Vent: My best Milky Way shot got ruined by a car's headlights

I was out at Joshua Tree last month, set up my Sky-Watcher mount for a 3 hour stack of the galactic core. Had everything dialed in, perfect focus, tracking was solid. Right at the 2 hour mark, a car pulled into the parking area about 50 yards away and just left their high beams on for a full 10 minutes. The whole foreground was blown out and the sky glow washed out half my subs. I was so mad I almost packed up, but I decided to just wait them out. They finally left, and I got another 45 minutes of data. In processing, I had to toss like 70 frames from the middle of the sequence, but stacking the good ones with the new ones still gave me a decent final image. Has anyone else salvaged a session after a major light pollution spike like that?

3 comments

3 Comments

moore.beth11d agoMost Upvoted

Wait, they just left their high beams on for ten whole minutes? That's insane. Good on you for saving the session though.

patricia26211d ago

Right? I was ready to go knock on their window. The glare completely washed out my camera screen, had to shield it with my jacket just to see the settings. Honestly thought the whole night's work was ruined until they finally drove off.

the_rowan11d ago

Ugh, that kind of thing would make me see red... glad you got the shot.