Learn Untracked Deep Space Astrophotography for FREE - No Telescope or Tracker | Course by Galactic Hunter
My Untracked Deep Space Astrophotography course is a FREE online course that will teach you how to take amazing pictures of galaxies and nebulae without using a telescope or sky tracker.
Whether you are a complete beginner or are already experienced but are looking for a challenge, this course will show you how to get the very best out of just your tripod, camera, and lens.
The Untracked Deep Space course consists of 7 chapters and 69 lessons, with extra content added over time.
Learn to Capture Pictures of Space without a Telescope
This course covers all you need to know about untracked astrophotography so you can skip the frustrating nights, the equipment issues, and save time sifting through hundreds of tutorials published on YouTube. Your instructor, Antoine of Galactic Hunter, will help you master your gear so that you can get the best possible shot of your chosen galaxy or nebula with only a tripod and camera. The screenshots below were taken directly from the course, and show the setup used as well as the picture of the Andromeda Galaxy captured with just 28 minutes of exposure time!
I'll give you the best training to photograph deep-sky objects like large nebulae and galaxies with no fancy gear! Complete the course in just a few days with easy-to-follow lessons, and start capturing space with equipment you already have. You will learn all you need to know about the gear, planning your night, how to find a good target and keep it centered without a tracker, and of course how to process all your data.
What is Covered in the Untracked Deep Space Imaging Course?
Building your own Beginner Rig
The goal of this chapter is to help you get your rig ready to image the night sky. Learn what tripod, camera, and lens are best for the job, and get ideas on accessories you can use to make your life easier, like an intervalometer or battery grip.
Planning and Camera Settings
These chapters make you understand how to properly plan your night so that everything goes according to plan and you go home successfully! Learn about the impact of light pollution, where to find a good location for capturing your chosen target, know which apps and websites I recommend for checking the weather, and how to simulate your night using planetarium software. Get ideas for more objects to shoot, know how to clean your camera sensor, and more.
You'll also discover what camera settings to use depending on your target and equipment.
Some of the lessons related to planning and camera settings include:
The Best Time to Image the Andromeda Galaxy
Ideas of Targets You Can Shoot
The Best Location to Image a Galaxy and Escaping Light Pollution
Using Stellarium and SkySafari to Plan our Shot
Useful Apps for Astrophotography
Ensuring that the Camera Sensor is Clean
Camera Navigation
The "500 Rule" and the "NPF Rule"
Camera Settings
Switching the Lens to "Manual" Mode
How to Switch to BULB Mode
How to Use the Built-In Intervalometer Feature in Newer Cameras
Photograph a Deep Sky Object With Just a Tripod and Camera
It is time to shoot! In case you didn't know, a tripod and camera are enough to capture galaxies and nebulae! In the Imaging chapter, you will learn how to capture the magnificent Andromeda Galaxy with just your tripod, camera, and lens. I will teach you everything from setting up your equipment to keeping your target centered throughout the night to taking calibration frames. Once you decide to pack up, you can be sure that your SD card will be full of high-quality raw data ready to be processed!
The best thing is that you can use what you learned to then capture other deep sky objects, like other galaxies or colorful nebulae!
This chapter will cover everything you need to know to capture a deep sky object without a telescope or tracker, including:
Arriving on Location and Picking a Spot
Setting Up
Focussing the Lens
Finding M31 and Centering It
Shooting M31 and Keeping it Centered
Taking Dark Calibration Frames
Taking Bias Calibration Frames
Master Data Processing
In this section, you'll learn how to use PixInsight to stack and process your files. The goal will be to turn your raw data into an impressive picture you can be proud of!
Follow an easy step-by-step workflow to get the most beautiful result possible, and even download my data and custom process icons to follow along or practice if needed!
The Data Processing chapter includes:
Importing and Organizing our Files
Download our Raw File!
Download our Process Icons
How to Install PixInsight
Using Deep Sky Stacker [Free]
Keeping Only the Good (Blink)
Stacking with PixInsight
Dynamic Crop and Rotation
Gradient Correction
Star Size Reduction and Detail Enhancements
Noise Reduction
Stretch to Non-Linear
Green Removal
Star Extraction
Detail Enhancements
Contrast & Color Enhancements
Fixing the Core
Adding the Stars Back and Reducing their Size
Image Export
End Quizzes
Each chapter ends in a short, fun, and optional quiz to help remind you of what you just learned. These quizzes are a great way to give your brain an extra push to remember the important topics covered. Try and get a high score!
There is also a short survey at the very end of the course which you can use to give us constructive feedback on what to improve over time!
Your Instructors
You are much more likely to enjoy a class and get good grades if the teacher is likable, knows their stuff, and cares about you. I believe that this is also the case for this course!
I am Antoine Grelin, I have been doing astrophotography for more than 10 years and have been sharing my journey along with tons of tutorials on my YouTube channel and website.
For all these years, I have worked hard with the help of my wife Dalia to produce free videos and written tutorials to help beginner astrophotographers get better pictures of the night sky. I also spend several hours every single week replying to all the e-mails I receive requesting help. I care about everyone I interact with in this hobby, and I love seeing you progress over time.
In all these years of experience doing astrophotography full-time, Dalia and I have helped hundreds of beginners troubleshoot issues and get better, worked with many astronomy companies, mastered almost all aspects of astro-imaging, and received so many awards and features, like NASA APODs, AAPOD2s, magazine and books publications, TV documentaries, News articles, and more. We actually got overwhelmed with all the features we got that we stopped updating our Awards page!
Some of the places where our images got featured
Other works we've done include books, like The Astrophotographer's Guidebook, The Messier Catalog Workbook, and The Constellations Handbook which all have excellent reviews on Amazon.
As your mentor, I will be with you whenever you need help and do my very best to skyrocket your astrophotography skills so that you can also, one day, get too many features and awards to keep count!
Why Get One When You Can Get All?
The Deep Space Untracked Astrophotography course is part of the Galactic Course Ultimate Bundle, which also includes courses on Deep Sky Imaging with a telescope, Milky Way photography, Star trails, Time-lapses, Remote Imaging, all the processing guides, and several perks!
The Ultimate Bundle, as well as the other two, have a small annual renewal fee, but include so much more and regular updates! Try it and feel free to cancel at any time if you do not like it!
We strongly suggest getting the Ultimate Bundle to unlock all our learning content and get the very best out your investment.
Each bundle also gives you bonus perks, like access to our private community on Discord, priority email support whenever you contact us, and much more depending on the bundle!
Untracked Astrophotography Course - Final Thoughts
Whether you get into this free untracked astrophotography course or join the Ultimate bundle, I guarantee you that you will learn a lot about astro-imaging!
I am happy to make this course completely free because I know it will help hundreds of people realize that astrophotography is not out of reach if you don't have gear. This course is meant to open the scary gates of deep sky astrophotography to everyone, no matter the budget or skill level.
We hope to see you become a member and share your first images on the Discord channel!
Clear Skies,
Antoine Grelin
Galactic Hunter
