gotten stuck on a single target for way longer than they planned?

3

the_david•9d ago

Spent $400 on a filter that did nothing for my light pollution

I bought a narrowband filter last month hoping to cut through the city glow in my backyard shots. It barely made a difference in my stacked images from my Bortle 7 zone, just a slight color shift. What filters have actually worked for you guys in bad sky conditions?

21

palmer.henry•9d ago

Warning: I picked a cheap mount over a GoTo for my first deep sky rig

Chose a manual EQ mount to save $800, but tracking the Orion Nebula for 3 minutes was way harder than I expected. Anyone have tips for manual tracking without star trails?

15

the_anna•9d ago

Just realized a lot of people don't know how to spot a satellite in their star trail shots

I keep seeing photos labeled as 'meteor' or 'plane' that are clearly satellite trails. A satellite line is a steady, unbroken white dash, while a meteor is a colored streak that often fades. Planes usually have a dotted line from blinking lights. It matters because calling it wrong changes the story of the image. I learned this after taking over 200 long exposures from my backyard in Boise. Has anyone else had to correct friends on this, or am I just being picky?

2

lewis.diana•9d ago

Spent $250 on a 'premium' star tracker that was a total dud

Bought a new tracker online last fall, said it could handle 5 minute exposures. Tried it on three separate nights. Every single shot came out with star trails. My old, basic mount did better. The thing just couldn't hold alignment. Total waste of a clear sky weekend and the cash. What's a reliable tracker that actually works under $300?

4

jackson.sarah•10d ago

Got called out for my washed out star photos last month

Someone on this forum said my Andromeda shot looked 'like a white blob' and told me to drop my exposure from 120 seconds to 90. Tried it last night and the core detail is way better now. How do you guys decide on the right exposure time for different targets?

13

palmer.henry•12d ago

Can we talk about how much darker the sky got at Cherry Springs State Park?

Honestly, I went there last month and the difference from my suburban backyard was crazy. I could actually see the Milky Way's dust lanes with my naked eye, no camera needed. Has anyone else found a spot that made their usual setup feel totally different?

7

lisa839•12d ago

Appreciation post: I tried stacking 200 shots of the Orion Nebula from my backyard

I used my old DSLR and a basic star tracker, expecting a fuzzy mess. Instead, the stacked image showed way more detail than I thought possible, especially in the faint outer gas clouds. It took about 3 hours of total exposure time and a lot of patience with the free software. Has anyone else been surprised by what you can pull out of a ton of short exposures?

18

claire_ramirez22•14d ago

Hot take: People are stacking way too many photos for the Milky Way

I see so many shots where folks stack like 50 frames thinking more is better, but after 15-20 you're just adding noise from light pollution. I tested this last month from my backyard in Tucson, stacking 10 vs 30 vs 50 shots. The 30-shot stack looked worse than the 10-shot one because it pulled in more glow from the city. The sweet spot for a decently dark site is around 15 frames. Has anyone else found a specific number that works best for their location?

12

charlie_fisher45•16d ago

I finally figured out why my star trails kept looking like dotted lines

I was out near Flagstaff trying to get a good shot of the Milky Way with my old DSLR. For months, my long exposure shots had these weird gaps in the trails. A friend looked at my camera settings and asked why my intervalometer was set to a 2-second delay between shots. I had no idea that delay was creating the breaks. I changed it to shoot continuously and the next 30-minute stack gave me one smooth, clean arc. Has anyone else messed up their stacking because of a simple timer setting?

34

wyatt_ross27•19d ago

Question about a trip to the desert for the Perseids

I drove out to Joshua Tree last August to try and get a good shot of the meteor shower, but my first few pictures just showed a black sky with a couple of faint streaks. Then a guy camping near me saw my setup and said, 'You need to point your camera at the radiant near Cassiopeia and use a wider lens.' I switched to my 14mm and got a whole sky full of trails in a single 20-second shot. What's your go-to lens or camera setting for shooting meteor showers?

17

river_hart18•20d ago

I finally stopped trying to shoot galaxies from my backyard in Phoenix

Last month I drove out to the Grand Canyon for a dark sky event and got my first real look at the Milky Way core. I used my Canon R6 and a 24mm lens, taking a 15-second exposure at ISO 3200, and the detail was insane compared to my noisy city shots. Now I plan every major photo around a trip to a dark site, even if it's just a few times a year. Anyone else have a go-to dark sky spot they're willing to share?

20

river182•20d ago

Why does nobody talk about how much a full moon messes with deep sky photos?

Last week I drove two hours out to Joshua Tree to get some shots of the Orion Nebula, only to realize the moon was almost full and washed out everything. I spent three hours setting up my Celestron 8SE and a new camera only to get a bright gray sky with maybe two stars. Has anyone found a good way to plan around the moon phase besides just checking an app?

0

sethc12•20d ago

My first try at stacking Jupiter photos was a total mess

I spent a whole night last fall trying to stack 200 frames of Jupiter from my backyard. The software kept crashing and I couldn't figure out why for weeks. It turned out I was using the wrong file format, something simple like saving them as JPEGs instead of TIFFs. That one mistake cost me about a month of clear nights before I got a decent image. Has anyone else had a basic file type issue ruin their astro processing?

9

coleman.jade•22d ago

I always thought the Milky Way was just a faint blur until I saw it from the Badlands

For years, I figured all those bright Milky Way shots were just camera tricks. Then, three years ago, my friend dragged me to Badlands National Park in South Dakota for a new moon. I brought my old camera, a Canon T3i, and just pointed it up for a 30-second shot as a joke. When I looked at the screen, I actually gasped. There it was, clear as anything, with dust lanes and everything, right out of my cheap kit lens. That one photo changed my whole view. I spent the rest of the night trying to get more, and now I plan trips around dark skies. Has anyone else had a single picture completely flip how you see the night sky?

15

jesseb20•24d ago

I almost ruined my Orion Nebula shot by not checking the moon phase first

For years, I'd just set up my gear in the backyard whenever the sky looked clear, you know? Then last November, I drove out to a dark site near Flagstaff for a whole weekend, got everything framed up for M42, and ended up with this washed-out, gray mess. The problem was a nearly full moon I hadn't even thought about. Now I always check a moon phase calendar before I even pack the car, and I plan my targets around the new moon window. Has anyone else had a trip totally wrecked by something that simple?

1

jennifer_west•24d ago

The Orion Nebula looked like a blurry smudge in my old photos from 2020

I got a new camera sensor and a hydrogen-alpha filter last month, and the difference is NIGHT and day. Now you can see the pink gas clouds and the Trapezium stars clear as anything. Anyone else have a piece of gear that totally changed their deep sky shots?

8

fiona502•25d ago

I used to think those cheap phone telescope adapters were a good deal, but I just wasted $40 on one that blurred every single shot of the Orion Nebula.

The plastic mount wobbled so much that even a 10-second exposure at 400 ISO came out completely unusable, so what's a decent budget option for attaching a smartphone to an eyepiece without breaking the bank?

2

margaretf40•27d ago

Took my telescope to a state park near Flagstaff and got a reality check

I drove two hours to get to this dark sky spot, set up my Celestron 8SE, and was ready for a perfect night. Then a family pulled up right next to me with their car's interior lights on full blast, and later their kid pointed a green laser at the sky for ten minutes straight. It completely wrecked my night vision and I couldn't see a thing through the eyepiece. How do you even deal with people who have no clue at a public viewing spot?

7

johns18•27d ago

Warning: My star tracker setup last night was a total mess

I tried to get a clean shot of the Orion Nebula from my backyard in Tacoma, but my polar alignment was off by a mile (or so it felt). Spent two hours just trying to get the mount level on my uneven patio, then another hour fighting with the alignment app on my phone. The whole thing took about three hours before I even took one picture. Anyone have a better way to do this without losing a whole night?