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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?
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wrenwilson1mo ago
Blocking out the full moon week on the calendar is smart. I used to think I could just shoot through it, maybe get some data on brighter targets. Then I wasted a whole night on the Andromeda galaxy during a waxing gibbous. The final stack was just a flat, milky mess, zero dust lanes. That was the lesson I needed. Now I treat the moon like a hard deadline.
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valwest1mo ago
Yeah, that "bright gray sky" is the worst. I just block out the full moon week on my calendar now and only plan trips for new moon nights.
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noahchen7d ago
That "bright gray sky" comment hits hard because that's exactly what you get, just a blank, washed out nothing. I've been there too many times. The apps are fine for a quick check, but I started checking the moon's phase for the whole trip window, not just the night I plan to shoot. Also, if you're dead set on going out during a full moon, narrowband filters are the only thing that saves the data, but that's a big investment if you're just testing the waters. Honestly, just plan around the new moon and save yourself the headache, it's not worth fighting the sky.
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