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Loading contentWhat you actually need to photograph the night sky — from a phone on a tripod to a tracked telescope.
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.
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.
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.
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