Deep Sky Astrophotography in Light Pollution
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 and image processing, but I welcome the challenge. It’s true, there is no substitute for dark skies. But being able to set up a portable astrophotography kit in the backyard on a weeknight is pretty cool. I don't have to pack up heavy gear i…
Photographing the Elephant’s Trunk Nebula
As the season transitions from summer to fall, the nights have become longer and cooler in the backyard. This is beneficial for deep sky astrophotography for many reasons, with more time to capture exposure time on incredible targets like the Elephant’s Trunk Nebula being one of them. For those that have been following my YouTube Channel, you’ll know that I’ve been testing out a new APO refractor telescope, the Sky-Watcher Esprit 100 ED. I was shocked to see just how many of my subscribers were already using and enjoying this exact telescope for astrophotography. In the following pos…
Short Nights and Hot Sensors
The hot nights of early summer astrophotography start late and end early. The warm temperatures at night make their presence known in my DSLR images in the form of noise. My latest deep sky project involves capturing data on NGC 6888 in H-Alpha with a DSLR. My highly portable astrophotography equipment allows me to move the entire rig around the yard based on my imaging target. This month, I have been getting a head start on summer Astro targets in Sagittarius such as the Omega Nebula. This means waiting until after midnight for my targets to rise high enough in the Southeast f…
The ultimate astrophotography target for your DSLR and telescope
It's very exciting to know that the night sky is full of galaxies, nebulae and star clusters to observe and photograph. The great Andromeda Galaxy, the glimmering Pleiades, and the vibrant red California Nebula are all jaw-dropping astrophotography subjects. But what is the best way to capture these amazing deep-sky objects? The followers of this blog know that I am all about astrophotography with a DSLR and telescope. This is a popular deep-sky imaging setup and is capable of some incredible results using affordable equipment that can often be purchased used. A DSLR camera is…
Finding Darker Skies
Astrophotography in late August and early Septemeber feature ideal conditions for spending a full night photographing the stars. The nights are longer, the temperature is warm, yet cool at night, and the breathtaking Milky Way core continues to stretch upwards into the night, as nightfall sets in. Right now, some of the first stars to "pop" after the sun has receded behind the Earth are Vega, Altair, Deneb, and Arcturus. Even more noticeably present are the intense glowing "wanderers" known as Mars and Saturn in our Solar System. As the end of summer approaches, so does our nightly showin…
