Astrophotography Equipment
What you actually need to photograph the night sky — from a phone on a tripod to a tracked telescope.
Start with what you have
A modern camera or phone on a steady tripod can already capture star trails, the Milky Way, bright conjunctions, and the Moon. A remote shutter or timer avoids shake.
Wide-field
A camera with a fast wide lens (e.g. f/2.8 or faster) on a tripod captures constellations and the Milky Way. A simple star tracker counteracts Earth's rotation and allows longer, sharper exposures.
Deep-sky
Faint galaxies and nebulae need a tracking mount, a telescope or telephoto lens, and many stacked exposures. Guiding and a cooled astronomy camera help at the high end.
Planetary & lunar
Planets and the Moon are bright and small: a telescope with a high-frame-rate camera, capturing thousands of frames to 'stack' the sharpest, works best.
More guides: Image Processing · Planning an Imaging Session