Spring and summers offer us warm temperatures and the ideal time to look up and enjoy the night sky! While stargazing in itself is fun, technology has made it easy and accessible for many to capture the night sky with astrophotography.
Astrophotography is a field in which you photograph astronomical phenomena, events and objects, and even parts of the night sky. Depending on the technology, you can photograph auroras, Moon, planets, comets, constellations, Milky Way, other galaxies, star forming regions and more! One of the most common objects to capture without fancy, expensive tools is our own Milky Way galaxy. In this how-to guide, let’s learn how to photograph the Milky Way.
Pre-planning
No matter what type of astronomical objects, events or phenomena you want to photograph, you have to do some planning ahead of time. There are a few simple tools and techniques you can use to ensure you take sharp and elegant photos.
To plan your image, you will need to collect information on the following:
Tools
Now that you have completed your pre-planning, you can move on to collecting your tools.
There are some tools you will definitely need, including:
Some other tools that are nice to have but not mandatory include:
Settings
In order to collect the most light from the faint stars and dust in the galaxy, there are few aspects of basic photography you will need to know. To understand the basics, imagine your camera is like a window with shutters that open and close. Let’s explore some settings of your camera (or window and shutters), but feel free to experiment and observe how the image changes as you change the settings:
More Important Tips:
And there you have it! You are all set to plan your trip to the darker skies and capture the core of the Milky Way this summer! Don’t forget to be creative and find interesting objects you can include in the shots. We wish you clear skies ahead!
Share your Milky Way photographs on social media and tag us @GirlsInScience on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. We’d love to see your summer adventures to the stars!