Saturday Night Under the Stars Astrophotography in the City Last weekend I posted a new video to my YouTube channel titled DSLR Astrophotography – A Night in the Backyard with my Camera. It is now Early-April, and we are in what amateur astrophotographers call “Galaxy Season”, as we transition from the Winter Constellations like Orion…
Staying Inside – Image Processing The unseasonably cold weather and precipitation we have experienced here in Southern Ontario have given me the perfect opportunity to go through my old astrophotography images and reprocess the data. I have been advancing my image-processing skills by studying current astronomy images taken by the pros. Being a creative professional myself, I…
Collimating a Newtonian telescope is something every backyard astronomer should experience. In this post, I align my 8″ Orion Astrograph Newtonian for a night of astrophotography in the backyard. My deep-sky target is M101 – The Pinwheel Galaxy – in the constellation Ura Major. With a proper alignment of the mirrors in this reflector, I…
I usually like to wait until I’ve got a new astrophotography image to share before I make a post, but today I just felt like sharing some thoughts about where I am at with this blog. Astrobackyard.com is still in it’s early stages, but I have had quite a few vistors as of late and…
I woke up at 5:30 am this morning to attempt to photograph the 5 visible planets at dawn. This astronomical event is rather rare, and will only be possible for about 2 more weeks. Seeing the 5 brightest planets simultaneously has not been possible since 2005! The first week of February is the absolute best…
What is Astrobackyard.com? This astrophotography blog creates an outlet for me to share images, information and tips about my favourite hobby. I received lots of help when I began this hobby in 2011, and it’s my turn to pay-it-forward to the next wave of astrophotographers. I have watched the hobby grow in the short years that I…
Merry Christmas and a happy new year to all of my fellow astronomy nerds out there! 2015 was an amazing year for me and my family with the purchase of a new home and the addition of a new four-legged friend named Rudolph. Next year will be even better as I continue advancing my…
This video may change the way your shoot and process astro-images forever. It covers the few simple steps needed to create an ultra high-resolution master frame with a high signal-to-noise ratio. This tutorial covers the capturing, processing and production of gorgeous wide-field astrophotography images using a camera lens or small telescope. If you are…
The Triangulum Galaxy The M33 Galaxy is the third-largest galaxy in the local-group of galaxies, behind the Milky Way and Andromeda. Its large size from our vantage point makes my wide-field astrophotography 80mm telescope a great choice for imaging this target. Despite it’s size, the Triangulum Galaxy appears much dimmer than M31 – The Andromeda…
2015 Perseid Meteor Shower Above photo taken August 13th, 2015 – 12:22am I was not able to travel to a pretty location to shoot the Perseids last night, so I just set up shop in the backyard! I planted my Canon 7D firmly on my tripod and aimed above my house towards the constellation Perseus,…
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…
Astrophotography LRGB Processing Technique A useful guide to processing the Orion Constellation using a DSLR Camera and Tripod From the very moment this video started, I knew I was in for a real treat. The motion control time-lapse of the Milky Way moving across the sky was the perfect primer for this high production, quality tutorial. …