I used to just point my phone at the sky, now I stack 50 frames

For years, my astro photos were just blurry dots on a black screen. Last fall, I finally got a cheap star tracker and learned about stacking. My process now is to take about 50 two-minute exposures of a target, like the Orion Nebula, and use free software to combine them. The difference is insane, way more color and detail without all the noise. It took a weekend to learn the basics from a YouTube channel. Anyone have tips for dealing with light pollution in a suburban backyard?

2 comments

2 Comments

barbaramorgan7d ago

Remember when my first stacked shot looked like a fuzzy ghost, totally blew my mind.

hugo_coleman286d ago

Fuzzy ghost is right. My first attempt was a complete mess, just a blurry blob where the stars should be. I was so sure I'd messed up the tracking. Turns out I just stacked like three frames with terrible alignment. Took me a week to figure out I needed way more data and to actually check my subframes.