Astrophotography 2020

I started doing astrophotography this year, these pictures I took myself. I used a digital camera, a telescope, and a star tracker to take these pictures. Each picture is a combination of hundreds of digital photos, taking about 3 to 5 hours each night, on the top of a hill away from the city light pollution. The deep-space objects being photographed are too dark to see with human eyes, but become visible to a camera if you gather enough light for several hours.

Click on the images here to see the larger resolution version.

Andromeda Galaxy


We live in the Milky Way Galaxy. The Andromeda Galaxy is the closest galaxy to us. It is approximately 2.5 million light-years away and 220000 light-years wide.

North American Nebula


A nebula is made of gasses in space, either before a star is born, or after a star has exploded. The North American Nebula is named as such because its shape looks like North America. The right side of this photo looks almost like sand with so many stars. It’s difficult for us to comprehend just how many stars are out there.

Pleiades Star Cluster


Also known as the “Seven Sisters”. A beautiful cluster of bright stars that’s easy to spot in the night sky. The nine brightest stars of the Pleiades are named for the Seven Sisters of Greek mythology, along with their parents.

Veil Nebula


The Veil Nebula is a cloud of heated and ionized gas, remnants of a supernova.

Heart Nebula


This is a heart shaped nebula, composed mainly of glowing ionized hydrogen gas.

Technical Details

My equipment is rather novice, with a cheap camera and a very short telescope. I am quite happy with my first few images taken with this setup.

  • Camera: Sony a6000, 20MP APS-C sensor, modified to remove the IR and UV filter (commonly known as “modified for astrophotography”)
  • Telescope: William Optics – RedCat 51 – 250mm focal length
  • Star Tracking Mount: Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer
  • Software: DeepSkyStacker, Siril, Affinity Photo

It’s a very zen out here. No cell signal, no internet. Just me, alone in the night, far away from the city.