Welcome to our Astrophotography Blog: — Gunnison Valley Observatory

…finding Photons from the Unseen

Whirlpool Galaxy - Messier 51 (M51) - located in the constellation of Canes Venatici
(imaged and processed by David Clayton)

Have you ever looked up at the stars, in awe of the beauty of the Milky Way and the multitude of twinkling stars, and wondered what beauty is hidden from the naked eye? We have all seen the amazing pictures from the Hubble Space Telescope, and now the James Webb Space Telescope and if you're like me, you want to see those objects for yourself. I saw my first Deep Sky Object (DSO) in a science textbook in the third grade. It was a picture of the Horsehead nebula in the constellation of Orion. At that age, I wondered how a horse could get up in the sky. That was probably the life changing event that sent me down the path of science and to a future career as an engineer.

Horsehead Nebula (Dark Nebula) - Barnard 33 (B33) - in the constellation of Orion
(imaged and processed by David Clayton)

This Astrophotography blog will discuss what it takes for you to participate in this amazing hobby. Yes, you can do this and I bet you have what you need to get started tonight, assuming you have clear skies and a cell phone with a decent camera. That’s right, a modern cell phone, like a Samsung S21 or newer or an iPhone 12 or newer is your path to photographing the night sky, particularly wide field or “Milky Way” photography. Modern Android, iPhone or Google Pixel cell phones have a camera and built-in capability in the included camera app to make decent images. These cell phone cameras have “Night Mode” that will allow taking exposures, up to 30 seconds, when the phone is placed on a tripod or up to 10 seconds handheld. After taking the shot, you can use the photo editing app, or an app like Lightroom or Photoshop to enhance and finish the image.

The following image was taken with a iPhone 15 Pro Max during a public viewing night at the Gunnison Valley Observatory in early July 2024. Single 30-second image processed in phone using the included image editing software. Note that the red light is from safety lighting in the Telescope Garden at the Observatory.

Single exposure image of the Milky Way - July 5, 2024 - Gunnison Valley Observatory - iPhone 15 Pro Max - 30 seconds (on tripod in night mode).
(Imaged and processed by David Clayton)

Milky Way photography with a cell phone is possible because the wide-angle cameras in modern cell phone can equal or exceed the number of pixels in many digital cameras (DSLR). My iPhone 15 Pro Max’s main camera has 48 Mega-pixels while the sensors in my DSLRs only have 24 Mega-pixels. While cell phones can take excellent Milky Way images, they are not ideal for moving into more deep sky objects as their telephoto camera have a much lower resolution and have other shortfalls over digital cameras or dedicated astrophotography cameras/telescopes.

So, that is a preview of one of the areas we will be discussing here on this blog. Future blog posts will cover some general information on astronomy as it relates to Astrophotography, types of targets, general discussions about gear (don’t expect detailed reviews of equipment) and posts on how to shoot and process your images.

Welcome to the exciting nighttime hobby of Astrophotography and hoping you may always have Clear Skies!