Gary’s Q&A

Listener question & Gary’s response · Transcript passage

The last question comes from Brian Grant on Facebook, who asks, I’ve seen some of your photographs that you done over the years in different countries (which are outstanding!), but have you ever done astro photography?

As anyone who does astrophotography would define it, I have not done any astrophotography. This has to do with the specialized equipment necessary.

You need a telescope, a motor to compensate for Earth’s rotation, and a custom digital CCD camera that works with the telescope.

I have a telescope that I purchased before I started traveling, but the motor doesn’t work, and I would need to get it fixed.

That being said, I have taken many photos of the night sky. It is possible to capture the Milky Way without too much difficulty with a wide-angle lens. You just can’t leave the shutter open for longer than, say, 20-30 seconds before the stars start to streakI also took a photo of the full moon rising over the Rocky Mountains with a 600 mm lens. I had an app that told me exactly when and where on the horizon the moon would appear, so I was ready at the right place and time.I’ve also done photos of the northern lights and solar eclipses.

While these are images of the sky, I don’t consider it astophotography. You can’t take an image of a planet or a galaxy with normal camera equipment.