How To Find ANY Deep Sky Object

[@Wheeljack678]

Here we are, with expensive cameras, expensive adapters, dongles and allsorts of fancy stuff that's supposed to make this easier - Along comes a 13 year old and goes "why don't you just take a photo with your phone and upload the screenshot...?" So simple, yet so effective. Genius. I love it!

[@antdx316]

and in the future people are going to be like, "how come people don't rest in peace more often?"

[@PafMedic]

@@antdx316 😂😂😂😂Omg

[@Muesli711]

This channel is pure quality - sincere thanks Nico!

[@djphild]

Thank you, sir. I asked about this during your video where you built your own $30 tracker and you said you will revisit this. I appreciate a man of his word. Cheers!

[@siberx4]

That "taking a picture of the camera screen" trick for plate solving is equal parts horrifying and fascinating.

[@JungleEddie]

My last time out I got a great image of not the Heart Nebula.

[@deltahat880]

good job not getting it!

[@enidrajm]

😂 You too?

[@Matt_10203]

I always use the little triangle/arrow of stats at its centre to position it.

[@wonderkris]

I got half rosette :) … then I recognized the star pattern the next time but the moon was stronger. Now I know the reason why everyone doesn’t get into astrophotography … takes equipment, effort and wait for at least some reasonable seeing condition … fun and keeps you coming back to improve though

[@PafMedic]

@@wonderkris ,Amen To That,But Thank God For People Like Nico,And A Number Of Others For Having The Ability To Break This Down Into A Much More Simple Process

[@dgdave2673]

Wow that last trick to take a pic of the DSLR pic ! Insane 😅 gonna try that tonight. Canon 50D with a Tokina wide angle lens, or could use a fast 50 F1.4 also .

[@timjordan1559]

Love the tip about taking a photo of your screen. I’m going to start doing that. Much quicker than my current workflow

[@joebiscoeiv747]

I just spent two hours trying to find m81 lost so much time...this was much needed thanks!

[@s.l.astronomy6887]

I was searching for this exact video, thank you. And clear skies.😊🔭

[@christinejustice164]

i always remember how long it took to find m33 the triangulum galaxy the surface brightness was so low, but the galaxy is massive. washed out by lights in my neighborhood and having small scope did not help anyway i like your videos nebula,photos ... keep up the good work

[@sternenstorch4556]

Brilliant idea - cell phone connected to the camera and then an astro programm on the cell phone. I ordered a small ball head mount with a camera shoe (20€), connected my cell phone holder to it and used my SkySafari Pro. It,s nearly like a goto to. I made a picture of the Markajans chain with my Canon and my 200 mm objectiv, without any problem. Thank you, GREAT!

[@adammitchell7379]

Amazing video Nico! To complement the star hopping process, especially when it's light polluted and hard to see stars - I mounted a phone to the hotshoe of the DSLR. Using Stellarium or similar, then polar align not only the tracker but the DSLR and phone. So all three! This is obviously a rough alignment for the phone and camera. Once ready, pop M81 or object into the search of Stellarium, and turn the camera to where the phone is directing. I'm only one or two frames out when plate solving in astrometry. It's a system that seems to work when it's difficult to see....anything.

[@philadams9254]

That last tip is insane… can’t believe it actually works 😳

[@JG-hv1co]

Hi Nico from West London (Bortle 7-8). I was imaging last night for only the fourth serious attempt and thought I would catch up on your videos while my camera did its thing only to find you were talking about M81 which is what I was imaging!!!! I have to say your videos are very helpful and I'm pleased to say I caught over 100 lights at 90 secs last night all in focus having finally started using a bhatinov mask. Now I just need to get to grips with processing which I am slowly especially since watching your 4 hour critique video with lots of helpful hints in. Right, four hours sleep and have to work now!!!! Keep up the good work and clear skies. Jeff.

[@lupo2824]

This is so awesome! Planning to dive into astrofotography as a beginner, the need to find anything in the sky by just oldstyle starhopping - without any automated help - was just about to keep me completely off. So thanks a lot. This video is just fantastic!

[@laurentldoldi840]

Awesome! Yesterday I struggled 2 hours in the night to find M31 with my 200mm (300 mm equivalent), no way! Even using PlanitPro. I will try again after seing this excellent video.

[@Mike-lh4wn]

This is a whole new level. I have a hotshoe mounted reflex sight which is nice, and run APT on a laptop to platesolve. But I really like the cellphone mount and platesolving straight from the camera. I already have an L-bracket and a cell phone bracket, but never thought of putting them together for this purpose (duh). Thanks for sharing. Really like the workflow.

[@adrianioanmunteanu3189]

Does APT solve like astrometry.net? Do you have any tutorial on youtube about it? For newbies like me

[@tidymetal1]

You can also use OTG cable that lets you control camera with your phone. There are few apps that cost around $15 but you get liveview on phone, focus control, intervalometer,... And you can transfer small jpg files to another phone where you upload them for plate solving. It also makes finding focus easier since phone screens are way better than cheap dslr cameras.

[@cwitt8280]

So very helpful! Great teacher. Am new to trying to shoot nebulae.. By accident got a shot of the LMC last January while doing a milkyway. After seeing some of your videos tried successfully to get the bug nebula, again while waiting for my milkyway lights to be done (different rig). But this week had trouble finding Andromeda galexy. Probably combo of light pollution and bad star navigation. Will definitely try the stellarium hopping tech next. Then sky safari system. Thanks so much for the tips!

[@Andros_Gaming]

just got back from trying to shoot andromeda and failed couldn't locate it, my issue is the live view on my camera is so hard to see stars in and he said that andromeda was "easy" haha

[@hkanderful]

Thank you! Thank you so much for sharing this video. The Plate Solving page is just great. Works like a charm... Need clear skies! Keep up the amazing work! All the best from Norway

[@3v3lynd4]

Thanks a lot! Finally someone explained this for beginners… thanks thanks thanks

[@robb7342]

How could I have missed this - great video, just what I needed.

[@richardgoone3438]

Thank you so much Sir .. I would never forget your tutorial in my life

[@fabiocardoso7178]

THANK YOU, DUDE. AND THANK JESUS FOR CREATING YOU. THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT I NEEDED!!!!

[@deltahat880]

great and topical, some of those galaxies are pretty tough to nail down at 1000mm equivalent or tighter. I've been using a telescope lens that zooms between 420to 800 occasionally with a 2x converter, when i use it, I find my object at 420mm, lock down all my adjusters and get it tracking, add my convertor, adjust focus, then start to zoom out, and refocus as i go. If i'm using a physically shorter lens, i'll lock the camera down on the tracker and find my object with a wider lens(usually faster too) , then swap lenses.

[@kamilkp]

Oh man, this part indeed has got to be the hardest haha. I recently tried taking a photo of M51 and it took me A LOOOONG time to find it - I almost bailed on it. But I did in the end to patience is key. And pattern recognition :) Great tip with taking a photo of the LCD screen - loved it haha

[@evangeloslogaras9792]

Man you are an incredible teacher. Thanks for all your videos.

[@masterthelens]

I've just got a Sky Watcher Star Adventurer and this is the perfect video I needed to go out and try/learn how to use it and take images.

[@AndreH3d]

I’ve been using this plate solving hack with my Star Adventurer and it’s been very helpful, can’t thank you enough, I also rigged a cellphone holder to the side of my a6400 small rig to quickly point in the right direction using some app like Stellarium mobile or Sky Guide, and let me say that if you align well the cellphone holder to be perpendicular to your camera it has been really accurate with the iPhone 11+, with a Samsung S7 it suffers and drifts, than if I think I’m on spot with bright monitor, I do the plate solving, and adjust, if I’m not sure I do some star hopping, it’s been a success so far! I taking pictures of my camera screen, works everytime

[@AstroCRT]

I’ve been looking at something like this for a very long time and it’s nice to have finally found it, this is gonna help so much for my next picture

[@carlosrojasrodriguez930]

Hello, if you are in a fairly dark location, what works for me is to review the star hopping from a very bright star to my object, and then do star hopping holding the camera connected to my ballhead and viewing through the viewfinder of the dslr. You can actually see a lot of stars, and a real time retro of the precision of the movements of your hand. I find my objects in less than a minute. Of course then check with a 10 seccond exposure at high iso

[@carlosrojasrodriguez930]

Hope someone benefits from this

[@NebulaAviation1]

Thats amazing that you can see m81 and m82 with only a 1 second exposure at iso 10000. Ill need to try those two sometime soon.

[@adonis6766]

Well done, I've been a fan for a long time and i love your videos. Much love from Macedonia

[@kiscsigabee]

The last two nights I was struggling to find some objects. Thanks for your hints, I am going to try them by the next occasion.

[@stubrompton7950]

Thank you, Nico, I just purchased a second hand Meade LXD75 SN8 after a few months of not having anything, so this is going to really help in learning if I'm on target or not.

[@martrich1098]

Nico, I've got to say that is such a useful vlog for me! Thank you so much. I have been dabbling in Astrophotography for several years, having used large telescopes in the past, and now messing around with DSLR/tracker and small scopes/lenses, even so I still have great difficulty finding targets. Recently I failed to locate Markarians chain, I was off by one frame width - I'm in a heavily light polluted area so the visible stars are few and far between - its quite frustrating as you know. Thank you again for such a useful video!

[@LuisFJA]

I love this channel thank you sir 🙏🏽 keep it up Nico!! I’m just a young 16 year old getting into astrophotography

[@aniket789]

Thanks Niko for this. You are a saviour

[@AstroCloudGenerator]

That's great info Nico. Just when I'm feeling like it's only me that misses targets you get me right back out there. Thanks

[@chrismofer]

wow i didnt know about the nova plate solver it's a great tool thanks!

[@nitinbabu5100]

Great stuff! A while back I used my mobile camera to take some night sky pictures on a trip. The place had very less light pollution so i gave it a try. The image was a bit fuzzy but it did show some starz and colors were great. I tried the website you mentioned in your video and i got to know that i had triangulum andromeda in my picture!

[@hbmike47]

Wow.. nice plate solve site. No calibration needed to do the plate solve.. that's too crazy!

[@marcusa3177]

Good stuff on this one, especially the plate solving part. As much as I love star-hopping, there really are targets where you have to do leaps instead of hops due to light pollution; I'm looking at you Rosette Nebula from Betelguese. One thing I'd like to add for star hopping: if your camera supports focus peaking (that blinking red/yellow guide when you manually focus) turn it on in highlights mode (ie the screen will show you over-exposed spots in the frame). The sensor can detect the stars even if we can't really see them and marks them as overexposed, so in a sea of black they really stand out. An additional benefit of this is that it's a good focusing guide - just focus your lens until the highlight on the stars are at their smallest and you're done.

[@NebulaPhotos]

Great idea! Either focus peaking or 'zebras' should work for that.

[@nihonsuki]

Great timing! I had just tried to find the Pinwheel Galaxy, which was invisible due to light pollution in a 30 second exposure. I've been using a combination of star hopping and using the difference in coordinates (RA and DEC) between the known star and my target. However, at high magnification I still sometimes end up too far from my target to know where I am. The plate solver is just what I need! Thanks!

[@icyxxxxx]

I use this and it’s very helpful. Helped me find whirlpool from a bortle 9

[@junsupark2904]

Thanks for the video nico!!! Honestly you deserve way more subscribers

[@GalaxyArtMedia]

Nice video Nico. Using plate solving can help with orientation on the night sky and know better where to image!

[@elbagre71]

A beer 🍺 please to this good man !!! AMAZING!!! Just what I needed. You have gained a new subscriber. Thank you! Hi from Mexico.

[@kevinlowenhaupt2737]

Used the “take a picture of your preview window” tip after seeing it on here. Great tip

[@alivia4907]

Thanks for this video. It's exactly what I needed! I was out last night and got frustrated bc my phones compass was way off and I couldn't get it close to normal. But the laser mixed with that software will help me out a bunch! Thanks again.

[@itsfahys]

Wow that is just a great way to find your object. Still a bit advanced for me. I came across another method recently which ive yet to test out and was used for finding objects ina Large APM Binocular Telescope. He used Stelarium to get the AZ/ALT co ordinates and purchased an electronic Inclinator which he has attached to the Binoculars via dovetail mount. He then Moves the Binoculars to the ALT using the Inclinator to get a pretty accurate ALT position. He has his Smarthone attached to the Mount and then just moves to teh AZ position using a Free Compass App on the phone. Finally uses a Smart Phone Star App to look at what Stars are near his object and if they match what he sees in the Bino Scope then he knows hes on the correct object. Only uses this for finding Faint observing targets.

[@daenu]

I used to do the same as you describe with astronomy.net, but switched to a faster routine. I do need a bit more hardware... a guide scope/camera plus an AsiAir. It is still a very lightweight setup, but much more comfortable and faster. Also, no Internet connections is needed. 1) Attach a guide camera and guide scope to an L-bracket 2) I roughly align the DSLR and the guide scope/camera to a bright star, they now see the same patch of the sky 3) Then I point the camera to where I think my target is 4) Let AsiAir (controlled by mobile phone) do the plate solving (takes only a few seconds) and repeat, until target is found

[@justindame]

Oh this is perfect! Thanks for this video Nebula Photos! I always learn so much when I watch your videos.

[@dougcooper4917]

Excellent Tutorial Video. Lost Me. Very Complicated. I Will Watch It Several More Times To See If I Can Understand It Better. Thank You.

[@Brik2246]

Cool video I am so hyped for to night it's the first clear night in months and this will help loads

[@toddnoseworthy1447]

Another awesome video for all; beginners and those of us who always think more and better gear is the solution. Lol.

[@astrojourneyuk]

I needed this video a year ago. 😂😂😂 I was trying to find the North American nebula in July last year and completely missed it. 🙈

[@olivierdamiron7279]

Thanks for sharing Nico those are some super cool tips to locate subjects.

[@stefandietmann5120]

Another tip from my side, because I was struggeling so much with adding an H-alpha filter and targets become even dimmer. 1. I set focus to my lens with Ha filter in the camera (750D) on a bright star. 2. I take out the Ha filter, replace it with an CLS or L2 filter and use the methods Nico mentioned above to find my target. 3. After finding and framing it, I again put the Ha filter back in and start shooting. Cheers Stfan

[@swagatadutta1658]

Thank you for this one..!! 😃 This happened to me when I tried finding Andromeda galaxy last time, it was not visible in heavy light pollution..so I couldn't just be sure where I am pointing at..

[@raphaelcoelho1557]

I use diferent approach. I get the alt/azt at a software and use a bussula to align the tripod with north. Then using a tripod head with angle scales I set it to the values from the software. Then I use a zoom wide angle lens and high iso shot to check if what I want is in the frame. Then a fine adjust the desired object to the center of the lens. Then I change the lens to a telefoto one and take other shot. If everything is ok I reduce the iso to the target value. Through the viewfinder and the lens in the correct position I memorize the pattern of stars which tells me the right position to realign after a certain time between a sequence of shots.

[@aaronsippy2171]

The timing of this video is just weird.... I have been following your channel for a few months now but I only just THIS week have spent hours trying to learn better ways to find targets with my star adventurer and new telescope. So this was very useful thank you!

[@Marcosguimaraesdias]

Amazing. outstanding explanation. Hats off.

[@iyoutome]

Thanks for sharing. We hope to compare your work with Sandra's, Dave's and others to see if this represents Lat/Lon and also which luminaries cause the phenomena. Peace love and cheers!

[@mygad]

I understood that video by golly which is brilliant. Which means the explanation is brilliant.

[@grafix1980]

Thanks alooot like seriously this is what i was exactly looking for

[@4auswanderer]

Very very nice video and nice links. Thank you very much. Need to find a link to the The StarFinder Mount for the green laser here in UK....

[@cakethecrazy]

I happened to be trying to find Bode’s when I found this video.. what a life saver!

[@MrBlueSky1987]

Dang it, I should have watched your video before taking 3 hours worth of exposure last friday night, just to notice I'm 6° off from M81 + M82 :D now I'm smarter for the next session :)

[@olivierbriand7926]

Thanks for all this explanations ! very usefull !

[@andreaiorio2162]

Very useful tutorial! Thank you

[@avt_astro206]

Great Video!! I do Like The Method of plate solving, Especially fo Visual Observation, I use a Smartphone app SkySafari Calibrated with my Telescope (so called PushTo), as A Finder. This Helps a Lot to find DSOs, Especially for me In a Light Pollutes Backyard!!

[@anuranjan0101]

Great video...This was something i needed... Great video.. in my Nikon D7200 wifi helps mobile work as view finder so that i dnt hav to bend my neck to see the camera screen which unfortunately is non articulating

[@SteveZodiac777]

Very useful - thank you!

[@flexable9256]

Thanks for the video, that was helpful.

[@BrajendraVikramSingh]

This is so much helpful! Thank you!

[@user-dt4ut6ni9m]

Alternatively, if you can connect your dslr to a lap top, the image can be almost instantly plate solved using a program like KStars/Ekos.

[@tankaan]

very nice tutorial, thank you! you ended a huge misery for me, also great tip at the end :)

[@mattsvids1]

You have saved this hobby for me, now that it’s Galaxy Season I’ve been struggling to get anything.. almost didn’t want to go out at all recently.. but will definitely give this a go! Now I just need to improve my editing skills, got 2 hours worth of Rosette I can’t do anything with at the moment.

[@ianjamesd]

Great video, thanks! I feel like my comments on the Andromeda tutorial may have been a slight inspiration 😅

[@chezteuf]

Hello great video I also like to use apps like sky. little feedback, beware of certain phone cases. once I couldn't find the object I was looking for, the app showed me all upside down. the manager, the magnet hidden in the shell of my phone Chris from France;)

[@shraddhapai]

Such a useful video; thank you for making it! It's a struggle to stay portable and keep budgets low but target-finding is a real video. How do you know when SkySafari 6 Pro is on sale? Do you just check periodically and how often does it happen? Thanks again.

[@ashimayed8013]

just failed to find the absolute common target, the Orion nebula. was taking pictures of the belt using a 300mm lens thinking it was in it, only to realise it is much down of the belt. hope this video helps!

[@ChaoticOrcPaladin]

Super awesome and helpful as always. Thanks!!

[@alanhat26]

Very nice indeed thank you for sharing

[@InMusic47]

Helping with the algorithm. Thanks for the premium content

[@bradgmitchell]

Excellent video! I know you don't recommend the L-bracket/Camera holder setup but what particular screw are you using to attach the holder to the bracket? Very informative channel, keep up the great work!

[@NebulaPhotos]

1/4" 20 with a socket head, definitely my most used screw for photography and astrophotography, so i have them in many sizes. I just happened to notice my L-bracket had a convenient tapped hole there, and already had the phone bracket, so this contraption came together quickly for the demo. This is the phone bracket: amzn.to/3BWTwsp

[@Kyle_Hubbard]

Hi Nico, really enjoy all your videos after stumbling over your channel a few months ago now I believe. You share a lot of great information and I'm grateful for it. I don't know if you can help me with this, perhaps you might even consider making a video on it. Something I'm struggling to find out is how I find out the size of an object for framing. What I mean by this is if my lens or telescope is the right focal length to properly frame an object. It's a great annoyance having to individually search and find out what focal length each object is. The other things I've struggled with is finding out what each DSO emits. I get a majority of them output Ha but knowing what each object emits and how much would be extremely helpful but I don't know how I would find out such information.

[@NebulaPhotos]

Check out here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/op6lk5yDmNBnmtk and the free tool I'm using is this one: www.blackwaterskies.co.uk/imaging-toolbox/ Should address your question perfectly. I need to update some parts of that video, so keep an eye out for new videos on this subject too!

[@frackcenturion]

star hopping is the best way, learn the night sky 👍🌟

[@BlokeOnAMotorbike]

I use my Canon EOS 2000D tethered via USB to my laptop, live view and quick preview of every shot on a 15.6" screen ftw! Bonus, I still have a wifi connection for instant platesolving!

[@justinedwards4610]

Awesome video. Thanks this will help a lot. I do have one request. I was wondering if you plan on doing a tutorial on blending Milky Way shot with a landscape on gimp. Thanks!

[@rtumkur]

This is such a useful video since I just got a Star Tracker. Thank you so much!

[@robinwinsor4392]

Great tips! Thanks.

[@vineetgarg989]

Thanks Nico, I am using Astrometry.net for platesolving and framing my object but never used or checked that universal telescope view, how you identified the bottom of sensor, it may be top one, I usually do by comparing pattern of star in dslr and in Nova.Astrometry and then judge the orientation and later move dslr accordingly. I am using 7D mark II and use 400mm f5.6L prime to click galaxies. Excellent video and I can relate it to my style of Astrophotography

[@jbflores01]

Great tutorial! …as always!

[@MountainFisher]

I use my binoculars and atlas/planisphere to see what I'm looking for, plus I put a goniometer or angle finder on my scope and have it at the angle of my target. It is fairly easy from there with a wide angle eyepiece at the appropriate power and swing it to my target. Find it every time, no computer needed.

[@katelynbeecroft2620]

Well this explains why I couldn’t get the veil nebula to show up in my processing after “imaging” it the other night, tried out the astrometry site with one of my images and I was off by a camera screen 🤦🏻‍♀️. Thanks for this video now I know how to check for 💯 certainty before taking all the photos!

[@MrGuitar50]

Great video Nico!!

[@ronstewtsaw]

I have been developing my technique. I would add that you should get good focus before you start, and refocus when you are getting close. It gets hard when there are no stars visible in live view. I think that picture of your screen trick is brilliant!

[@ZackWolfMusic]

?

[@ZackWolfMusic]

What eye aid do you use?

[@ronstewtsaw]

@@ZackWolfMusic I see where you are going with this. My red dot finder has served me well, but you are going to say that I should put my 50 mm finder scope back on. And you are quite obviously right. The nice thing about the red dot (and green laser too, I imagine) is you get a good sense of which way the scope is pointing. Not so much with a 90-degree finder. At least it is a non-inverting finder, which will make star hopping easier. I spent over an hour framing last week - I think this would have helped a lot. Obvious, but I didn't think it through.

[@ZackWolfMusic]

@@ronstewtsaw Yup now you know to try it next time!

[@ronstewtsaw]

@@ZackWolfMusic As a curmudgeon, this new hobby is giving the grey matter a serious workout. Over and over again, I keep figuring out obvious things after days of doing it the hard way. It's fun/frustrating. It was nice to cheat a little and learn from you and Nico today.

[@adriannowik]

Nico, I do something similar. I use a small telescope Celestron travelscope (400 mm), where I replaced the viewfinder by a laser. And I find the object (o references near the object), I turn on the laser to mark it, and I move my Dlsr with SA to the green laser reference. Because I live at Southern hemisphere and I don’t have a bright Polaris for polar alignment, also I use the same method to mark sigma octantis, and find it with the SA viewfinder for adjust the polar alignment.