Astrophotography from Brooklyn, New York City. I capture the Moon, planets, Sun, Milky Way, and night sky from NYC and during travel. Passionate about astronomy, nightscape, and starscape photography. Using Celestron NexStar 4SE, Coronado SolarMax II 60, Canon EOS Ra, 60Da, 40D, NexImage, and Canon EF lenses to reveal the beauty of the universe.
Backyard Astronomy - Astrophotography Celestron
NexStar 4se telescope
Canon EOS 40D and T-Adapter-C90 and Barlow T-Adapter 1 1/4 inches and T-ring for Canon EOS
Celestron 4se telescope with T-Adapter-C90 (93635-A) and Canon EOS 40D
Celestron 4se telescope with Barlow t-Adapter 1 1/4 inches (93640) and Canon EOS 40D
Celestron 4se with Barlow t-Adapter 1 1/4 inches (93640), Erect Image Diagonal (94116) and Canon EOS 40D
Photos of the Moon and the Sun
Celestron NexStar 4se telescope NexImage CCD
Jupiter photos
Piggy-Back Camera Mount for Celestron NexStar 4 telescope (Item# BRKTPIG4)
The Green Comet 103P/Hartley 2 (2010)
From his wife, it drew nothing but torrents of tears.
"For you see," said Ms. Halley,
"He used to come daily;
Now he comes once every 70 years!"
--Astronomy Jokes
In October 2010, the bright green comet 103P/Hartley 2 passed relatively close to Earth, offering a rare opportunity for urban astrophotography.
This series was captured from Brooklyn, New York City — under heavy light pollution — using a piggyback DSLR setup mounted on a Celestron NexStar 4SE.
Despite the challenges of NYC skies, stacking multiple exposures revealed the comet’s distinct green coma, caused by glowing diatomic carbon (C₂) molecules in its atmosphere.
Image 1: Stacked result showing the comet within the surrounding star field.
Image 2: Closer crop revealing the bright coma.
Image 3: Maximum zoom view highlighting the comet nucleus region and surrounding glow.
Comet Hartley 2, Celestron 4SE Canon 40D Brooklyn
Capture Details
Object: Comet 103P/Hartley 2 (The Green Comet) Date: October 12, 2010 Location: Brooklyn, NYC Camera: Canon 40D Mount: Piggybacked on Celestron NexStar 4SE Lens: Canon EF 28–135mm f/3.5–5.6 IS USM Focal Length: 28mm Exposure: 27 × 60 seconds ISO: 1250 White Balance: Daylight Total Integration Time: 27 minutes
The following images were taken during daytime and show the full piggyback configuration used for capturing Comet 103P/Hartley 2 from Brooklyn.
The Canon 40D DSLR was mounted on top of the Celestron NexStar 4SE telescope using a dedicated piggyback bracket (Item #BRKTPIG4).
This configuration allows the telescope mount to track the sky while the DSLR captures wide-field images.
PiggyBack Camera Mount for Celestron NexStar 4SE (Item# BRKTPIG4), Comet Photo Setup, Brooklyn NYC Astrophotography
NYC Astrophotography, Celestron 4SE
Celestron 4SE and Canon 40D - NYC Astrophotography
Urban Comet Imaging – A Challenge Worth Taking
Capturing a comet from New York City is always a technical challenge.
High skyglow, limited visibility, and atmospheric haze make faint objects difficult to detect.
However, with careful stacking and processing, even a suburban or urban observer can document transient celestial visitors.
Comet 103P/Hartley 2 was especially memorable because it was visited by NASA’s EPOXI spacecraft during its 2010 flyby — making backyard imaging even more exciting.
Comets Over New York City – 14 Years Apart
Urban comet imaging has always been one of the most challenging and rewarding forms of astrophotography.
Fourteen years after capturing Comet 103P/Hartley 2 from Brooklyn, I photographed another bright visitor over New York City —
Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan–ATLAS) visible in NYC
.
The contrast between these two comet encounters is striking.
In 2010, Comet 103P/Hartley 2 was faint and not visible to the naked eye from New York City.
Its position had to be calculated using ephemerides, and a wide-field piggyback setup was required to locate and capture it through stacked exposures.
By comparison, Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan–ATLAS) was significantly brighter and easily visible without optical aid.
Using a more modern Canon EOS Ra, a much simpler imaging approach was possible — sometimes the sky itself provides the spectacle without the need for complex techniques.
Together, these two comets illustrate different faces of urban comet photography:
one a technical challenge requiring precision and persistence, the other a rare and unforgettable naked-eye visitor over the New York skyline.
This video demonstrates how Live View on the Canon EOS 40D can be used for basic
solar astrophotography when connected to the
Celestron NexStar 4SE telescope.
It was recorded on October 2, 2010 in Brooklyn, New York.
The main goal of this experiment was to show how Live View helps with
focusing, framing, and exposure control when photographing the Sun.
At the time, Live View was still relatively new on DSLR cameras, and this setup
made solar imaging much easier than using only the optical viewfinder.
IMPORTANT: The Sun was photographed only with a
proper full-aperture solar filter.
Never point a telescope or camera at the Sun without a certified solar filter.
Permanent eye and equipment damage can occur instantly.
The video includes images and footage from the following
assembly series, showing different ways to connect a Canon EOS camera
to the Celestron NexStar 4SE. The links below lead to the original photo posts
for reference.
After the mechanical setup, the video shows the Canon Live View feed on a computer
using Canon’s software, allowing real-time monitoring of what the camera sensor sees.
This makes it much easier to achieve accurate focus and capture surface detail.
Celestron Solar Filter for NexStar 4 SE and Celestron 4SE, Brooklyn NYC Astronomy
The image above shows the solar filter mounted on the NexStar 4SE.
This is the most critical component for solar imaging and must always be installed
before pointing the telescope toward the Sun.
Astrophotography NYC - Celestron 4SE and Canon 40D
This photo shows the full imaging setup with the Canon 40D attached to the NexStar 4SE.
Live View allows precise focusing without touching the telescope, minimizing vibration.
Sunspot - Solar Activity - Celestron 4SE -Brooklyn Astrophotography
The final image shows a close-up of the Sun with sunspot group 1109.
Only a portion of the solar disk is visible — this framing was intentional to better
reveal sunspot structure and surrounding bright regions.
These images and video capture Jupiter during its 2010 opposition, photographed on
September 20 and September 21, 2010 from my backyard in Brooklyn, New York.
Planetary opposition is one of the best times to observe Jupiter, as the planet is closest to Earth,
appears brighter, and shows its largest apparent disk.
All video data was recorded using a Celestron NexStar 4SE telescope with a
2× Barlow lens and the original Celestron NexImage CCD camera.
Despite heavy urban light pollution, Jupiter’s cloud bands and the Great Red Spot were clearly
resolved using high-frame-rate video capture and stacking techniques.
Capture & Processing Details
Telescope: Celestron NexStar 4SE
Camera: Celestron NexImage CCD
Barlow Lens: 2×
Frame Rate: 10 frames per second
Exposure: 1/10 second
Video Length: ~4 minutes per capture
Total Frames: ~2400
Resolution: 640 × 480 (AVI)
Stacking Software: RegiStax v5
Final Processing: Adobe Photoshop
The AVI video files were stacked in RegiStax v5, where the best frames were aligned
and combined to reduce atmospheric turbulence. Wavelet sharpening was applied to enhance fine
details, followed by final contrast and color adjustments in Photoshop.
The video demonstrates the complete planetary imaging workflow: the physical backyard telescope
setup, live Jupiter capture using AmCap, raw CCD footage, RegiStax stacking and
wavelet processing, and the final sharpened planetary images.
Image 1 shows three photographs of Jupiter arranged vertically, taken approximately
one hour apart. The planet’s rotation is clearly visible through the changing
position of the Great Red Spot. In the top image the Red Spot appears on the left
side of Jupiter’s disk, in the middle image it is near the center, and in the bottom image it has
moved toward the right side. From this sequence, Jupiter’s rapid rotation can be visually estimated
directly from the photographs.
Celestron 4 SE Jupiter Astrophoto Brooklyn
Image 2 shows the same three Jupiter photographs, again arranged vertically for
comparison. This layout makes the motion of the Great Red Spot even easier to follow and highlights
how much Jupiter rotates over a short period of time. Since Jupiter completes one full rotation in
roughly 10 hours, significant surface movement can be observed within a single
night of planetary imaging.
Comparison original one frame and Registax final Image, Celestron 4 SE, Brooklyn
This project demonstrates how effective planetary imaging can be even from a light-polluted city
when using high-frame-rate video capture and stacking techniques. Jupiter’s cloud belts, polar
shading, and the Great Red Spot are clearly visible thanks to careful capture timing and RegiStax
processing during opposition.
