Astrophotography Gear for the Milky Way, Deep Sky and Moon

For the Milky Way you need three things besides the camera: a tripod that stays still, a fast wide lens and a way to keep dew off the glass. For galaxies and nebulae, add a star tracker, which is what lets the shutter stay open for minutes. For the Moon, or if you would sooner not build a rig at all, a smart telescope does the whole job from a phone.

Our picks from the makers’ specifications and prices: the Rokinon 14mm F2.8 lens at about $250, the Move Shoot Move Nomad tracker at about $260, the Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer 2i at about $585 once you move to longer lenses, and the Seestar S30 Pro smart telescope at about $700. We have not shot with any of it, and this page is about the gear around the camera, not the camera.

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The gear compared

Prices are from each maker’s own US store, rounded.

What a star tracker does

The Earth turns, so over a long exposure the stars slide across the frame and come out as streaks. A star tracker is a small motorised mount that sits between the tripod and the camera and turns the camera the other way at the same rate.

Move Shoot Move puts it in one line: by counteracting Earth’s rotation, its tracker removes star trails during long exposures. Sky-Watcher calls its own a celestial tracking platform with separate speeds for the stars, the Sun and the Moon. To work, a tracker’s axis has to be pointed at the celestial pole first. Makers call that polar alignment, and they supply a small sighting scope, a laser or a phone mount to do it.

For the Milky Way

The Milky Way is big and faint, so the lens matters more than anything else you buy.

A fast wide lens

The cheap way in is the Rokinon 14mm F2.8, a manual-focus lens that Rokinon’s US store sells for about $250 in Canon EF or Sony E mount, and between about $225 and $320 across its other mounts. The Series II version, from about $260, adds weather sealing and a lock that holds focus at infinity through a long exposure. Rokinon says astrophotographers will love that, and for once the sales line is the reason to pay the extra. Rokinon 14mm F2.8 on Amazon

For more light, the Rokinon 24mm F1.4 costs about $370 to $500 by mount and lets in four times what an f/2.8 lens does. Rokinon 24mm F1.4 on Amazon

The Sigma 20mm F1.4 DG DN Art, about $990 for Sony E and L-mount cameras, is built around this job. Sigma lists a switch that locks the focus ring and a lip at the front that stops a heater band sliding into the picture. Its 14mm F1.4 was replaced by a new 14mm F1.4 DG Art at about $1,840, which Sigma sells by special order only. Sigma 20mm F1.4 DG DN Art on Amazon

A tripod

Any solid photo tripod will do for a wide lens. If you expect to add a tracker later, buy a tripod made for one. Sky-Watcher’s Star Adventurer Tripod is about $105, and iOptron’s steel-legged one about $125. The Sky-Watcher 2i and iOptron trackers below also fit an ordinary tripod with a 3/8-inch thread, by their makers’ descriptions.

• Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer Tripod on Amazon
• iOptron 1.25-inch tripod on Amazon

A dew heater

On a cold, damp night the front of the lens fogs. Sigma describes the cure as a belt-shaped heater wrapped around the lens to stop condensation forming. Move Shoot Move sells one for about $20. It plugs into any 5-volt USB power bank, has three heat levels and wraps lenses up to 13.5cm across. Move Shoot Move dew heater on Amazon

A light-pollution filter

The Hoya Starscape was on this page in 2023 and is still on Hoya’s US store, from about $42 in 49mm to about $175 in 82mm. Hoya says it blocks part of the yellow-orange glow from sodium and mercury-vapour street lamps, and that it is not adding blue or changing the colour of the scene. Its description says nothing about LED street lighting, so find out what your town uses before buying. Check that your lens has a front thread in a size Hoya makes: Sigma’s 14mm, for one, takes only a rear gel filter. Hoya Starscape on Amazon

A small tracker

The Move Shoot Move Nomad weighs 430 g and costs about $260 in a kit with a ball head and a laser for alignment. Move Shoot Move says it follows wide Milky Way scenes, comets and deep-sky objects such as Orion and the Andromeda galaxy. For a wide lens it is all the tracker you need. Move Shoot Move Nomad on Amazon

For deep sky

Galaxies and nebulae need longer lenses and longer exposures, which means a tracker that can carry weight, or a telescope that does the tracking itself.

Trackers for a camera

• iOptron SkyGuider Pro, about $360. iOptron’s list price for the full package is $539, and its store had it reduced. It carries 11 pounds when balanced, has a built-in rechargeable battery and comes with a polar scope and a counterweight. At the sale price it is the cheapest way to an 11-pound tracker. iOptron SkyGuider Pro on Amazon
• Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer 2i Pro Pack, about $585. The same 11-pound capacity, with Wi-Fi so a phone app sets it up, and a shutter cable that fires the camera on a programme. Sky-Watcher notes that the camera, tripod and telescope are not included. Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer 2i Pro Pack on Amazon
• Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer GTi, about $830 with tripod. This one finds the target for you. Sky-Watcher calls it full GoTo, controlled from a phone, and says it will carry a small telescope as well as a camera. The head alone is about $720. Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer GTi on Amazon

Smart telescopes

A smart telescope has its own lens, sensor, mount and battery in one case. You pick a target in an app and it points, tracks and adds up short exposures by itself. You do not need a camera at all.

• ZWO Seestar S30 Pro, about $700. ZWO lists a 30mm lens with a 160mm focal length, a 4K Sony sensor, a second wide camera, a built-in light-pollution filter, 128GB of storage and six hours of battery in a 1.65kg body. The cheaper S30 and S50 were marked sold out on Seestar’s own store, and an S50 Pro is about $1,000. ZWO Seestar S30 Pro on Amazon
• Vaonis Vespera II, about $1,590. Vaonis lists a Sony IMX585 sensor behind a four-element lens, autofocus that keeps working through the night, and a mosaic mode that builds images of up to 24 megapixels. Vaonis also sells a Vespera 3 at about $2,490. Vaonis Vespera II on Amazon
• Unistellar Odyssey, about $2,600. Unistellar pitches it at planets as well as deep sky, with a catalogue of more than 5,000 objects and a full-height tripod in the box. It is hard to argue for at nearly four times the price of the Seestar unless planets are the point. Unistellar Odyssey on Amazon

For the Moon

The Moon is bright, so exposures are short and you do not need a tracker to get started. What you need is reach.

The cheapest route is the Vaonis Hestia at about $190. It has no electronics. Vaonis describes it as six lenses that sit in front of a phone’s camera and multiply its zoom by 25, with a free app to guide you to the target. Vaonis names lunar craters and sunspots among its subjects. Vaonis Hestia on Amazon

The smart telescopes above also cover the Moon. With a camera and a long lens, the Sky-Watcher trackers have a lunar tracking speed that holds the Moon in the frame for a sequence of shots.

Intervalometers

An intervalometer fires the shutter again and again on a timer, which is how star trails and time-lapses are made. Before buying one, look in the camera’s menu for an interval timer, and at the tracker: Sky-Watcher says the Star Adventurer 2i needs no separate intervalometer, because it triggers the camera through a shutter cable.

The 2023 version of this page recommended the Pixel TW-283. Pixel’s own site now shows lights and microphones and no timer remotes, so we have dropped it. If you buy another brand’s remote, match the plug to your camera’s remote socket.

What changed since 2023

The old list had five items. The Hoya filter is still here. The Pixel timer is covered above. The Anker power bank, Celestron cleaning kit and Vanguard backpack were general accessories, and most USB power banks will run a dew heater.

Which to pick

• First Milky Way kit: a solid tripod, the Rokinon 14mm F2.8 and a $20 dew heater.
• Sharper Milky Way shots: add the Move Shoot Move Nomad.
• Deep sky with your own camera: the iOptron SkyGuider Pro while it is on sale, otherwise the Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer 2i Pro Pack.
• Deep sky with no camera and no learning curve: the Seestar S30 Pro.
• The Moon on a phone: the Vaonis Hestia.

Quick answers

What equipment do I need for astrophotography?

A camera with manual exposure, a tripod and a fast wide lens will photograph the Milky Way. A star tracker comes next. A dew heater stops a damp night ending the session early.

What is a star tracker in photography?

A motorised mount between the tripod and the camera that turns against the Earth’s rotation, so stars stay as points during a long exposure.

What is the best star tracker for a beginner?

For wide lenses, the Move Shoot Move Nomad at about $260, because it is the lightest and cheapest here. If you plan to use a long lens, start with an 11-pound tracker such as the iOptron SkyGuider Pro.

What is the best lens for astrophotography?

A wide one with a large aperture. The Rokinon 14mm F2.8 is the low-cost choice in most mounts, and the Sigma 20mm F1.4 DG DN Art is the one built for the job on Sony E and L-mount cameras.

Is a smart telescope good for astrophotography?

For deep-sky pictures with no rig to build, yes. The trade is that the lens and sensor are fixed. The Seestar S30 Pro is the cheapest self-contained one we found in stock on its maker’s store.

Prices move, so confirm on the maker’s store before you pay.