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 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. How? By ignoring specific wavelengths of light in the visible spectrum associated with artificial light sources such as a street lamp. The best way to test…
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…
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…
The William Optics GT 81 (Gran Turismo) is an apochromatic refractor telescope with an innovative internal focus design (WIFD). William’s ‘Gran Turismo’ line of refractor telescopes have been around for many years, and are well enjoyed in the amateur astrophotography community. This telescope features an impressive full-frame image circle (44.4mm), which is an important specification…
The Ghost Nebula (Sh2-136) is a reflection nebula located in the constellation Cepheus. This object lies very close to the star cluster known as NGC 7023, and the Iris Nebula. The Ghost Nebula spans roughly 2 light-years across and appears as a yellowish-brown color in photographs. Its appearance is indeed ‘ghostly’ which is the origin…
The Perseid meteor shower, also known as the Perseids, is considered the most spectacular and most reliable meteor shower of the year with 50 to 100 meteors per hour. In 2023, the Perseid Meteor Shower coincides with the New Moon phase. This means that it will be possible to see even more meteors in the…
Have you ever wondered what the same deep-space object would look like using two very different telescopes? I thought this was a great concept for a video (see below) and a real eye-opener for those looking into upgrading their telescope for astrophotography. For this experiment, we used two high-quality refractor telescopes that were very different…