Photographing a BLACK HOLE With My 700mm Telescope (Is The ZWO ASI183MC Pro Still Good in 2024?)

I've always been absolutely fascinated by black holes and the idea for this video was long in the making. Inspired heavily by Christopher Nolan's Interstellar, as well as the many other KZbin videos of astrophotographers capturing evidence of supermassive black holes. I wanted to get this video out a while ago, but I really wanted to take things to the next level. I've had no formal instruction with Blender and I'm completely self-taught so this was a pretty intense journey considering the difficulties of creating these shots as well as the massive (borderline insane lol) rendering times. The renders and photos in this video are far from perfect, but I'm really pleased with what I was able to come up with in this backyard astrophotography experiment. Enjoy!
Instagram: @midnight.films

[@SKYST0RY]

This is a really incredible video, both the way you present the photographic imagery and the CGI.

[@mdnt_astro]

@@SKYST0RY thanks so much!

[@hattershouse710]

Not sure how I found this video but glad I did. The editing is on point too.

[@mdnt_astro]

@@hattershouse710 thank you for the kind words and I’m glad you enjoyed the video! I have a lot more cool stuff coming soon!

[@chrisruthford4492]

Man you're killing it, your production quality and imagery are exceptional. Makes me want to buy an Astro camera and another refractor.

[@mdnt_astro]

@@chrisruthford4492 thank you so much! I definitely put a lot of effort and time into these videos so hearing that makes me happy. I’m actually thinking of taking a break from the astro cameras and trying some old school DSLR/mirrorless stuff just to see what I can get out of it. Love the astro cameras but I think it would be more fun to push a stock camera to its limits. 🤔

[@ekalbkr]

Nice video. Excellent approach! Your humble and sincere attitude is nice to hear. Keep up the good work!

[@mdnt_astro]

@@ekalbkr I appreciate that. I’ll never pretend to know everything, I just enjoy sharing the journey. Thanks for watching!

[@Shin0numa]

I appreciate your videos!! Great Work, there is nothing more to say!

[@mdnt_astro]

@@Shin0numa thanks so much, I really appreciate that!

[@romeodf]

this is spectacular Nick, str8 eye candy 😍

[@mdnt_astro]

@@romeodf I appreciate that, dude. Definitely took some serious work but stoked with the outcome!

[@einzwei3364]

Wow what a great Video I'm really Happy to have found it. The CGI and the Images are just super amazing.

[@mdnt_astro]

@@einzwei3364 thank you! That means a lot after how much work I put into these videos.

[@DarkLightAstro]

Your production is fantastic. Keep it up! Your channel will blow up someday soon.

[@mdnt_astro]

@@DarkLightAstro thanks so much, I really hope it does!

[@johanneskepler7503]

this is rad, nicely done

[@mdnt_astro]

@@johanneskepler7503 thank you!

[@appelflap9785]

this black is hole is way bigger than 27.000 times our sun as u said

[@mdnt_astro]

@@appelflap9785 you’re probably right, but it was very hard to wrap my head around a lot of the data. I got that number from taking 24 billion miles (diameter of M87*) divided by 865,370 miles (diameter of our sun). I couldn’t find any where that had an exact size comparison to our sun so I tried to figure it out for myself.

[@cryhavoc38]

5:16 what astro tool is this? thanks

[@mdnt_astro]

@@cryhavoc38 Stellarium! It’s free and super useful for planning shots. You can input your camera(s) and telescope to get an idea of what a target will look like with your gear. Very useful tool!

[@thisissparta3965]

Howdy Nick 🖐️. Another fantastic production. Your rendering is awesome. I remember about 16yrs ago I taught myself Cinema 4D and Adobe After Effects so I really appreciate the work that goes into the creation and rendering time. What are you using to generate the star fields for your motion images of your nebulas and galaxy images? Keep the channel going buddy. I always look forward enthusiastically to your next production. Respect from 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

[@mdnt_astro]

@@thisissparta3965 thank you! This one took a lot longer than I wanted, but it was really fun to put together. I’m sure this project would’ve taken less time and been a little less frustrating if I had a computer more suited for 3D work, but my MacBook Pro did pretty well. For those fly-through shots, I’m using After Effects. The background nebula/galaxy is a separate layer from the natural stars in the image and I put them at different distances from the virtual camera to create a slight parallax effect. And on top of that, I use a particle system in AE to generate some of the closer stars that move past the camera to add depth to everything. I think the key is separating the natural stars and subject to create that subtle movement underneath the fake stars so everything feels a bit less flat. Thanks again for the kind words, and I definitely have more coming!

[@thisissparta3965]

@@mdnt_astro lol all I used at the time was a Dell Inspiron laptop with 2 gig of RAM for learning After Effects but having it mirrored at the time on a 50" plasma was a great help. Yeah had a feeling you were using After Effects. The particle generator is what I also used to create star fields. It took me several months to start mastering those programmes but it always helps if you start with a passion for what you are doing. That I can tell you have. Until next time 👍

[@alexandrorodrigez]

You are begginer? Uh, really? I do not think so.

[@mdnt_astro]

@@alexandrorodrigez I’ve been doing this for a while, but definitely lack the skills compared to many others so I’d still consider myself a beginner haha