Astrophotography: 5 things I wish I knew when I started!

[@astrojourneyuk]

To try everything Brilliant has to offer-free-for a full 30 days, visit brilliant.org/astrojourneyuk/. The first 200 of you will get 20% off Brilliant’s annual premium subscription.

[@TheJerryRN]

Marc, I want to reach out and thank you for producing this wonderful content for newer astrophotographers to use as a learning. To be at the level you are now after three years is pretty remarkable in my opinion. I’m retired From the medical field and shortly after retirement I needed something to exercise my brain that was fun and exhilarating…Beekeeping was it. In beekeeping we see a lot of newer beekeepers that get what we call “ bee fever”. Bee fever is a very powerful thing that drives many to go overboard…trying to do to much to soon. It isn’t necessarily a bad thing but fellow newer beekeepers can inadvertently be led astray when taking content that is not exactly correct or maybe it is correct but only for that content creators situation. Many times beekeepers with bee fever actually do more harm than good because our hobby ends up losing many new beekeepers out of frustration. Well meaning beekeepers can be a significant hurdle to make our hobby grow. Hopefully everyone can see that we can replace beekeeping with astrophotography in everything I just said. Which brings me to you my man! With three years of experience in Astro now along with some past experience with landscape photography coming into the Astro world, in my opinion you have achieved one of the rarest things any educator or content creator can do… you are able to educate others sharing the absolute best information that there is to offer while maintaining the perspective of a newer astrophotographer. That allows you to make someone such as myself a far better astrophotographer because not only is the content / information spot on but you present that content in a relatable way that a newer Astro hobbiest can immediately digest and understand. I am a noob astrophotographer but I know a great educator. Keep doing what you are doing for as long as you can do it lol!!!! Best regards from across the pond, Jerry in Ohio.

[@astrojourneyuk]

Hey Jerry, thank you so much for those generous, kind and encouraging words. I love the Beekeeper analogy. I'm really pleased that you find the content accessible and pitched at the right level. I think in reality there were probably many more things I wish I knew, but that can be for another time. :) When I get to retirement I feel I will be exactly like you in needing something to keep the mind active, it's a very important thing to do. The activity from this hobby can be the lugging out and back in of all the kit whenever it's clear. :) All the best.

[@mikelockwood2104]

thoroughly enjoyed this....well done. You and I pretty well started on the same path 3 years ago during covid. Although, you're a much younger man.....I started this Heavenly Hobby at 67 years old.

[@astrojourneyuk]

Thanks for the lovely feedback Mike. I think Covid most likely gave this hobby quite a boost in sales! It’s a great little hobby, expensive but great.

[@mikelockwood2104]

@@astrojourneyuk you are very welcome. I look forward to your next videos

[@williammauney1129]

Definitely interesting I’ve been using the 294 and 533 with an 80mm and was worried about under sampling. I do dither and drizzle. Glad to see it doesn’t make that much difference

[@astrojourneyuk]

Thanks for dropping by and commenting. I hope the video helped.

[@dumpydalekobservatory]

Yup I did the same mistake & started off with a 200P way back although back then I stuck to do planetary imaging so the EQ5 pro could cope with it ok. I did get a bonus from work & upgraded to an NEQ6 6 months later which handled it better I guess. I still haven't gone over the Pixinsight simply because I don't have a PC that will run it but I do use Photoshop & SIRIL which gives great results. People sometimes ask what my processing workflow is & to be honest it varies from target to target like if I processed a galaxy it would be a completely different routine to processing a nebula. I've never been into photography either so never knew my way around a DSLR let alone a dedicated imaging camera so for me it's been a long long learning curve but I think the tools we have now have made processing was easier than it used to be. Great video Marc & great advice clear skies.

[@astrojourneyuk]

Thank you and sorry to hear you made a similar mistake to me. Although planetary sounds like a good workaround to the under powered mount. Maybe I should try it. Interesting that PixInsight won’t work but PS and SIRIL do. I keep meaning to take a look at SIRIL out of curiosity although I’m pretty invested in PixInsight now.

[@leoncorns1450]

Good advice to buy a smaller scope first and image wide field. I made the mistake of buying a 2000mm SCT which made things so much more difficult for me.

[@astrojourneyuk]

Thanks Leon. It’s all too easy for people new to this hobby to go deep, not fully appreciating the size of nebula and you don’t need it. I don’t think we’re both alone with making that mistake.

[@romanchongy9353]

Another good video Marc. Would like to see a basic guide on how you process your images if possible. I hope you are having better luck with clear skies than us in the south.....🤔

[@astrojourneyuk]

Thank you for the kind feedback Roman. It’s a big encouragement. Sure thing, any particular target? If you have some data maybe I could have a go at processing it and record that?

[@romanchongy9353]

@@astrojourneyuk It would be great to see how you process an image once you have the data. I picked up the AM5 back in Feb (paired with my ED127 CF) but have only had it out on two nights due to the weather! I have not tried any deep sky yet and i only have a 224MC, my data is all lunar and planetary so far in my astro journey (see what i did there...) :)

[@astrojourneyuk]

I have a processing video coming this weekend I’m hoping of the Heart Nebula. I need to redo the Andromeda image too as we now in galaxy season if the skies were clear. 😂😂😂

[@astrojourneyuk]

Excellent and good luck!

[@woody5109]

Thanks for this, I just finishing my first year, my biggest regret is not getting a better tracking mount. I have the EQM35, can’t get under 2.0, have a 50mm scope with 120 mini. But just can’t get under 2 😕 advice to anyone starting out, spend the bulk of your budget on the mount. Cheers.

[@astrojourneyuk]

What is the main scope, it’s focal length and the main camera itself again?

[@woody5109]

Zenith star 61 with a uniguide 32/120mm guide scope and an ZWO 120 mini on my EQM-35 and I just can’t get under 2 arc seconds, most times I can’t get under 5 arc seconds?

[@astrojourneyuk]

What’s the weight of all your kit on the mount? Looking at that scope it should be under 7Kg which is the max for the mount isn’t it?