Do you ever feel like you are running out of targets?

I have been in astrophotography for 13 years. One thing that I do is to keep adding to old data. For example, taking M101 in 2014, 2019 and 2020 and then combining everything is lots of fun. Besides that, I always find something new to image. A medium 102mm refractor is always your friend :) as you can take many many images.

regards

-EZ

qcernie · Jan 23, 2026 at 05:44 AM

When you run out of targets you need a bigger scope.

😂

I feared this response.

Try reimaging targets with different framing / settings.

After 10 years, one might think new targets get slim, but the weather sees to it that this is not the case. Many images I have started, only to not be able to finish because the target sets while I wait for the clouds/Moon/wind/smoke/bad seeing to clear out. This combined with having several different scopes with different framing and FOV potential ensures that targets won’t grow slim anytime soon.

Hi Paul,

I started doing astrophotography almost 30 years ago… back when mounts were manual, focus was manual, cameras used film, and “automation” meant you had a notebook and a lot of patience. Eyepiece projection included, for extra masochism.

And somehow, my interest has never faded.

Yes, the list of targets is finite. But the ways you can capture them absolutely aren’t. There’s always a different focal length to try, a new filter strategy, a better camera, a better mount, better guiding, better processing, better weather (okay… maybe not that last one).

At least for me, it stopped being about “checking off” objects a long time ago. It’s not a stamp collection. It’s about revisiting the same target and asking: can I extract more detail, more depth, more subtlety than last time? Different data, different techniques, different ideas. The object is the same; you aren’t.

And yes, sometimes the solution is new gear. Sometimes it’s just better skills. Often, it’s both. My wallet (and my wife) both have opinions about this hobby, and they’re… mixed. But that’s the price of admission.

Short version: the sky doesn’t get old. We just get better at seeing it.

Clear skies… and may your credit card forgive you… eventually. 😆

The best cure I can think of is to rig up for imaging at longer focal lengths. Going from say 600mm to 1200mm will make a lot of smaller targets worthwhile (think galaxies). Also, parts of commonly seen targets suddenly become really interesting. Even at 900mm, there’s a a bunch of different framing options for something as common as M31. At 1200mm there’s even more.

I’m not talking about imaging all of M-31, just selected portions.

It’s a data point…

I actually feel more I’m running out of time, surely not targets…

Well, I just do not know where to look for. I only have the Northern hemisphere starting at about +5° to +8° as my kind neighbours planted some palm trees just on the limits of the houses and all my south hemisphere is gone.

Now that I joined Astrobin looking at the images I get more inspiration as before.

Thanks

I have been imaging for well over a decade, and I am always looking for something new to image. I search AB and many of the online sites for images of others. Once I find a target that interest me I get on Stellarium and design my own composition, I never just copy others.

Once I have a composition worked out, I screen capture it and add that and all the other pertinent information to AstroPlanner and print out a card and put it in a card holding box, all sorted by RA, this keeps everything in order and easily searchable. I do this on a continual basis. I must have about 250 imaging prospect that I haven’t attempted yet.

It is time consuming, but time is something that I have, and I’m always looking for something to do to fill it.

📷 Card.jpg