Contact Us Frequently Asked Questions Included Below Contact AstroBackyard Our goal is to share helpful astrophotography information and resources. We do this through our website and YouTube channel, sharing beginner information with as many people as possible. As a team of only two people, we don’t have the resources to provide custom email responses (especially…
To view my latest image of the Pelican Nebula, have a look at the version captured using a dedicated astronomy camera (ZWO ASI294MC Pro). Narrowband filters can make capturing faint emission nebulae like the Pelican Nebula easier from the city, as it separates the light wavelengths associated with the target from a washed out sky….
I have been spending a lot of time photographing the night sky towards the core of the Milky Way. My 80mm refractor has a focal length of 480mm, which magnifies many deep-sky objects in the area of Sagittarius. The Lagoon Nebula and the Trifid Nebula lie very close together in the night sky, as far…
Problems with Celestron CG-5 Mount Up until this point, my Celestron CG-5 mount has been very good to me. Despite what I have heard, it has been a quality mount, capable of 5+ minute exposures, no problem (with autoguiding). Recently though, the power has been cutting in and out. Last Friday night, under clear, dark,…
The following photo of the California Nebula was captured using my DSLR camera before it was modified for astrophotography. NGC 1499 in Perseus is perhaps the best example of the difference removing the stock IR cut filter from your DSLR camera can make. For an emission nebula like this, an image with a stock camera…
The Pillars of CreationThanks to some advice from the guys over at Astrogab, I have purchased a very powerful Action Set for Adobe Photoshop. I highly recommend this to any astrophotographer because it can save you serious time when processing an image. In light of these new tools, I have been going through and re-processing a…
Last updated: August 8, 2026. If you find this helpful and buy through my links, I may receive a small commission. If you’re looking to buy your first telescope (or your first good telescope), this guide is for you. I’ll cover the most important aspects of a telescope, how much you should expect to spend,…
About Us AstroBackyard is a husband-and-wife team, Trevor Jones and Ashley Northcotte based in Ontario, Canada. Like you, I was Interested in the Hobby of Astrophotography… In 2010, I started my journey with beginner-level equipment and took to the internet to find answers on how to use it. The problem was, most of the information…
In this article, I’ll describe how I photographed the Boogeyman Nebula (LDN 1622) in the constellation Orion using my camera and telescope. This was the first time I had ever captured this deep-sky object before, and one of only a handful of dark nebulae I have ever photographed. LDN 1622 is a dark molecular cloud…
Late last month, William sent me a William Optics RedCat 71 for review purposes. The Cat 71 was designed to be an ultra-flat, well-corrected imaging APO for modern DSLR/mirrorless and dedicated astronomy cameras. In this post, I’ll provide you with an overview of the telescope’s specs and a few sample images taken with it. Since testing…
In this article, I’ll explain why I built a backyard observatory and how the entire project took shape this spring. Officially named “Black Dog Observatory,” this structure will become the epicenter of my astrophotography operations in the backyard. Below is a photo of me standing in my new SkySked POD XL5 observatory. I expect many…
The Big Dipper is one of the most recognizable and easily found patterns of stars in the night sky. It includes seven bright stars from the constellation Ursa Major, with four stars forming the bowl and three stars forming the handle. Ursa Major, also known as the Great Bear, is a large constellation that includes more…