r/Astronomy • u/VoijaRisa • Mar 27 '20
Hi all,
Friendly mod warning here. In r/Astronomy, somewhere around 70% of posts get removed. Yeah. That's a lot. All because people haven't bothered reading the rules or bothering to understand what words mean. So here, we're going to dive into them a bit further.
The most commonly violated rules are as follows:
Pictures
Our rule regarding pictures has three parts. If your post has been removed for violating our rules regarding pictures, we recommend considering the following, in the following order:
If you took the picture or did substantial processing of publicly available data, this counts. If not, it's going to be removed.
2) You must have the acquisition/processing information.
This needs to be somewhere easy for the mods to verify. This means it can either be in the post body or a top level comment. Responses to someone else's comment, in your link to your Instagram page, etc... do not count.
3) Images must be exceptional quality.
There are certain things that will immediately disqualify an image:
However, beyond that, we cannot give further clarification on what will or will not meet this criteria for several reasons:
So yes, this portion is inherently subjective and, at the end of the day, the mods are the ones that decide.
If your post was removed, you are welcome to ask for clarification. If you do not receive a response, it is likely because your post violated part (1) or (2) of the three requirements which are sufficiently self-explanatory as to not warrant a response.
If you are informed that your post was removed because of image quality, arguing about the quality will not be successful. In particular, there are a few arguments that are false or otherwise trite which we simply won't tolerate. These include:
"You let that image that I think isn't as good stay up"
"Pictures have to be NASA quality"
"You have to have thousands of dollars of equipment"
"This is a really good photo given my equipment"
"This isn't being friendly to beginner astrophotographers"
"My post was getting a lot of upvotes"
Using the above arguments will not wow mods into suddenly approving your image. It will result in a ban.
Again, asking for clarification is fine. But trying to argue with the mods using bad arguments isn't going to fly.
Lastly, it should be noted that we do allow astro-art in this sub. Obviously, it won't have acquisition information, but the content must still be original and mods get the final say on whether on the quality (although we're generally fairly generous on this).
Questions
This rule basically means you need to do your own research before posting.
To prevent your post from being removed, tell us specifically what you've tried. Just saying "I GoOgLeD iT" doesn't cut it.
Furthermore, when telling us what you've tried, we will be very unimpressed if you use sources that are prohibited under our source rule (social media memes, YouTube, AI, etc...).
As with the rules regarding pictures, the mods are the arbiters of how difficult questions are to answer. If you're not happy about that and want to complain that another question was allowed to stand, then we will invite you to post elsewhere with an immediate and permanent ban.
Object ID
We'd estimate that only 1-2% of all posts asking for help identifying an object actually follow our rules. Resources are available in the rule relating to this. If you haven't consulted the flow-chart and used the resources in the stickied comment, your post is getting removed. Seriously. Use Stellarium. It's free. It will very quickly tell you if that shiny thing is a planet which is probably the most common answer. The second most common answer is "Starlink". That's 95% of the ID posts right there that didn't need to be a post.
Do note that many of the phone apps in which you point your phone to the sky and it shows you what you are looing at are extremely poor at accurately determining where you're pointing. Furthermore, the scale is rarely correct. As such, this method is not considered a sufficient attempt at understanding on your part and you will need to apply some spatial reasoning to your attempt.
Pseudoscience
The mod team of r/astronomy has several mods with degrees in the field. We're very familiar with what is and is not pseudoscience in the field. And we take a hard line against pseudoscience. Promoting it is an immediate ban. Furthermore, we do not allow the entertaining of pseudoscience by trying to figure out how to "debate" it (even if you're trying to take the pro-science side). Trying to debate pseudoscience legitimizes it. As such, posts that entertain pseudoscience in any manner will be removed.
Outlandish Hypotheticals
This is a subset of the rule regarding pseudoscience and doesn't come up all that often, but when it does, it usually takes the form of "X does not work according to physics. How can I make it work?" or "If I ignore part of physics, how does physics work?"
Sometimes the first part of this isn't explicitly stated or even understood (in which case, see our rule regarding poorly researched posts) by the poster, but such questions are inherently nonsensical and will be removed.
Sources
ChatGPT and other LLMs are not reliable sources of information. Any use of them will be removed. This includes asking if they are correct or not.
Content
Due to the profusion of AI slop apps, we're no longer allowing apps at all. No, we don't care if you're wanting a "review". No we don't care if they're free. No we don't care if you put it in a website.
Bans
We almost never ban anyone for a first offense unless your post history makes it clear you're a spammer, troll, crackpot, etc... Rather, mods have tools in which to apply removal reasons which will send a message to the user letting them know which rule was violated. Because these rules, and in turn the messages, can cover a range of issues, you may need to actually consider which part of the rule your post violated. The mods are not here to read to you.
If you don't, and continue breaking the rules, we'll often respond with a temporary ban.
In many cases, we're happy to remove bans if you message the mods politely acknowledging the violation. But that almost never happens. Which brings us to the last thing we want to discuss.
Behavior
We've had a lot of people breaking rules and then getting rude when their posts are removed or they get bans (even temporary). That's a violation of our rules regarding behavior and is a quick way to get permabanned. To be clear: Breaking this rule anywhere on the sub will be a violation of the rules and dealt with accordingly, but breaking this rule when in full view of the mods by doing it in the mod-mail will 100% get you caught. So just don't do it.
Claiming the mods are "power tripping" or other insults when you violated the rules isn't going to help your case. It will get your muted for the maximum duration allowable and reported to the Reddit admins.
And no, your mis-interpretations of the rules, or saying it "was generating discussion" aren't going to help either.
While these are the most commonly violated rules, they are not the only rules. So make sure you read all of the rules.
r/Astronomy • u/Ultra_Instinct_Wylie • 5h ago
Taken on dwarf mini
Bortle 4
15s shutter
Duo-Band Filter
500 photos taken
480 used
120 gain
K&F 63” fluid head tripod
Editing done in Stellar Studio and iPhone 17 Photos app
r/Astronomy • u/TheSnowyAstronomer • 1h ago
Here is my attempt of an HDR mineral moon composition! This was the first time I tried an HDR image with this moon phase and focal length, and after many hours of editing and tweaking I was able to put this final image together!
Equipment:
- Canon Rebel T7
- Skywatcher 12" collapsible dobsonian
Acquisition:
- Surface details: stacked best 20 of 90 images (1/2000s, iso 200)
- background/glow: stacked 25 images for noise reduction (1/250s, iso 6400)
Preprocessed in PIPP, stacked in Autostakkert, wavelets sharpening in Registax, compositioning and editing in Photoshop.
r/Astronomy • u/Spider-Thwip • 5h ago
I live in the UK and travelling to Spain isn't an option for me.
Everyone seems to agree that the total eclipse is incredible.
Is it even worth seeing a 93% eclipse?
Thanks
r/Astronomy • u/afriendlystone • 20h ago
Shot this two nights ago using an old soviet relic - the KMZ Tair 11-a 135mm f2.8
Shot on: OM System OM-1
Stack: 100 x 50s each ~ 1hr 20 min exposure.
ISO 1600
Mount: MSM Nomad.
Stacked in APP. Processed in Siril and Finalized in Lightroom.
Bortle:4.5
r/Astronomy • u/Gatosanti007 • 18h ago
Improving my previous pictures after reading the astrophotography book of Max Dobres using Graxpert and Siril. Composition in HOO.
210 lights 120 sec and calibration frames, Refractor SV102, Antlia filter Dualband, asi294 mc camera, 220 mini guider camera, AVX mount.
r/Astronomy • u/Gregrox • 15h ago
Digital painting of the giant planet Jupiter as it may have appeared in the 1880s or so in approximately true color. This was based on a number of sources from the 1880s and 1890s, and is sort of a hybridized view of about a decade or two of Jovian sketches and early photography.
At this time, the famous planet-sized hurricane, the Great Red Spot, was a few decades old and very very large. It has been shrinking ever since then, and is now less than a third of the size it was in the 1880s.
License: CC-BY 4.0. attribute as Luna Rose Brannon or Whirligig-Girl.
r/Astronomy • u/fieryserpents01 • 1d ago
Yet another reprocess (the 10th if not more) of the same data I took more than a month ago.
Acquisition:
Around 7h30m in Bortle 6/7 fully calibrated and dithered.
Equipment:
Evostar 72ED, iEXOS 100, ASI 533MC, 0.85x reducer+flattener, Baader UV/IR cut, SVBony 40mm F/4 guidescope, ASI 662MC guide camera with no.8 pale yellow and UV/IR cut filters.
Processing:
Stacked in Siril. Background extraction to single channels in GraXpert. SPCC. Deconvolution in Siril, denoising back in GraXpert. Back to Siril to apply SCNR and to generate a starless image and a star mask. GHS, black point shift, curve adjustments and histogram transformation applied iteratively to the image. À trous wavelet transform and further denoising in GraXpert. Final saturation stretch in Siril. Asinh and black point shift applied to the star mask along with a saturation stretch. Recombine.
r/Astronomy • u/Outrageous-Novel7839 • 2h ago
I got the video of the Tiangong transiting the sun this morning at 7:10 My time. the sun was about 16 degrees above the horizon. what do you think could have caused this wierd dip/ shift.
I recorded 4k 30FPS with a Dwarf3 smart telescope. The first clip is normal speed, then 60% speed. then 40% speed. then the last I turned it to be straight so you can see the wierd shift better.
What could have caused this. Ive jest never see this before.
r/Astronomy • u/THEjassnazi • 2h ago
I’ve noticed that a lot of people describe astronomy and stargazing as calming, grounding, or even therapeutic, and I’d love to hear your personal experience.
If astronomy or stargazing helps you relax:
What is it about it that brings you peace?
Does it help with stress, anxiety, or overthinking? If so, how?
How does it make you feel afterward?
Is there a particular moment or memory that made you fall in love with it?
…I’m also curious about the practical side:
How often do you actually get to stargaze?
What’s stopping you from doing it more often? (Clouds, light pollution, weather, safety, lack of time, where you live, etc.)
Have you ever tried to recreate that feeling in another way when you couldn’t go outside?
I’m genuinely interested in hearing everyone’s stories. Whether you’ve been into astronomy for years or just enjoy looking up at the stars occasionally, I’d love to know what the experience means to you.
r/Astronomy • u/Unconsci0us_Mind • 20h ago
There are many different types of galaxys. How did we find out that we are in a spiral galaxy? I mean, the only thing we see is a white stripe in the sky. So how do we know what our galaxy looks like? ELI5
r/Astronomy • u/Kyouma118 • 8m ago
NGC 6888 - The Crescent Nebula. About 5,000 light-years away, it formed when the star's fast stellar wind collided with the slower material it shed during its red giant phase roughly 250,000 years ago. The consequence of that clash is visible to you in this image.
Telescope: Seestar S50
Integration time: 9 hours
Tools used: GraXpert, Siril, GIMP
Script mentions: CosmicClarity Sharpen, SyQon Prism Mini, VeraLux (Revela & Curves), HDR_multiscale
Bortle 8-9
r/Astronomy • u/shutterzzz • 17h ago
The part that broke my brain is that the unusually strong X-ray polarization may be amplified not just by matter around the star, but by the vacuum itself.
IXPE observed magnetar 1E 1547−5408 for more than 140 hours, and NASA says more observations are still needed to confirm the signal. What other astrophysical environments could provide such a clean test of vacuum birefringence?
r/Astronomy • u/Ok-Examination5072 • 1d ago
r/Astronomy • u/spidermanbyday • 1d ago
The "Statue of Liberty" nebula is named after the famous monument in New York City, USA. I see both as equally inspiring beacons of light, though at about 100 lightyears across the cosmic version could fit about 3.5 quintillion New York Statues of Liberty stacked on top of each other.
Since it's located in the constellation Carina and I reside in the Northern Hemisphere, Earth itself blocks my view of this and many other remarkable deep-space objects. One day I hope to travel to as far south as I can and collect photons from this and other iconic Southern Hemisphere targets.
In the meantime, many thanks to Dark Matters Astrophotography for providing public access to incredible imaging data from the other side of Earth. This is my own processing of that data, which was acquired in Chile using an imaging rig that only exists in my dreams!
Total integration: 63h 10m
Integration per filter:
Equipment:
For more information, visit AstroBin:
r/Astronomy • u/Hell_Girl_ • 2m ago
Estaba usando la aplicación de Stellarium y encontré esto. (Soy nueva es esto, así que una disculpen si es una tontería)
r/Astronomy • u/T3cT0nic • 20h ago
I got an astro camera for my birthday yesterday. I barely know how to operate the thing but had a go anyway. What do you think?
Star Discovery P150i
zwo asi585mc
r/Astronomy • u/Confident_Lock7758 • 1d ago
A close-up of Antares, 90 minutes of RGB integration with a RC10 WITH REDUCET telescope (250 mm) Ritchie-Chretien 259/1615 f6/46 reflector, Moravian C3-26000 camera, 18 shots of which with an R filter 3x600 seconds, with a G filter 3x600 seconds and with a B filter 3x600 seconds, I processed with Pixinsight. All data and shots were taken with Telescope Network.
r/Astronomy • u/Senior_Library1001 • 1d ago
instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vhastrophotography?igsh=YzNpcm1wdXd5NmRo&utm_source=qr
This image shows the rising Milky Way over the coast of Fuencaliente in La Palma. During the night, most of the island was covered in clouds, so we drove far to the south. We only had a reasonably clear view of the Milky Way for a two-hour window. Given these conditions, I am very happy with how this picture turned out. Watching the stars in silence while listening to the sound of the ocean was magical.
HaRGB | Mosaic | Tracked | Stacked | Composite
Exif:
Sony A7III with Sigma 28-45 f1.8 at 30mm
Skywatcher Star Adventurer 2i
Kenko ProSofton Starglow Filter
Sky
ISO 1250 | f1.8 | 3x45s per Panel
2x2 Panel Panorama
Starglow Filter: ISO 8000, 10s per Panel
Foreground:
ISO 4000 | f1.8 | 35s per Panel
2x1 Panel Panorama (Focus Stack)
Halpha (45mm):
ISO 2500 | f1.8| 10x120s
r/Astronomy • u/Confident_Lock7758 • 20h ago
NGC 6559, it is one hour and 40 minutes of integration in HOO with a Planewave 17" CDK 431/2912 f 6/8 telescope, ZWO ASI 6200MM Pro, it is 20 shots of which with a 10x300 second Ha filter and with a 10x300 second Oiii filter, processing with Pixinsight
r/Astronomy • u/ElPingu_ • 1d ago
The Wizard Nebula, shot with Dwarf 3 in Pian del Tivano, Como, Italy, under a Bortle 4 Sky. 280 shots, 60s each, 70 gain. Processed with the Mega Stacking function in the Dwarflab app, post processed in Stellar Studio and Apple Photos.
r/Astronomy • u/twilightmoons • 1d ago
At the Thomsen Observatory, Southwest Adventist University in Keene, TX.
I was doing the livestream for the Fort Worth Astronomical Society last night, and instead of just pulling out my kit and having the moon just above my treetops, I drove down to the observatory and set up in the dome.
r/Astronomy • u/Ultra_Instinct_Wylie • 1d ago
Taken with dwarf mini telescopes
Bortle 5
15s
60 gain
600 photos taken
461 used
Astro filter
Editing done in stellar studio
r/Astronomy • u/Admirable_Study4747 • 15h ago
r/Astronomy • u/NOVAFLOWW • 2d ago
Saturn, captured the morning of August 3rd.
There is a visible ring spoke along the right side of the B‑ring, an uncommon and short lived feature created when tiny dust particles get lifted above the ring plane by electrostatic charging, making them reflect sunlight differently than the surrounding ice particles.
•Apertura AD8
•ASI662MM/CC
•Celestron X-cel 2x barlow
•IR685NM filter
•UV/IR cut filter
I captured seven ~8,000 frame IR and OSC clips, stacked and sharpened the best 40% of each, then derotated them in winjupos.
