A quick tip from my trip to the Badlands last month | Astronomy Photos

Mila Anderson · 2026-03-13T22:50:05.946262+00:00

I was out there for the dark skies and brought my camera, obviously. The thing I almost messed up was not checking the moon phase before I left. It was a full moon, so the sky was way too bright for deep space stuff. I ended up focusing on some cool wide-angle shots of the rock formations with the moonlit sky instead. Anyone have a good app or site they use to plan around the moon for astro trips?

nathana487mo ago

Matthews21's juniper story beats my moonlit cactus fail.

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phoenix9707mo ago

Actually, a bright moon makes foreground shots way easier.

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matthews217mo ago

Yeah, the moon can totally wreck a dark sky trip. I got caught once trying to shoot the Milky Way with a gibbous moon rising. Washed out the whole core. Now I basically treat a bright moon as a chance to scout locations or practice foreground lighting with a headlamp. Got some wild long exposure practice that way, light painting those twisted juniper trees out west.

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