Astronomy photography (astrophotography) is probably one of the most difficult types of photography that can be undertaken by the amateur photographer. It is also one of the most inspirational types of photography and is always immensely popular.

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Luckily for us, some amateur photographers still take the time to equip and train themselves and so are able to show us remarkable work like the astronomy photos below. But it is not an easy thing to do this type of photography.

In fact, a quick look at the Flickr pools available to photographers of astronomical images quickly shows that this niche requires a lot of dedication and practice – not many images turn out as well as the astrophotography below!

Astrophotography – How to Shoot the Stars

While astrophotography is definitely a specialised area of photography, it isn't quite as difficult as many people seem to think. In fact, with some basic gear and a bit of knowledge, you can start this rewarding hobby without too much fuss.

Gear for Astrophotography

While it's difficult to shoot astrophotography with poor gear, you don't need top-end gear either. Let's look at what you need:

The Best Camera for Astrophotography

While you can go to the upper end of astrophotography shooting by investing in a Nikon D850 or Sony A7RII which are considered the best cameras for this type of photography, believe it or not, almost any DSLR or Mirrorless camera is perfectly capable of getting a respectable astro photography shot.

Hell, even an 11 year old cropped sensor DSLR (that you can get on ebay for $50) is capable if you know what you're doing , so don't overthink your camera.

These days, even the Google Android phone is starting to produce some passable astrophotography using artificial intelligence (they have a whole team dedicated to this), so again, don't get carried away with worrying about gear.

The Best Lens for Astrophotography

In general terms, you want a fast and wide lens. What that means is that you want the aperture to be at least f/3.5 and preferably f/2.8 or, even better, f/1.8. You probably want the focal length of 20mm or wider.

While something like a 12-24mm f/2.8 is well regarded, you will get even better shots with a 14mm f/1.8 as it allows in more light.

But again, don't overthink this part. The lens you have, at its widest aperture is going to get you something so it's worth trying.

Take a look at our guide to choosing the best lens for astrophotography for a deeper look at the issues.

Other Gear for Astrophotography

Don't forget a way to stabilise your camera – a tripod is essential.

Some way to remotely trigger (remote shutter release) your camera is also extremely useful as camera shake in astrophotography can be a real downer.

Camera Settings for Astrophotography

The simple explanation is to set your camera to its widest aperture (probably f/2.8) and ISO 1600 or ISO 3200 and then divide 500 by your focal length to get the shutter speed. For example, 500/24mm would mean a shutter speed of 21 seconds.

That is called the 500 rule. Read our 500 rule article to get a more thorough understanding of it and give out 600 rule article a read too to round out your knowledge for astrophotography camera settings.

A Deeper Dive into Specifics

All of the astrophotography images below would have been roughly guided by those rules.

For a deeper dive into camera settings and general tips, you should also delve into our series of night sky photography articles.

These articles will take you deeper into various sub-genres of astrophotography such as specifics on shooting light trails, camera skills like focussing and also shooting the moon.

These Apps for Astro Are Really Useful

The Best Exposure Calculator iPhone Apps for Astrophotography

The Exposure Calculator Android Apps That Are Useful

Beautiful Examples

Below we have found 13 stunning examples of astrophotography (astronomy photos) taken by backyard astronomers – of stars and galaxies, that we think are some of the most beautiful examples of what can be done with a telescope, camera and some know-how from anyone's backyard.

Believe it or not, achieving these types of results in astrophotography is not as difficult as a lot of people tend to think. By knowing your gear and a few relevant rules, you should be able to get some reasonable results quite quickly.

Please feel free to link to any other examples of great backyard astronomy photography, night sky or astrophotography in the comments.

photo by jeremy thomas

photo by teddy kelley

photo by mark basarab

photo by greg rakozy

photo by manolo franco

photo by jacob dyer

photo by skeeze on pixabay

photo by felix plakolb

photo by teddy kelley

photo by nathan anderson

photo by Clarisse Meyer

photo by jeremy thomas

photo by skeeze on pixabay

Where to Next?

Don't forget to take a look at how to get shots like these with Milky Way Mastery. This is one of the best courses online for digging deep on astrophotography.