Here is a collection of articles and guides I wrote for NightSkyPix, a website dedicated to astronomy and astrophotography.
Categories
Astrophotography
Techniques
Gear
Editing
General Articles About Astronomy & Astrophotography
Astrophotography Glossary – Definition Of The Most Common Astro Terms
Photography is a field that is (in)famous for the number of technical concepts and words used to describe how things work. This can be intimidating for beginners and can leave them confused while wondering what all they read really means. Astrophotography is even worse with an even more difficult vocabulary to get familiar with, and …
What Is The Bortle Scale? Light Pollution Classes Explained
If you are into deep sky astrophotography, you know the struggle of having to juggle with your free time, the absence of a large, bright …
The 20 Most Asked Questions By Beginner Astrophotographers
If you are new to astrophotography, you probably have many questions you want to ask and many doubts you would like to clarify. I spend …
Gear Reviews And Maintenance Guides
Sky-Watcher Az-GTI: A Flexible, Affordable, Portable, And Fully Computerised Mount For Astrophotography
The mount is the most important part of your astrophotography setup. While this is true, one should understand what mount best suits his/her needs. Beginners and enthusiast astrophotographers on a budget often begin their journey to the stars using a star tracker, a lightweight and very basic version of full-grown computerized equatorial mounts.
Sky-Watcher Az-GTI Maintenance: Common Issues & Fixes
The Sky-Watcher Az-GTi is an affordable, compact, lightweight, and fully computerized tracker for amateur observers and astrophotographers. And it was a game-changer in the panorama of entry-level and portable trackers. But because the Az-GTI is built to a budget and the product quality control is variable at best, you may experience some minor difficulties …
Star Adventurer Maintenance: Common Issues & Fixes
The Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer PRO is one of the most common star trackers used among beginner and amateur astrophotographers. I personally own two of these trackers, and like many others, I am very happy with their performances, particularly when considering they are affordable and portable. But being a low-budget mount, some minor compromises in building …
The Ultimate User Guide To The SkyWatcher Star Adventurer PRO
In this Ultimate Guide To The Star Adventurer PRO, I will teach you all you need to know to get the most out of this mount. From the preliminary checks to the proper way to set it up under the stars, Polar Alignment and to troubleshoot it. The SkyWatcher Star Adventurer PRO is a reputable …
Sky-Watcher Evoguide 50ED Hands-On Review
Guiding scopes are small telescopes that are typically used to improve the tracking performances of equatorial mounts when doing astrophotography with long focal telescopes. Usually, …
Sky-Watcher Evoguide 50ED Vs William Optics Redcat Z51 For Wide Field Astrophotography
This is the second and last part of my detailed hands-on review of the Sky-Watcher Evoguide 50ED. In part one, I presented this scope and the many ways it can be used. Now, it is time to answer the questions that keep astrophotographers on a budget like myself awake at night (at least during the …
Light Pollution Filters
Take a walk under the stars on a moonless night and take a look up at the sky: the sky can be very bright with little stars, very dark with plenty of stars, and the Milky Way stretching from horizon to horizon, or something in between.
Apochromatic Vs Achromatic For Astrophotography: Which One is Better?
And so you are shopping for a telescope for astrophotography and you are considering getting a refractor. That’s a good choice: they are popular, basically …
Maksutov Vs Newtonian Telescopes – What’s The Difference?
Maksutov and Newtonian telescopes are popular among night sky enthusiasts. Both types are suitable for beginners and they both have their pros and cons …
Astrophotography Techniques
Camera Settings For Astrophotography
What are the best camera settings for astrophotography? Such a simple question has not a simple answer. The quality of the sky, the specific gear …
Polar Alignment For Astrophotography | Guide On How To Get Your Alignment Set
Particularly with deep-sky astrophotography, to be successful you need to have a good grasp on concepts like Polar Alignment and tracking. When I started with astrophotography, I was at a loss with Polar Alignment: I read articles and asked for info on groups and forums, but ultimately I realized the problem was that too much …
Calibration Frames – Our Guide To Using Lights, Darks, Flats, Dark_Flats, And Bias Frames
Lights?! Darks?! Bias?! Flats?! Dark Flats?! What does all this mean?! If you have ever asked someone about how to improve your astrophotography quality, those …
Star Hopping: A Guide To Manually Frame Every Target In The Night Sky
In this article, I’ll teach you how to quickly frame whatever target you have on your wish list with the Star Adventurer Pro, regardless if you …
Astrophotography Setup Guide For When Out In The Field
We all love to spend time under the stars and peer into wonders the night sky offers us. But astrophotography is a tricky area, and …
How To Photograph The Moon: Ultimate (UPDATED) Guide
Sooner or later, we will all try to get a photo of the Moon, and why shouldn’t we? After all, it seems to be such an easy target …
Software, Apps & Editing
Astrophotography Stacking Software – Which One To Use?
Astrophotography is closer to science than art, and there is no such thing as “getting it right in camera.” This means you cannot simply point …
Astrophotography Image Post-Processing – Which Software Is The Best?
Post-processing astrophotography images is mandatory: you cannot avoid it. It can be a fairly long and technical process, but it is necessary to squeeze out …
Astrophotography Software & Tools Resource List
Being more science than art, in astrophotography, even if you get your camera settings “just right,” you still aren’t exempt from post-processing and editing your …
Polar Scope Align Pro Review
A precise polar alignment (PA) is of utmost importance in deep-sky astrophotography. A requirement that gets more and more stringent with the increase of the …
How To Stack Images Of The Moon (And Planets)
And so it begins: you got some nice shots of the Moon, and now you are hungry for more and better images. After understanding how …
Deep Sky Stacker – A Step By Step Tutorial On How To Use Deep Sky Stacker (DSS)
So you are having fun under the stars taking tons of images of the night sky, and now you need to process them? Whether you …