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When I look at an image of a distant galaxy, star cluster or nebula, it evokes in me a sense of awe, a sense of mystery and even, in an inexplicable kind of way, a sense of the sacred. Though the incredible images being made by amateur astrophotographers and by professional astronomers using space-based telescopes such as Hubble and Webb seldom fail to amaze me, I admit I feel a certain loss. Our ancestors who lived only several hundred years ago had something we don't have--a Bortle 1 sky at almost every location on Earth. Before the capacity to harness electricity I imagine a world in which there were no electric light bulbs, no airport lights, no neon signs, no security lights, street lights, traffic lights or headlights--nothing except fire and candlelight. Even in a large city like ancient Rome, I imagine that just getting a few hundred yards from the city brought the full, undiminished splendor of the night sky in all its glory to the human eyes of that time. Not being able to experience the dark night sky every clear evening is similar to lacking essential vitamins in my diet; as though I'm missing some kind of vital nourishment and connection to the universe that isn't about humans--about our politics and economics, our wars, social conflicts and destructive attitudes towards the only planet in the cosmos that supports us. I sometimes need to give my mind a break from the constant bombardment of human heartache, idiocy and cruelty that the age of the internet brings to our desktops, laptops and phones. The night sky has always helped me to do this. There are numerous motivations urging me to astrophotography. I love the fact that such precision and detail are so important to getting good images. The techie in me is challenged by the technical hurdles and I've long enjoyed working with software. I've spent my entire adult life composing and producing music and managing an electronic music studio. Over the past 35 years I've produced virtual symphonies using the most sophisticated sample libraries, synthesizers and software available. I felt the need to get out of my comfort zone and learn something new, something challenging and difficult outside of music. I want to be a beginner again, and so here I am starting a new pursuit. Knowing it usually takes multiple hours of exposures to get a clear image of a DSO and many hours of pre- and post-processing doesn't discourage me; it takes me a year--or two or three--to compose and produce a 35-40 minute symphony. The patience that music has taught me ought to serve me well in my desire to learn astrophotography, at least that's my hope. Though I am not a scientist and my approach to astrophotography is more about the aesthetic beauty inherent in deep space objects, there are definite similarities between the desire to make art and the desire to do science. Both are about exploring reality--art explores the inner, psychosocial, spiritual reality of consciousness and the search for beauty, while science explores the nature of material reality in all its complexities and lawfulness. The poet in me yearns for something that no telescope, CMOS camera or solid mount can give me--the direct experience of the entire night sky with the blazing Milky Way overhead and the myriad of stars and faint fuzzy objects as far as the eye can see. I cannot get that when I walk out into my backyard in San Francisco, all I can see are the moon and planets, several bright stars and when the seeing is good I can see Polaris without averting my eyes. This is a great loss but at the same time I am excited to learn how to photograph what the telescope and digital sensor can see that my eyes cannot. Having to travel a few hours from the city to get to Bortle 2 skies is OK with me. I hope one day technology will be able to bring humans the powerful benefits that it does without many of the destructive side-effects such as light pollution, loss of biodiversity, climate change, the threat of nuclear annihilation and air, water and soil pollution. We're small creatures living on a planet orbiting an ordinary star in a galaxy with at least hundreds of billions of suns in a universe with billions-or trillions--of galaxies. That's miraculous in itself. Jerry |
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| Amen. |
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Without a doubt, astrophotograaphy is a pursuit that many, if not all, of us amateurs enjoy beyond measure. Since you have an aptitude for software, you will be right at home once you unravel all the challenges (sometimes frustrating) of this amazing hobby. I would highly recommend reading Imaging Foundations With Richard Wright articles on the Sky And Telescope web site. Welcome to astrophotography, and enjoy those Bortle 2 skies every chance you can. |
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Rod Hughes: Thanks Rod! |
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Utmost respect for sharing this with us Jerry. You speak a lot of truth and I think we can all identify at least on some level. I loved astronomy for most of my life but didn't really understand why. I only jumped into astrophotography last summer and still can't fully understand why its hooked me, but here we are, spending excessive hours in the evening with jealous spouses and posting on boards. I know that part of me loves the challenge of all this. (after 20 years in technology, astrophotography is easily the most challenging learning process I've ever been through) But the real magic is definitely in the awesomeness of what we try to see and that shared passion for searching that we all seem to have. I feel, like many things on earth, we are in the fleeting times of land-based astronomy. The same amazing tools that have allowed many of us to learn and love astrophotography also contribute to its demise. I'm pretty sure i'd never be this far in without youtube and astrobin. I'm crossing my fingers Ioptron or Sky-Watcher comes out with a new personal satellite based mount in the near future. I need it to have a ~50lbs payload in the upper stratosphere though, so I'm totally going to lean into those dudes at NEAF so it's in the next release  |
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Maybe we like space because we're tired of earth  I remember one funny review of a 100 degree eyepiece; the guy liked the view from his new EP so much that he said something like "I want to go inside the eyepiece"  Other people say they feel like they're floating in space. I wouldn't be surprised if they fall off their chairs. |
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| Wonderfully said. For one following a similar trajectory, can fully appreciate your perspective and motivation. In fact, the main reason I took up astrophotography and all the learnings surrounding the pursuit, was and is because of light pollution - being permanently based in a Bortle 8/9 area. My best views of the stars is through a telescope with a higher light gathering power than my naked eyes. Capturing some of those photons on tiny beds of silicon has a certain Zen quality to it too. |
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Jerry, Given the short time you've been engaged in this endeavor, I'm amazed at the quality of your photos! I'm just getting into the hobby myself, and your images are an inspiration to me. I haven't had a chance to set up and use my new equipment, but hopefully I will have a clear night soon to begin my adventure.  I look forward to seeing more of your work.Lee |
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Well said Jerry, reading your post here brings me back to when I was turned onto astronomy when I was a child. My father was a music professor for many decades at Saginaw Valley State University. Along with that he used to back up great country singers bands like Jonny Cash, Ferlin Husky, Sketter Davis just to name a few. One of his passions along with his music (like you dad wrote his own arrangements) he also loved astronomy. He would get done playing a job at 1-2 in the morning and pull out his home made Edmund Scientific 6” f8 newt and look at the night sky. I remember as just a little boy him picking me up to look into the eyepiece to see the moon and planets, Jupiter, Saturn, Venus etc.. I got serious about astronomy back in the early 90’s even doing back then AP using Hyper-sensitized film photography. Then later a lot of visual astronomy and the last several years I’ve gotten into the actual imaging with OSC cameras. I would show my dad some of my images that I’d take of the night sky. As time went on dad’s eye sight was taken by glaucoma. I lost my best friend, my dad on Jan 6th of this year and I’m SO HAPPY that I was able to show him my images of the night sky with the iPad 6-8” from his eyes before he passed away. In the end I think I gave my dad back some of the love and beautiful sights that we all see and take for granted. I’m glad that I share the same passion he had when I was just a young 6-7yr old boy and gave back to his dad at 80yrs old before he went home. Now he has the best views of the universe that is truly beyond bortle 1 skies! The UNIVERSE is truly an incredible sight to look at and photograph and I’m glad that @Salvatore Iovene has put together a wonderful AP website like AB for all of us to enjoy and share our own experiences with a community that shares the same passion of the night sky! Dale |
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I've always been into photography, and when the first Hubble images appeared, they immediately became my desktop wallpaper, but that said, for me astrophotography is more a justification to hang out under starry skies than the images that result. As you so eloquently said, Jerry, it's a vital nourishment. It's the one activity that empties my head of all the daily dredges and, unlike some other activities, does so without filling my head with something more immediate and intense. Truly a form of meditation. As for light pollution, the real tragedy isn't that technology can't yet bring us the benefits without it, but that the benefits we believe public lighting brings are an illusion. Fortunately, I have Bortle 2/3 skies and where I live it's unlikely ground based light pollution will increase significantly anytime soon, but thanks to Musk and others, that may not matter. In addition to the thousands of moving lights soon to crisscross the night sky, I've heard that the collective light reflected by the satellites will add to the light pollution experienced from any and every location on earth. Soon, there may not be a Bortle 1 location anywhere, and Bortle 2 only in the most remote places...... Do we *need* the advantages of satellite constellations, of course not, but for most people who have already lost their night sky, why wouldn't slightly cheaper, slightly more dependable, internet be a win?...... Scott |
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| Thanks Jay, Rod, Nick, messierman3000, Lamplighter05, Lee, Dale and Scott for responding and for sharing your stories and experiences. Much appreciated! |
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Thanks Jerry for your submission. One of the best and most thoughtful posts I've seen on this site to date. You and I may share a few ideals, methinks. Carry on, Ian |
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Also most of humanity doesn't even know astrophotography exists, they think it's only for NASA; I was one of those people until I figured out "normal" people are doing it too. when I saw that, I was thinking: "That's impossible". I was definitely wrong. |
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Thoughtful comments Jerry. I remember looking up at the Bortle 1 sky at the Oregon star party a few years ago and thinking darn, there’s all this high cloud. Took me a moment to realize that it wasn’t cloud, it was the faint structures of the Milky Way that I wasn’t used to seeing even though I lived at the time at a “considered dark by most” Bortle 4 semi-rural location. As you said this was normal to our ancestors. Most people on the planet aren’t even aware of how much we’ve lost. I find it interesting how that bond to the awe-inducing aspect of astronomy and the night sky runs through so many people of different backgrounds and careers. I am a scientist although of biology not astrophysics yet the musings of a guy who composes virtual symphonies resonates with my own feelings of awe at the night sky and astrophotography. Sad that something that unites us is becoming rarer in our light-polluted world. We need things that call to our common humanity more than ever. |
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Keith Egger: To your point, Keith, I believe something like 80% of Americans (and a third of the world's population) have never seen the Milky Way. I don't recall where, but during a power blackout of some US city, I heard that the police got calls from people freaked out by the sight of it!......Thought it was aliens, or some sort of cataclysmic event. Anyhow, while I agree there's a very deep rooted connection to the heavens that we all probably have, not only is tapping into that connection possible for fewer and fewer, but there is also a deep rooted fear of the dark. And though public lighting is a false panacea to that fear, as what we lose to it becomes increasingly remote for most, it's difficult to be optimistic about any positive change. Cheers, Scott |
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I don't recall where, but during a power blackout of some US city, I heard that the police got calls from people freaked out by the sight of it!......Thought it was aliens, or some sort of cataclysmic event. I remembered that story too, I asked about it here: https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/869877-using-a-telescope-vs-the-neighborhood/page-2 Tony Flanders says it was Los Angeles 50 years ago. Scroll down on this page. thisismyusername is my account on Cloudy Nights |
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I don't recall where, but during a power blackout of some US city, I heard that the police got calls from people freaked out by the sight of it!......Thought it was aliens, or some sort of cataclysmic event. When San Francisco got hit by a large earthquake in October of 1989, that evening I went outside and nearly all of the power was out throughout the entire city. I looked up and saw the Milky Way, just as it appeared when I was out of the city. |
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| @Jerry Gerber maybe it happened to multiple cities throughout the years |
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I have been thinking lately about how of all the unknown number of galaxies, stars and planets that we are the only known life and how we are intent on killing ourselves off. Maybe we are trying to restore the norm. Tim McCollum |
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@Jerry Gerber Hmmm.....starting to sound a bit apocryphal?..... Sadly, though, the basis for it is true enough; a sky of any profound value is already gone for most, but the fear of scary things that come out in the dark is just as strong as when we were huddled around a fire-pit..... Scott |
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Scott Badger: A kind of wish there was a power outage at night in my area when there are no clouds because I have never seen the Milky Way with my eyes. Let's hope the entire world doesn't turn into Tokyo. What you said about the scary things in the dark I couldn't really understand. Are you talking about fear of the Milky Way (lol) or ghosts and things like that? |
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We were not at the top of the food chain in the distant past. Sorry, I got a little off topic. |
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| @Tim McCollum I think the three of us are going a little off topic. Huddling around a fire-pit, food chain, ghosts, and extinction of humanity |
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Scott Badger: Fear of the dark is natural for humans, our ancient ancestors had to deal with predators that have better night vision than we do. The problem isn't the fear itself, it's the unconscious impact this fear has on our societal choices--like putting lights everywhere, even when there are no people around. Large companies and office buildings leave lights on all night, there are parking lots with no cars in them (because the stores are closed) that have lights on. We don't need to fear a tiger coming at us in urban and suburban areas, but we act like we do. As far as human-on-human crime, if we had every outdoor light aimed downward and all outdoor lighting (when possible) on motion detectors, that would go a long way towards having the lights off when not needed and on when we do. On a well-governed, well-managed world, about 1/4 of available land would be for human habitat and recreation, 1/4 for farming and agriculture, 1/4 for resource extraction and 1/4 would be untouched, unspoiled land--not for any kind of human use. Of course we can't do that with 8 billion of us, but if there were 2 billion of us it might be doable. Our population numbers are greatly exacerbating our ecological, political, social and economic problems. This doesn't mean that we wouldn't have these problems with fewer people, but rather that the problems themselves could be better addressed if the political will were there (which, granted, it usually isn't). The earth is finite, this is a fact distinct from our primitive institutions and political/economic systems that keep insisting that endless growth is sustainable. Delusional thinking has sunk countless civilizations before ours and it could easily sink ours as well. |
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| People's ideas turned the world into a mess and a bit of a nightmare. |
