Extract from ABC News
In just 30 seconds I captured the core of our galaxy, the Milky Way, glowing brightly behind a dark wispy haze of cosmic dust.
Deep inside that glow lies a supermassive black hole 4 million times the mass of our Sun.
And stretching out on either side is a smattering of stars: pinpricks of photons that may have travelled millennia before reaching Earth.
It's a stunning shot, but it wasn't taken with a telescope or fancy camera.
I used my smartphone. And it's not even a top-of-the-line one.
It was a chilly winter evening outside Cohuna, Victoria, on Barapa Barapa country, where astrophotographer Shayne Mostyn showed me the ropes.
He has taken many first-timers like me out for smartphone astrophotography workshops, and says everyone reacts in wonder when they snap their first photo of the Milky Way.
"It would be pitch black and then all their faces would start lighting up … and you could hear the whole group go 'wow!'"
Winter in Australia is the best time to take wow-worthy photos of the Milky Way. The cold, crisp night air holds less water vapour than it does during the warmer, more humid summer, so skies at the moment look particularly clear.
And Earth's current position on its orbit around the Sun means we can now look into the heart of our galaxy at night.
Smartphones, with their wide field of view, are ideal for taking photos of big celestial objects such as the Milky Way.
This is how a beginner like me took these photos.
Smartphone astrophotography basics
First up, the obvious: you need a smartphone.
I won't go into step-by-step set-up details for each make and model — you can look that up online — but you might be surprised at what your phone can do.
And there are a few things to keep in mind, regardless of the phone you use.
For most, Shane says, the camera app that comes with the phone is fine. They usually come with a night mode, which lets you shoot a longer exposure time than a daytime snap, and lets you capture all those tiny dots of starlight.
Some models have special astrophotography settings that let you increase exposure time. Others automatically realign the stars so you don't end up with star trails, where the stars look like streaks in the sky.
But even if you don't have these options, you can still snap fab photos.
I used an iPhone 14 and its default camera app.
The other piece of must-have equipment is a tripod. This is not negotiable, and is necessary regardless of the phone you use.
For some phones, the long-exposure option only becomes available when your phone is held completely still in a tripod.
It doesn't have to be expensive either. Just needs to be able to point the phone in a bunch of different directions and hold it still.
Third: you need a dark, clear sky. This means as little light pollution as possible, so get away from towns which might light up the horizon.
Online light pollution maps can help you find suitably dark skies.
Also choose a night when the Moon is either absent or a tiny crescent, otherwise it's like a giant spotlight that washes out the stars.
And … that's it. Put your phone on the tripod, open the camera app, point it towards the most star-packed part of the sky, and hit the shutter button.
"That's how good the tech is in these things — you set it up under a dark sky, hit the shutter, then wait," Shayne says.
"It's not rocket science."
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Time to experiment
Once you have the basics down pat, start experimenting with what's around you.
The best astrophotos usually feature the landscape in the image too, Melbourne astrophotographer Markus Stone says.
"An old hut on a hiking trail, a lake at a campground reflecting the stars above, or even a friend's house in the sticks can all be great subjects, as long as it's fairly dark."
Timing a shot when the galactic core is not too high above the horizon, or tilting a lowered tripod to look up at an object, can create dramatic silhouettes against the Milky Way backdrop.
Then there's "light painting", which illuminates objects in the foreground of a photo.
For this, you'll need another piece of equipment: a torch.
As a photo is being taken, briefly shine a light on the objects you wish to have illuminated in the final image.
A second or less is usually all you need, and diffuse light tends to give better results than a spotlight-like torch. Shayne uses a palm-sized panel of LED lights which can be adjusted for brightness and warmth.
He also recommends setting up your shot to have the Milky Way's tail "pointing" at an object.
In winter, as the Earth spins, the Milky Way appears to rise in the evening and move across the sky during the night.
So if you don't want to stand outside all night, there are apps that let you plan your astrophotography excursion to make sure you're in the right place at the right time.
Those apps can also help you include other items of interest, such as the International Space Station traversing the sky.
Editing and extras
As this is a beginner's guide, I won't go into much more detail. But after getting the perfect shot — or shots — you might want to dip your toe in editing.
Apps can let you:
- stitch photos together to make a panorama
- remove haze and noise
- increase clarity
- adjust colour, exposure, contrast etc
To get an extra-wide-field view, you can buy lenses to put over your phone lens, but, Shayne says, this starts moving away from the simplicity of a smartphone-plus-tripod (and maybe torch) set-up.
And when should you invest in more gear, such as actual, proper cameras?
"[Using a smartphone] is a way to dip your toe in the water to see if you want to do astrophotography," Shayne says.
"It's the easiest and cheapest way to do it because you probably already have the phone.
"I tell people if you're happy to get out here at 2 o'clock in the morning, multiple times through the week, and then do it again next week, and then do it again next month and so forth, then go ahead and upgrade."
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