The Journey Through Astrophotography

Understanding Astrophotography

Even though astrophotography is a type of photography, its approach is completely different. Today, through this article, I’ll try to give you the foundational understanding needed to grasp these differences, especially if you’re considering getting into this discipline.

This article is not meant to cover every detail of how to do astrophotography. Instead, it focuses on the different types of astrophotography and the equipment required, without going too deep into each component. Don’t worry, more articles are coming where I’ll cover each aspect in detail, based on over 10 years of experience practicing astrophotography exclusively in Mauritius.

Someone once told me that astrophotography is the frontier between art and science, and I couldn’t agree more. Even though it carries the word “photography,” it is above all a technical discipline. And not just in terms of equipment, but also external factors that directly affect both your gear’s performance and your shooting sessions.

Let’s go through the different types of astrophotography, from the simplest to the most complex.

A photo captured with my Sony A7III on a fixed tripod, showing the core of the Milky Way as seen from the Southern Hemisphere, taken at Mare Longue Reservoir, Mauritius.

Milky Way Photography

This is the most accessible form of astrophotography. All you need is a camera, a wide-angle lens (ideally with an aperture of f/2.8 or lower), and a solid tripod.

It’s relatively simple to execute, you just need to know where to point your camera and be in a location with low light pollution for the best results. What I personally love about this type is the ability to compose your images with landscapes. In my case, I use the scenery of Mauritius and include the Milky Way in the background to create powerful images. I invite you to check out my gallery to see the work I’ve done capturing the Milky Way in the Mauritian landscape.

Planetary and Lunar Photography

From this point onward, a simple tripod is no longer enough.

For planetary and lunar astrophotography, you’ll need:

• A telescope with sufficient magnification to capture surface details of the Moon and planets

• A camera (DSLR or a dedicated astrophotography camera)

• The necessary adapters to connect your camera to the telescope

• And most importantly, a tracking mount

  
  

A manual mount might work for basic Moon shots, but for anything beyond that, a tracking mount is essential.

Interestingly, in planetary astrophotography, we don’t really take photos, we capture videos. These are usually short clips of 30 to 60 seconds recorded at high frame rates (FPS), typically 24–60 FPS for standard DSLRs and up to 120 FPS or more for dedicated astro cameras.

Why video instead of photos?

A quick photography lesson: a video is made up of multiple frames per second. In astrophotography, external factors like atmospheric turbulence (especially humidity in higher layers of the atmosphere) can affect image sharpness from one frame to another, even if your focus hasn’t changed.

A photo of Saturn captured a year ago when I was living in Coromandel, Mauritius. I used a refractor telescope along with a dedicated planetary camera to achieve high frame rates and reveal fine planetary details.

This turbulence acts like a moving lens, distorting the image. By recording high-FPS videos, we can later process them using specialized software that breaks the video into individual frames, selects the sharpest ones known as “lucky images”, and stacks them together to produce a clear final image.

The same principle applies to solar photography, but be extremely careful. Solar observation requires telescopes specifically designed for it, equipped with proper filters to protect both your eyes and your equipment. Never point a standard telescope directly at the Sun, as this can cause permanent damage.

This is an image of the Rosette Nebula (NGC 2237), located approximately 5,000 light-years from Earth. The final result is built from around 8 hours of total exposure, using different filters to reveal the intricate dust structures within the nebula. Captured straight from my backyard on the west coast of Mauritius.

Deep Sky Astrophotography (DSO – Deep Sky Objects)

As a professional photographer specializing in astrophotography, I can confidently say that deep-sky astrophotography is one of the most challenging forms of photography overall.

It requires patience, precision, and a deep understanding of your equipment. A small issue can ruin an entire night of shooting, and trust me, I’ve experienced that more than once.

The setup is similar to planetary photography, but with key differences:

• The telescope (optical tube) must be designed or optimized for astrophotography to avoid distortion in stars and objects

• The tracking mount must be highly precise, as we’re dealing with long exposures, from 30 minutes for simpler shots to 10–15 hours or more for advanced projects over multiple nights

  
  

The mount and tracking system are the heart of deep-sky astrophotography. Without accurate tracking, even the best telescope and camera won’t deliver usable results.

As for the camera, you can start with a DSLR, but dedicated cooled astrophotography cameras offer better noise control and higher sensitivity.

Finally, advanced setups often include a second small telescope (a guide scope) equipped with a camera. Its role is to lock onto a reference star and continuously communicate with the mount, making real-time corrections to ensure perfect tracking throughout the session.

Final Thoughts

These are the three main aspects of astrophotography. I’ve personally explored all of them and still do, but my preference remains deep-sky imaging. I enjoy the level of technical mastery it demands, and at the end of a session, seeing the result of hours of work makes all the frustrations worth it.

My advice to beginners: take your time, learn properly, and don’t rush the process. I have over 10 years of experience in astrophotography, and I’m still learning and that’s exactly what I love about it. This discipline constantly pushes you to go further, to extract more detail, more data, and more beauty from every image.

I hope this article has helped shed some light on the subject. More detailed articles will follow, especially on deep-sky astrophotography, to help those who want to build a solid foundation before taking the next step into this fascinating universe of space photography.

-Jordan JOUMON, March 2026