Best amount of images for stacking

Started Aug 10, 2022 | Questions thread
EricTheAstroJunkie Senior Member • Posts: 1,017
Re: Best amount of images for stacking

Alen K wrote:

EricTheAstroJunkie wrote:

When it comes to nightscape/ultra wide angle stuff I don't even bother stacking, just single tracked exposures that are long enough for good SNR without clipping highlights.

Not hard to do in Bortle 1 or 2. Much tougher in Bortle 4. I know: I should move closer to someplace really dark!

It's all about positioning and post processing, here are a bunch of images I've shot from Bortle 4/5 skies, I position myself so I'm shooting away from the most intense sources of light pollution and do a lot of background subtraction in post processing:

https://flic.kr/p/VPGEAh

https://flic.kr/p/KuBEU6

https://flic.kr/p/K4kDWm

https://flic.kr/p/SovnCH

Is it tougher? Sure. Is the detail, color, and overall quality a little worse? Ya, but not horribly so. Bortle 4 is plenty dark to get some great shots with not that much effort, that last shot is at a place that's one of our favorites for testing out gear, it's a ~25-30 minute drive for us and even though it's bortle 4 (almost 5 now) we can shoot away from the light pollution and with the Milky Way low enough we can shoot into Bortle 2 skies.

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