It was probably discussed many times but……. Just curious if you all have some rules about starting time.
What Time do you start shooting ?
When do you begin shooting.
3% (1 vote)
33% (13 votes)
59% (23 votes)
5% (2 votes)
For broadband i always start at astronomical dusk but with narrowband i sometimes cheat to get more hours in and start at Nautical dusk. I live in Sweden at 58 degrees so my season is now over :(
Concise
Pretty much as soon as I can get a clear enough sub to start framing, then get guiding sorted then its more or less time to pack up 😂. But yeah sooner than I should.
Michael Smithers · May 12, 2026, 08:40 AM
Pretty much as soon as I can get a clear enough sub to start framing, then get guiding sorted then its more or less time to pack up 😂. But yeah sooner than I should.
This is me too 🤣
Typically, astronomical late into astronomical dusk.. however, if im shooting Ha or SII and my target is East. I might start an imaging run a little early to sneak in a bit more integration time, when it comes time to process the data, anything with a unusually high sky background gets culled anyway… if im shooting Lrgb or OIII, I dont start until its DARK.
Michael Smithers · May 12, 2026 at 08:40 AM
Pretty much as soon as I can get a clear enough sub to start framing, then get guiding sorted then its more or less time to pack up 😂. But yeah sooner than I should.
Pretty much what happened to me last night. Astro dusk was at 10:26pm. 9:30 I take everything outside,balance the rig, polar align, watch the stars until 10:15 then hit the start button. The rig slews and center, autofocus runs, guiding calibration starts, clouds come in, guiding calibration fails, I wait 30 minutes, look above to see nothing but clouds, bring everything back inside and go sob in a corner.
Well written Respectful Engaging
The end of astronomical dusk for me. If I start too early I’ll end up culling those frames because of low star counts anyway so it really isn’t worth it. The time leading up to sequence start that is better spent with prep work, checking collimation, getting a focus starting point, cooling the camera, making flats.
Concise Engaging
For DSO’s I start getting set up at civil dusk (tripod & scope out to cool down, run power cables to rig etc).
Might start taking flats and dark flats around beginning of nautical night so I can start polar alignment and guiding on or even before astronomical dusk.
Weather permitting I will generally run all the way up to dawn (yes I know!- but I can switch everything off and pack up in light)).
I’ll inspect light subs on PixInsight afterwards for usefulness and discard as required. Job done.
For BB I’m generally taking about 35 minutes to setup and start imaging. NB usually a bit longer, about 45 minutes (longer if guiding or focus gremlins need chased away).
Well written Helpful Respectful Concise Engaging
If I try to eke out every last minute of “darkness” I lose a lot of subs to satellites. So I generally don’t bother until well into astronomical twilight.
Well written Concise Engaging
Michael Smithers · May 12, 2026, 08:40 AM
Pretty much as soon as I can get a clear enough sub to start framing, then get guiding sorted then its more or less time to pack up 😂. But yeah sooner than I should.
This could be me :-)
Daniel Cimbora · May 12, 2026 at 05:00 PM
If I try to eke out every last minute of “darkness” I lose a lot of subs to satellites. So I generally don’t bother until well into astronomical twilight.
Why do you lose subs to satellites, are you tossing them ?
Scope prepares usually within 20 minutes of astro dark. Sequence starts 10 minutes before astro dark, usually puts it imaging right at astro dark. For my scope, I don’t really push much earlier though as it’s still acclimating and the first 20 minutes are usually rough looking.
Concise
As soon as astro dark starts for NB, a bit after for broadband. But I push until very late morning usually, even if the last 5 subs or so are a wash. I’d rather have more than not enough.
Concise
Eric Gagné · May 12, 2026, 06:43 PM
Daniel Cimbora · May 12, 2026 at 05:00 PM
If I try to eke out every last minute of “darkness” I lose a lot of subs to satellites. So I generally don’t bother until well into astronomical twilight.
Why do you lose subs to satellites, are you tossing them ?
You’d be surprised how many people will bin subs with satellite trails through them… I might bin a sub when a commercial airline flys through the frame and you get the nose light, port and starbord wing tips, mid wing nav lights, blinking fuselage light and the tail light all through the frame - that’s a rubbish sub, but, one or two thin light streaks through one sub out of 100~300 subs is going to make 0 difference to my final stack with the rejection algorithms we routinely work with
Well written Helpful Insightful Respectful Concise Engaging