How challenging is your viewing location for astrophotography? - Forums

Topic starter

Aug 5, 2022 · Edited: Aug 5, 2022

I thought I would start a thread to see who is imaging from the most challenging back gardens/yards. To get started: Here's my back garden. It's not actually that bad now that my neighbour took down a couple of very tall fir trees ;) It's actually quite nice to be surrounded by trees (bird sounds etc.) but does make the hobby quite challenging.

My scenario means that the most I really ever get on any one night on any one target is about 2 hours (assuming clear skies). I think I need to start targetting multiple targets every night.

Here's an east-south-east view

I can just polar align over my house:

and here's the view looking west:

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DanRossi

Aug 5, 2022

I'm in a similar situation as you are. My due-east/southeastern sky is totally blocked, and the southern sky is only available to me above 35 degrees around due south. My southwestern sky is also somewhat blocked too. I suppose I should be happy that I have a clear line of sight to Polaris, and my northeastern western, and northwestern sky is open, and the zenith is clear. If I have any desire to image in the south, I'm better off going to an offsite location. Luckily I have a couple options nearby, but in the winter they're closed.

It sort of "is what it is" and widefield imaging suffers the most due to tree branches creeping in. One thing I recently did was get a longer focal length newtonian (looks very similar to yours) so I can have more target options and a smaller field-of-view. I also did get a second mount so I can maximize my imaging time, but this has a tedious downside with setup and tear-down (especially on a weeknight).

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kuechlew

Aug 5, 2022

The lack of a backyard and the price to lug my rig up a hill gets rewarded with quite a bit of sky. This is the virtual horizon of my stargazing location:

The tree in the west is one of two major issues, the other is a big city in the east with a significant light dome.

Clear skies
Wolfgang

jewzaam

Aug 6, 2022

Down to dec 0* is pretty good, just a tall tree each to the east and west. Anything in negative dec get challenging as getting what I can squeezed in between houses. Multiple targets in a night is the way to go. What do you control your imaging rig with? I have setup NINA with my horizon and it knows (close enough) when there are obstructions and can switch to the next target.

SemiPro

IOTD Staff

Aug 6, 2022

On the bright side, during the winter I get a bit more FoV due to the trees losing their leaves.

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Steven

Aug 6, 2022 · Edited: Aug 6, 2022

well.. considering that I have a roof over my imaging spot... pretty difficult.

My views to the south are a lot better and I can look a bit higher. But west/north is covered largely by the roof - And I can shoot from about 50 degrees and lower.. nothing straight up.. and having to shoot through that much atmosphere isn't good..
For me it basically means that my "seasons" are a bit different.. When people start on "galaxy season" I'm still shooting a nebula.. and the other way around.

I often only get a few hours per night, per target.. only between 50 degrees up and 20 degrees up, to limit the atmosphere effects. - So I'm usually working on 2-4 targets per night, to still make the most of it.. I'm still lucky to have a very good view to the west, all the way to the horizon, which does help a lot.

Sometimes I place the rig in a different place beside the house, that does allow for imaging in the other direction, and straight up. But that is an area that is "open".. it's hidden from view and the street, and this is a quiet little town, so it's fine for a few hours. but it isn't fenced in what so ever, so not really a place I'd leave my rigs overnight.

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Sean van Drogen

Aug 6, 2022 · Edited: Aug 6, 2022

I am quite lucky with a rooftop terrace. To the South to East to North almost nothing in the way. North is the my apartment roof but a lot of clearance for easy PA.

Tommy Blomqvist

Aug 6, 2022

I think I tend to more often put my rig in the car to get out of my backyard when I'm trying to do some "real" AP-work but when I don't:

The sky glow isn't to bad from my backyard but direct and indirect photons from streetlights, garden lights, cars, TVs and so on are a big problem.

Objects above 30-35 degrees are often possible to capture well by moving between different spots in the backyard.

But the main problem is my latitude here in the middle part of sweden (>58°N) and to solve that I need to take a flight 😀

The latitude means that I will not reach objects to the south (never succeeded below 10°S).
And the astronomical nights ends in the beginning of april to return at the end of august (but of course I do have very long nights during the winter).

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Ruediger

Aug 6, 2022

Hi all,

quite the same with me. North almost completely blocks. FOV from East to West, but significant light pollution in the west from the town.

CS
Rüdiger

Andy Wray

Topic starter

Aug 6, 2022 · Edited: Aug 6, 2022

I definitely need to move house. BTW: Thanks for posting the virtual horizon stuff. I didn't realise how easy that would be so now added into Stellarium for target selection (I don't use Nina (yet) and I don't believe APT has this kind of function).

jewzaam

Aug 6, 2022

@Andy Wray I did a workshop on NINA for the Raleigh Astronomy Club recently walking through main features, setting up equipment, and a basic sequence in the advanced sequencer. NINA 2.0 is GA now and it is awesome. The session was recorded if you're interested in checking it out.

https://youtu.be/rECWTLVTjIc

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Danette Riddle

Aug 6, 2022

Let's see: Bortle 8, neighbors with outdoor lighting and trees, electrical poles and wires, my trees, and the Burbank Airport flight path to the south which is my best FOV other than straight up. It's a wonder I ever get a shot of anything really.

I'd love to live somewhere else, but need the day job in an urban area to feed the hobby.

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Steven

Aug 7, 2022 · Edited: Aug 7, 2022

this topic finally made me sit down and create the custom horizon/landscape thing in Stellarium. Not perfect, but a pretty good representation of what I'm seeing here, and should maybe make planning target a little easier.

kuechlew

Aug 7, 2022

Andy Wray:
I definitely need to move house. BTW: Thanks for posting the virtual horizon stuff. I didn't realise how easy that would be so now added into Stellarium for target selection (I don't use Nina (yet) and I don't believe APT has this kind of function).

And the best thing of all: Once you created it you can import it in NINA too: (2) Create and Use a Horizon File in NINA, Stellarium, and Cartes du Ciel - YouTube

Clear skies
Wolfgang

jewzaam

Aug 7, 2022

Andy Wray:
I definitely need to move house. BTW: Thanks for posting the virtual horizon stuff. I didn't realise how easy that would be so now added into Stellarium for target selection (I don't use Nina (yet) and I don't believe APT has this kind of function).

And the best thing of all: Once you created it you can import it in NINA too: (2) Create and Use a Horizon File in NINA, Stellarium, and Cartes du Ciel - YouTube

Clear skies
Wolfgang

And using the Orbuculum plugin in NINA the horizon can be used as a loop condition

Scotty Bishop

Aug 7, 2022

For me it isn't terrible because I can move stuff around my property as far as horizons go, and I can get pretty well anything that is up above say, 10 degrees to the south and the west, but I also live in one of the cloudiest places you can get. Less than 32 miles from Lake Michigan, 16 miles from the Michigan border in Northern Indiana. I have never lived in a place with more clouds than this place has. My B4 mag 20.85 doesn't mean much if there are clouds overhead.

schmaks

Aug 8, 2022

Love this virtual horizon feature for target selection and switching to the next! Wish this was a capability of asiair. Anyone know if it is possible?

Steven

Aug 8, 2022

Love this virtual horizon feature for target selection and switching to the next! Wish this was a capability of asiair. Anyone know if it is possible?

Not 100% sure. I do know that you can put the ASIAIR in "EQMod with SkySafari" and control the mount through SkySafari.
So if SkySafari has something like a virtual horizon, perhaps that could work that way?

But i'm sure if the ASIAIR has the integration though to really take a virtual horizon into your planning modes.

kuechlew

Aug 8, 2022

@Andy Wray I did a workshop on NINA for the Raleigh Astronomy Club recently walking through main features, setting up equipment, and a basic sequence in the advanced sequencer. NINA 2.0 is GA now and it is awesome. The session was recorded if you're interested in checking it out.

https://youtu.be/rECWTLVTjIc

Thank you for posting. While a bit off-topic I believe with the N.I.N.A playlists of the youtube channels by Patriot Astro, Cuif the Lazy Geek and Visible Dark there is 99% of information available you ever may need. For German language astrophotocologne is a good way to get started.

Chase Newtson

Aug 8, 2022 · Edited: Aug 8, 2022

Depending on where I am imaging, at home I prefer to image from my backyard as it is secluded and I feel safer leaving my gear out on my closed off deck. However, I have my house blocking my SE view, and a large trees blocking S and SW. My West has a slight opening from the trees, until I get to about NNW and N, where there is a large Oak Tree. My sky to my NE and E has my house in the way, so I start imaging from my deck once the target creeps over my roof line. Polaris lies right above the oak tree. I am planning on purchasing a new home early 2023, and sky visibility will be a high priority.

My front yard is a polar opposite, no trees aside from two small ones near my driveway along with a street lamp, but my front yard is wide open. This, however makes me feel uncomfortable leaving my gear in the wide open, along with driving cars, house lights (lots of LEDs) and the like.

My third location is "The Land" up north from me, about 90 minutes and is a Bortle 3. There, I have a pretty open area with a perimeter of trees, but I can just place my rig on whichever side works best for my target. It's latitude 47 so Polaris stays pretty well visible in most spots.

I can take a few panoramic shots when I get home from work.

Edit: I should mention my home location is a Bortle 7, pushing 8.

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