Los Angeles Astrophotography California

"Man's sense of values ought to be revised. 

If all mankind could look through that telescope, 

it would change the world!"

-- Griffith J. Griffith

There are some night astronomical photos from my trip to Los Angeles, California.

Ironically, the Griffith Observatory is closing at night  :( so don’t have a lot of time to made photos. There is iconic view to Los Angeles.

Los Angeles Astrophotography night view from the Griffith Observatory California

Los Angels city skyline at night Griffith Observatory Astrophotography

Griffith Observatory at night, Los Angeles, CA

Night City Light pollution Hollywood

Removing Light pollution Astrophotography Urban Astronomy

The moon and the stars no longer come to the farm. The farmer has exchanged his birthright in them for the wattage of his all-night sun. His children will never know the blessed dark of night.

 — Leslie Peltier in his autobiography

Comparison of original image and final one after removing of the light pollution – night photo of Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco, California.

Light pollution Astrophotography Urban Astronomy

Photoshop instruction:

Step1: Select the Layers panel and then  duplicate the layer
Step 2: Filter -> Noise -> Median… (about 50 px)
Step 3: Filter-> Blue -> Gaussian Blue… (about 30px)
Step 4: Select original layer
Step 5: Image -> Apply image (Blending: Subtract; Offset: 40)
Step 6: Delete the duplicate layer

See for example video in my other post Comet 103P/Hartley 2 from New York City

Note, that Astronomy Tools has more sophisticated methods to remove light pollution, or you can do some variations of such methods (it depends from size of you original image). You also can apply it only for part of original image.

The other way to remove light pollution is using multiple images, see for example my other post M42 Orion Nebula using iOptron SkyTracker in NYC

Comet 103P/Hartley 2 from New York City

From the public, his discovery brought cheers. 

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

Comet Hartley 2, Celestron 4SE Canon 40D Brooklyn

Comet Hartley 2

The Green Comet 103P/Hartley 2 (2010)
Canon 40D piggybacked Celestron NexStar 4SE,
Brooklyn, NY, October 12, 2010

27 x 60 seconds
Shutter speed of one photo 60 second
ISO Speed 1250
White balance: Daylight
Lens EF28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM
Focal Length 28.0 mm
Long exposure noise reduction : Disable
High ISO speed noise reduction : Enable


Light pollution was removed in PhotoShop using Filter Noise median and Filter - Blur - Gaussian Blur
Stacked photo using DeepSky Stacker
Finally was edited in PhotoShop

Brooklyn Astrophotography, Celestron 4SE PiggyBack, NYC Astronomy

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