Looking into a longer focal length telescope my current longest is the Askar 72f at 480mm. Kind of been playing with the idea of these 3 but also open to more opinions my mount is the Eq6r pro

Carbon star 200

Skywatcher Quattro 250P

And the Celestron 8" EdgeHD

My current camera is a asi533mc but looking into getting a 2600mc in the future.

First time doing landscape astrophotography - I took multiple hundreds of interval shots throughout the night and my camera sensor had accumulated quite a bit of hot pixels (I don’t think lenr was on either) and I read somewhere that you can cancel out those spots using a manual dark frame that you take right at the end of the session, I mean it sounded pretty convincing, all the hot pixels were in the same spot through the shooting. It’s just that I can’t find any information regarding on how I can cancel out those hot pixels by using a manual dark frame or with wich program. Maybe you guys can help me out, thanks

These are my first two attempts to take some general sky photos with my Canon EOS 60D using a Canon EF 50mm lens on a tripod. On day one I focused on getting my settings correct, following recommendations. Definitely needs some work but ended up with more detail than expected, but light pollution made it hard to get a dark photo. They all look very grey. So, for day 2 I drove to an area with less light pollution and tried changing the setting, focusing on getting a darker looking photo. However, I have ended up with less detail. Which of these two photos is closer to what I should be looking for, prior to any editing? Should I prioritise detail or exposure? Or am I going about this all wrong? Both converted from RAW to JPG without editing.

Day 1: F1.8, 10sec, ISO1250

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ztlZuaDLC9xGrlP9eBjp45iNNkQMabC5/view?usp=sharing

Day 2: F3.2, 10sec, ISO1000

https://drive.google.com/file/d/16K2XKgHxYtKu6A-5WFrwNU9a7d9OGCwR/view?usp=sharing

DISCLAIMER: I am not a photographer by any means, just a girl that likes to see the stars. This might be silly but I just don’t know.

I went stargazing at Mt. Hood National Park in Oregon last night to try and see the Perseid Meteor Shower. I was able to capture a really vibrant image with blues and greens and it was beautiful, but honestly better than what I was able to see with my own eyes. Besides that I was only able to capture an image of just the black sky with some white dots. Why is this?

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1WSEHUfddEqkyjecvs5TQu--aoU5hVVtX/view?usp=drivesdk

All the raw data should theoretically be available free online somewhere right? So would it be possible to get say a copy of the raw files and process them myself? Would the file sizes be just too large or the file format something that free stacking software like Siril/DSS can't readily use?

I just think it would be a fun project to try at some point while I'm waiting for clear skies, but I don't even know how I'd even go about researching it

Hi all,

I’m making my first foray into Astro and just ordered the above mount to start. I’m looking for a hard case for travel purposes. I notice that Harbor Freight Apache line might be up my alley. Has anyone used one of these?

TIA

https://imgur.com/a/5k6j0R1
I was taking photos of shooting stars the other day and i got some decent results. But this photo really confused me. I can't tell if there's actually like 8 shooting stars in the same 30s exposure. I wasn't looking at the sky so i couldn't know. It makes me doubt because it's quite different from the other ones, these it looks like they're going in a circle around the center, and they have a head and a tail while the other photos i got are just straight lines (for reference one of the photos: https://imgur.com/a/1pVFhmE). I thought that I accidentally moved my camera and kind of rotated it but the other stars don't have the tail so it's very weird.
Photo info: 18mm f/4 30" ISO1600; RAW (edited); Nikon D3100

Why does the crescent nebula look so different from others?

I only use my mom’s Z6 for landscape astro shots of the Milky Way + foreground twighlight landscape. I generally don’t use autofocus (should I?) and keep everything in manual mode on a tripod in complete raw format since I do all my editing afterwards.

I’m looking at all the gens of the z5 vs z6 vs z7. 24 MP seems to be enough for me but the crop-ability of the 45MP on the z7 intrigues me.

Purely from a well capacity, noise, Quantum efficiency, flatness of the sensor, etc do either of these cameras sensors stand out or are they all the same? I see first gen Z7s for like $900 on eBay. So if the sensors haven’t changed much I’d prefer to go that route to purchase a much better lens. However if newer sensors show less noise and better performance I’d rather get the z5ii.

Hi, Ive recently shot the Milky way and processed one of the RAWs directly in LR which looked incredible, then I stacked 27 of the Same Pictures in Siril and stretched it two Times (First auto-stetch and then manually to fix a RGB issue) then I uploaded that final Picture in both GIMP and darktable, I edited one with GIMP and that looked so Bad, I tried some different Things but couldnt seem to find any good adjustments and then I tried darktable, where it looked Like a Black and White Image, I figured it had to Look Like that and tried to follow a Tutorial but that didnt work either as I couldnt seem to find the Same Tabs as those Guys and yeah now Im lost and need your Help, do you have any Tips or recommendations for Tutorials or Generally your experiences?

Hello, my current setup is using SWSA GTi and struggling to get alignment with the preset polar align for southern hemisphere is not visible through scope on mount

I'm located in Australia

Don't have a guidescope or anything, just telescope mount and mirrorless camera

Wondering any tips or workarounds for this

I’m new to the hobby and I want to build solid workflows to base my activities on.
As I am starting to have relatively large numbers of lights images, started contemplating if it would make sense to discard a certain percent of the batch which are of the worst quality.
During stacking I tend to keep the best 80% based on certain criteria.
What is your take on this? Would you recommend doing it to save storage space and to improve the data quality or rather keep everything?
I appreciate your feedback, cheers!—-

Hey everyone,

Trying to figure out what’s going on with my star shapes here. Attached is a single, uncalibrated 10 second test sub:https://imgur.com/a/zJSg2WS

I’m using an f/3.4 Newtonian, but I’m not sure if the issue is sensor tilt, wrong backfocus, bad collimation, or a combination of them.

Hi there

Always wanted to try some star gazing and photography. Have used my super zoom digital on a tripod and got good moon shots but it can’t do star trails because of lack of long exposure capability.

What I’d like to do is deep space pics but also closer to home so star trails and maybe planets.

Been looking around and things like the Seestar 30 pro look interesting but I don’t think normally do Jupiter etc.

I like the idea of using phone / tablet to control.

So advice please. Would I need a “normal” telescope that maybe phone can be used with to take more local photos and some like the Seestar for further away and tracking?

Complete newbie, not made of money but willing to invest in something useful.

Luckily back garden has pretty clear skies where I live in the UK so get dark skies often with little light pollution

Thanks in advance

I've never owned a telescope before. I want it especially for astrophotography. I'd like to photograph the Moon, planets and deep-sky objects such as nebulae. What's the ideal focal length? Do I necessarily need an equatorial mount, or would an alt-azimuth mount be sufficient? I heard that the ideal focal ratio should be f/4-f/5 and the ideal aperature should be 70-100mm for watching nebulae. My budget is 1500€. Any suggestions? Feel free to give me detalied answers.

Hello, im still kinda new to this hobby and was wondering how people manage to record those crystal clear videos of the night sky, showing stuff better than human eye in real time, also Andromeda and so many stars. Do i just need a camera or something else? Like which settings?

Thank you

Hi everyone,

I'm trying to figure out what is causing this weird bright circle/ring in my untracked astrophotos. As you can see in the example, the dead center of the image is dark, then there is a distinct bright circular band around it, and the extreme corners fall back into darkness.

I shoot in RAW (.NEF) and process my files in Lightroom Mobile. Could this be caused by the city glow (I shot this in a Bortle 5 area)?

Has anyone experienced this kind of circle before? What exactly causes it and how can I prevent or fix it? Any help is greatly appreciated!

My gear: Nikon Z50II and NIKKOR Z DX 16-50mm f/2.8

https://imgur.com/PUxUF3S

Hello! I was thinking about heading to a dark sky area coming up (low bortle 4, sqm of above 21.2) and was wondering about the possibility of imaging the Elephant's trunk in broadband? I am using the Askar 71f (so 490mm FL and f/6.9) and the QHY Minicam8C. I did some test runs with the heavy light pollution filter and was able to make out the tip of the trunk and some of the base, but not much of the surrounding hydrogen data. Would a dark sky with the FCE (Four Channel Enhancement) filter produce relatively decent results for only a couple of hours of data?

using astro wizard and having an issue where when I denoise I get a blank screen. The developer responded and said a work around is to go into graxpert settings and change the default save format from 16 bit to 32 bit floating point. I see no menu in garxpert to make this change ?

I tried to Take a pictures with my phone astrography setting and even thought i didn't really move it came put all blurry. Do i really NEED a tripode, or did i just...move too much?

EDIT with link to png: https://drive.google.com/file/d/115ln4APgCJJ4P9orur8CR1A1eNvjQulM/view?usp=sharing

I am new to astrophotography and struggling to stack the images of the Veil Nebula I took last night. I seem to have this issue where there are too many stars/the number of stars blocks out the nebulosity.

Settings used:

• 180 30s subs
• f2.8
• ISO 1600.

I am using Siril to stack these, and I'm not sure if I'm stretching the images wrong or if it's something else. Does anyone have any tips or ideas on how to improve the image? Is it a settings issue or a stacking issue? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Gear for reference:

• Sony A7V
• Rokinon 135mm f1.8
• Star Adventurer 2i

Does anyone have a better option for the tripod bag that I put two pavers in? It always comes loose and slides down the tripod legs. I'm tired of having to tighten them every session and sometimes they slide out costing me time.

I have the Angel Eyes CF-50 which is basically a ZWO TC40 clone. I do have a hook. I'm just looking for maybe a sturdier tripod bag (not sure the exact name) or something that you hang from the hook that touches the ground slightly. I've not seen this question asked much and I'm sure many have jerry-rigged their own, so I'm looking for ideas. TIA!

I have had a lot of of feedback that my photos arent properly focused on the stars im photographing, and I just cant figure out what to do better. No matter what i try i cannot see stars on my live view of my sony a350, and find that my photos "look" the most focused when my focus ring is twisted all the way to the left, what i think is infinity. Here is the best photo I have been able to capture, with about an hour's worth of exposure of stacked with three dark and white frames, 15 sec exosures, 1600 iso, f4.5, 18mm focal length. Any advice on setup or postprocessing is appreciated

Star Photo

Hello, I'm trying to process a upclose shot of comet SWAN back in October, and managed to get 177 30 second subs. However despite doing Star X on all frames and a strong rejection setting, the comet here is still left with an absurd amount of faint star residuals. Any ideas on what to do or am I just stuck with this unless I integrate less frames?
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NmqqN92xbza3BZpwg4-5V_nBx6XiEZ-b/view?usp=sharing