Astrophotography Dark Sky Checklist & Guide - To get your best images ever!

[@woody5109]

This is golden, I can’t tell how many times I’ve left key components behind, my wife just shakes her head😂

[@darkrangersinc]

It’s the worst and then you’re 2-4 hours away!

[@anthonyhitchings1051]

We went to Mojave N.P. in order to avoid cloud cover and get dark sky in order to watch the Geminid meteors, and LA Vegas glow was still on the NE horizon

[@rvoykin]

I’ve been to Mojave it must’ve gotten worse because when I was there, I didn’t see it. I also did drive pretty far into the park so that could’ve been why. It’s the same thing at Deaths Valley with the exception of the Eureka news. The dunes and mountains block the city. It’s crazy how far the lake pollution can reach, and it’s actually really avoidable if cities would just switch to motion sensors they wouldn’t use as much electricity.

[@gregm.fergusonchfccfp3677]

As of this year I have an EV am trying camping in it so I look for spots with 50 amp service. I can re-charge and keep everything I bring charged. Two items I always bring is Gaffer’s tape and LED lighting for shooting any Nightscaper or star trails. The gaffer’s tape you can get in up to 3” wide so I carry a couple of widths. It’s great for taping over unwanted light sources for example and doesn’t leave any residue.

[@darkrangersinc]

I always have some blue tape in the tech pouch I think that’s Gaffers, we’ll have to get out before I’m back out west!

[@anthonyhitchings1051]

50 Amp service will not go well with true dark skys

[@darkrangersinc]

@@anthonyhitchings1051 yeah it was in the nearbye dark site which was 21.5 SQM. For a quick spot that’s pretty dark coming from the city but yeah something 21.9+ usually doesn’t have the amenities for sure.

[@nikivan]

Great video, thanks for sharing. I usually bring a pair of binoculars for casual stargazing while my telescopes are capturing data. I also bring a manual coffee grinder. Nothing can beat the smell of freshly ground coffee in the morning. :)

[@darkrangersinc]

Binos are a great suggestion, I bring a spotting scope I use for long range shooting it’s 20 to 65x when an 85mm objective, but I’ve yet to purchase a nice set of

[@ritacastil]

What a great episode, with the excellent quality that Ryan has accustomed us!

[@washer689]

Another great video from Ryan! I’m reminded of how pilots ALWAYS use a checklist for every phase of flight. Equipment lists are invaluable. Print them out, check each item off as you’re packing up the vehicle, and do it AGAIN as you’re loading up to go home (ie, makes sure you have everything you came with!). Pelican cases are awesome, and another lower cost alternative are the cases from Harbor Freight, but beware you may be sacrificing qualities like waterproofing and such. Lastly, be sure to tell someone where you’re going, and when you’re expected back home.

[@darkrangersinc]

Great analogy about the pilot list. To be honest what the list really does is it gives you peace of mind and saves you time. Rather than trying to rack your brain and try to remember if you got everything it’s so much easier to just know. Yeah, the ones from Harbor freight are usable for sure. I also found another brand that I reached out to from the firearms community. That’s kind of somewhere in the middle. But they never responded. It’s one of those buy ones, cry once type of things you’re protecting really valuable stuff but I think in general the harbor freight stuff is fine. For my set up, I had a Rubbermaid container and I bought a 4 inch thick layer of foam and just set the mount in that and then left the scope in the box it came in. But it’s nice to be able to stack it all up and it will be OK. I still use the Rubbermaid for my camping stuff. I have it down to two bins and three pelicans. I tossed my backpack with my spare clothes and little odds and ends upfront with me and I’m good to go.

[@briankennedy9439]

Very good info. I'll be using some of your tips. Thanks.

[@d.fresh.750]

Some excellent tips and suggestions! I'll definitely be re-watching before planning my next trip.

[@darkrangersinc]

Yeah, some of the tips around downloading stuff and getting it off-line. I probably should’ve included earlier so people didn’t click off but we’re so used to having cell service. I thought I would remind people that can go away at a dark skies site and it’s actually usually a good sign!

[@travelswiththebeast3337]

Great video, Ryan. I am so lucky living at 9300ft in the Colorado Rockies. Our town is a Bortle 2 so my dark site is only 20 feet out my front door. I love the idea of a good list. I use the iPolar on my mount to do the PA and I plugged my USB cable that I have been using and not joy using it. Fortunately, I only had to go to my home office and get the spare. Would have not been a killer since I could have used the ASIAir+ but include spares of cables, for sure.

[@darkrangersinc]

Thank you! If you have the AA+ you can use that for polar alignment as well you don’t need the ipolar unless thats just your preference… congrats on the Bortle 2 skies. I’m looking to move sometime this year to Bortle 3 or better, so we’ll see.

[@travelswiththebeast3337]

@@darkrangersinc Ryan, that is what I have done, and would do, but the iPolar alignment is so quick compared to the ASIAir+ alignment (and I don’t see any guiding difference) so I use iPolar. That way only takes me a minute or two, start to finish.

[@andesastro]

Awesome Ryan! Thx for the video. Also i would add that light domes from big cities are a thing, so it might be good to check where your target is located. For example if its a northern target, avoid going south from a big city even if it says Bortle 3-4 it might affect your session. If theres no other way its fine too, it will always be better than within the city, its just a suggestion.

[@franks2725]

Thanks for the video, Ryan. My list is a bit longer (specific to my rigs), but you have most items covered. Can’t stress enough to bring as many extra cables as you have room for, in every flavor. One item that popped to mind is extra fuses, particularly if you use cigarette adapters to power gear. I didn’t know they are sometimes contained within the plug itself, fried the one powering the mount (plugging the hand controller into the wrong port, which took a while to troubleshoot), and was fortunately able to repurpose one from another adapter or I would’ve lost an entire weekend trip.

[@darkrangersinc]

100% on the cables. The large pelican that I didn’t open has my asi mini and another 1 gallon Ziplock full of more cables 😂. Power cables are key most folks literally go with one power supply and one power cable and it boggles my mind. That’s one of the reasons I run 2 power supplies on my home rig. I just have them mounted to the two tripod legs that way everywhere I bring my rig I have two power cables, knowing that I theoretically could run it off of one. And then I have two cigarette lighter 12 V that I can run off of each EcoFlow battery. so I have four options to power the rig and a in theory only need one that’s the level of redundancy you want for cables. I get the Pegasus premium USB 3.0 cables and Anker 140w rated USB-C but even the cables will just all of a sudden go bad. Especially the stock ZWO ones Most of those are some of my backups, and never even get unwrapped.

[@franks2725]

@@darkrangersinc Agreed on the redundancy (insurance). Power cables have the additional challenge of having two types of plugs (2.1/2.5), which of course the manufacturers have to use both. I have one bag dedicated to extra power cables, another to Anderson Power Pole connectors, and two for USB cables. I also use the Pegasus cables where I can, but cable management is challenged when I want to use short lengths. Too many devices still require older USB A/B. (and don't get me started on why manufacturers still use USB 2 in their gear!)

[@briankennedy9439]

I also agree about the fuses and cables. I built a battery pack with a 100ah LifePo4 like this one kzbin.info/www/bejne/i56ydHSjfNWBnK8si=m1oe3dWS-UPSCMi4 and have a small ziplock with fuses that I keep in the battery box.

[@darkrangersinc]

@@franks2725 For any usb-c/a I like Anker they make higher quality stuff. I've found 2.1 will pretty much work on everything in the rig. I haven't run into something that won't work with a 2.1. But you may be using something I am not.

[@Si-fp2ij]

Perfect timing Ryan! I’m off to Bortle 1 skies Monday - Wednesday for the first time next week so this is invaluable info. After seeing the video where your lithium battery failed I bought a backup as that is definitely a show stopper as are quite a few of the other tips. I’ve made a list of potential targets for the trip and assume with OSC cameras in a dark sky that most targets will be good, but do you select types of targets that are better suited for dark skies before you leave? Assume dark nebula would be much easier to view under bortle 1 skies. Cheers Si

[@darkrangersinc]

Good luck I’m sure it will go great! And yeah you are exactly right regarding targets. I always pick stuff that doesn’t need Filters because I can always shoot brighter, narrow band targets from the backyard. Trying to shoot broadband targets, things like dark nebula, as you mentioned, and even galaxies. Don’t get me wrong the Narrow band stuff will still look way better, but to me I try to really take advantage of not using a filter and letting all of the natural color shine through

[@Si-fp2ij]

@@darkrangersinc Hope the clouds stay away and I will be spoilt for choice 🤞🏻 I think I’m also gonna take a tarp or two to act as a wind break/barrier in case the wind picks up out in those open spaces

[@briankotak403]

Great video Ryan. I am totally spoiled as I live in a rural B2 sky location and my cottage at the lake is also B2. I run nature photography/aurora/wildlife tours at a B1 fly-in lodge 70 air miles south of the Manitoba/Nunavut border (check that location out on Google Maps!). 200 miles from the nearest road (and it isn’t much of a road). Nothing around but the lodge. The skies are simply magical. I have a 150mm MAK up there to show our guests Jupiter and Saturn and am hoping to bring my astrophotography rigs up there to get our guests doing some DSO imaging. B1 skies are mind blowing and well worth the effort to get to (my case is a little extreme!). Dr B from Manitoba, Canada 🇨🇦

[@darkrangersinc]

That’s awesome. We’re looking to do one or two star parties for the community this year. We have a southern location in New Mexico with the lost sky ranch. It would be cool to have a second spot for a northern version, how many folks can your facility handle?