When you capture the night sky from a city or suburban backyard, the biggest enemy is light pollution. As a backyard astrophotographer, this one hurts. The excess artificial light from streetlamps, houses, and buildings brightens the background of your astrophotography images. This brighter sky background reduces your signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), which means the faint details…
The term light pollution is more widely recognized these days. More people are starting to realize that lighting up the night isn’t always a good thing — but that hasn’t exactly slowed us down. We’re still filling the night sky with more and more artificial light every year. For many, it remains an issue that’s…
If you shoot your astrophotography images with a color camera in the city, there is a good chance that light pollution filters can make your life a little easier. No matter which astrophotography camera you use, filters can make the difference between a decent image and a great one. They ignore specific wavelengths of light…
Have you ever walked around your neighborhood at night and noticed the amount of wasted, and oftentimes unnecessary, artificial light? I think we have all noticed the poorly designed outdoor lighting in our neighborhoods that contributes to light pollution. According to the DarkSky International (IDA), light pollution is increasing at two times the rate of…
Have you ever looked at a brightly lit building or street light in your neighborhood and thought it was excessive? You know, light shining in all directions or perhaps in your bedroom window, rather than only lighting up the intended area. That is light pollution. Light pollution is misdirected excess/obtrusive outdoor artificial light in a…
If you’ve been following AstroBackyard on YouTube, you’ll know that I regularly shoot DSLR astrophotography images under the heavily light-polluted skies at home. My night sky is classified as Bortle Class 8 in terms of sky quality, a white zone on the light pollution map. This certainly makes things more difficult in terms of collecting data…
One of the most common questions I receive each day is which light pollution filter I recommend for astrophotography in the city. There have never been so many choices available, with each one offering their own advantages and disadvantages. Couple that with the fact that these astrophotography filters can be expensive, and you’ve got some…
There’s a new camera in town, and it’s one of the most affordable cooled astronomy cameras ever made. The ZWO ASI585MC Pro may have a tiny sensor, but that doesn’t mean it can’t do what the big boys can. If you’re currently shooting with a DSLR camera, a dedicated astronomy camera may be on your wish…
As an amateur astrophotographer or astronomer, there is a good chance you first started exploring the night sky in your backyard. The backyard is where I spend the most time under the stars, and my first experiences exploring the night sky with a telescope happened there. Your backyard may not be the ideal place for…
Twilight refers to the period of time when the sun is below the horizon where scattered sunlight illuminates the atmosphere. The lower the sunlight is below the horizon, the darker the twilight will be. Astronomical twilight is the darkest of the three twilight phases. It is also the last phase of twilight during sunset and…
In this section of the website, I will feature an astrophotography setup with a complete breakdown of each component. These equipment profiles will include all items needed for deep-sky astrophotography including the tracking mount, imaging telescope, camera, and filters. You’ll be able to see the exact camera settings I use, and any additional accessories needed…
Backyard Astrophotography Summer would not be complete without spending a night enjoying the dazzling beauty that is the constellation Sagittarius. The “teapot” asterism just clears my fence to the south of my backyard in central St. Catharines. From my latitude, August is my last chance to image the many star clusters and nebulae that populate…