Skipped stacking for so long... my old astronomy photos look sad now

I always brushed off stacking images as a huge hassle for people with way too much free time... one decent shot from my backyard was good enough, right? But after my fifth attempt at the Andromeda galaxy came out looking like a gray blob, I got fed up. Borrowed a friend's laptop and ran my last twenty photos through some free stacking software... the change was insane. Suddenly, I could see spiral arms and a bright core, not just a fuzzy spot. All those nights I spent tweaking single exposures were basically wasted effort... it's a bit frustrating to realize. Now I spend an extra thirty minutes after each session stacking, and it makes all the difference. My old photos just sit there reminding me how wrong I was about the whole thing...

2 comments

2 Comments

dakota_walker2d ago

You're telling me Andromeda was a gray blob without stacking?

shah.barbara2d ago

Saw a great breakdown on an astro forum last week about this exact thing. The guy showed side by side photos, his visual view through a big dob versus a stacked image from a smaller scope. The stacked one pulled out all the faint dust lanes and the core detail, while the visual was just this soft, fuzzy oval with a bright middle. It really showed how much stacking does for faint stuff.