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The Night Sky

Have you ever looked up at the night sky and just wondered what was out there? I do sometimes. I know the facts, there are planets, stars, and satellites (the things that Dr. Doofenshmirtz’s inator beams will bounce off of). I know there is more out there, space ships, the ISS, and a Tesla Roadster (2018) with Starman, a mannequin that was the payload.

While we can’t get to space much like we drive a car to our destinations quite yet, we can take pictures of it. I recently went on a trip with my family and the one goal that we had in mind was to take pictures of the milky way. My mom has been doing this for years and she has taken hundreds of pictures.

This is one that she took in 2017, it is the one that we use for examples of her work, it was also the first one she took. The second one is a more recent trip.

My mom’s astrophotophy picture

Mom’s second astrophotogphy trip

I have been getting more and more into photography. I have taken pictures of pets, landscapes, and more. The macro pictures that I have in Spring I took with my Google Pixel 7a. I also shot this on the same camera.

ETC Color Source Spot V

Ignore the fingerprints, I got a bit too close to the lens while I was using it, (ETC ColorSource Spot V). This camera can do anything that it wants and is needed to do. Including taking pictures of the night sky. Yes, the night sky.

A very dear friend of mine introduced me into the Pixel line up, and I love this series. They are smart, fast, gorgeous, secure phones that can do anything and there is not a lot of bloat ware in them. If you want a stock Android experience then this is the phone.

In order to get the night sky it was a lot simple then I was expecting. There were no complications to it.

  1. Get a tripod, the phone must be 100% still. They are $20 on Amazon. You do need the phone attachment too
  2. Go to a dark area, there can’t be any light around you. You can look up online dark skies certified areas around you. You also want a new moon (no moon), clear skies and the milky way in your area
  3. Set up your tripod so it is level and the camera is pointed up to the sky. I was using a full sized tripod with a phone attachment on it. This is my recommendation. You can use your surrounding area to set your phone up, but I don’t recommend it as that will restrict what you can do
  4. Go into the camera app
  5. Switch over to “Night Sight”
  6. You phone will switch the shutter button from a moon to three stars. Tap that, it will begin a 4:02 exposure time. While this is going on, don’t move the camera as that will mess up the picture. You can mess around with lights when you feel comfortable with this process. The pictures my mom took was done with something called “light painting” where a flashlight was shined on the rocks and the barn for 5 seconds, while the camera was taking the picture
  7. When the 4:02 is up, look at the picture and see if you like it or not, and go again. It will take several tries to get the shot you like/want

I love this feature on the phone. It allows those who have never done astro before, the chance to experience it. I have never done astro on this phone before, and I am super happy with the results that were produced.

first example
second example