My photo of the Orion Nebula finally hit 100 hours of total exposure time

I've been working on this one target from my backyard in Phoenix for over two months, adding a little bit of data each clear night. Last night I added the final 30-minute sub and my software showed 100 hours exactly. It felt crazy because I started it just to practice, but sticking with it that long made details pop out I never thought I'd see from the city. Has anyone else been shocked by how much time they've poured into a single deep space object?

4 comments

4 Comments

ryanc712mo ago

Wow, that's some serious dedication right there.

fionam112mo ago

I get what you mean by dedication, but it's more about the system than just willpower. What @julia_carter61 said about blocking out a set time is the real key. Calling it dedication makes it sound like a huge struggle, but a solid routine actually makes it way easier to keep going. It stops being about forcing yourself and just becomes what you do. That shift is what makes it stick long term.

julia_carter612mo ago

Yeah, it takes that kind of focus to really get it done, @ryanc71. I just blocked out a set time every single morning before anything else could get in the way. Sticking to that simple routine was the only thing that made it possible for me.

iris_schmidt21d ago

There's this friend of mine who got into astrophotography last spring, started shooting the Andromeda Galaxy from his driveway in Tucson. He talked about it like it was a fun little project, just a few nights here and there (typical, right?). Then his wife texted me a picture of his phone's notes app where he wrote down every single exposure time and date, all adding up to 130 hours over five months. She said he'd get home from work, eat dinner standing up, and be outside with his rig before 9pm every clear night. He never called it dedication, just said the galaxy looked different every time he added another hour, like it was slowly revealing itself to him through all that haze.