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Anas Odeh’s Story: A 16-Year-Old Astrophotographer Chasing the Stars Under Bortle 9 Skies
Anas Odeh’s Story: A 16-Year-Old Astrophotographer Chasing the Stars Under Bortle 9 Skies
My name is Anas, and I’m a 16-year-old astrophotographer and astronomy enthusiast from Qatar. I mainly do my imaging from Doha under Bortle 9 skies, where severe light pollution makes deep-sky astrophotography especially challenging. My main setup is the ZWO Seestar S50 in EQ mode.
My journey into astrophotography started from a fascination with astronomy that gradually developed into something much more than simply looking at the night sky. Over time, I became interested not only in taking beautiful images, but also in understanding the science behind them and learning how astronomical data can be used for real research.
One thing that keeps me motivated is seeing how far I can push a small telescope under such difficult skies. For me, the key is patience, long integration times, careful acquisition, and processing. Some projects take many nights of imaging and hours of processing, but that challenge is also what makes the final result so rewarding.
Four images are especially meaningful to me:
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NGC 6995 – Eastern Veil Nebula: 11h 27m 20s
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IC 434 – Horsehead Nebula: 6h 23m 20s (star spikes added artificially in Seti-Astro Suite)
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NGC 2237 – Rosette Nebula: 8h 28m 20s (with the L-eXtreme filter, star spikes added artificially in Seti-Astro Suite)
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SH2-274 – Medusa Nebula: 24h 12m 40s
All four images were captured from Doha with the Seestar S50 and processed by me using PixInsight.
The Medusa Nebula was the most challenging. I spent around two weeks gradually collecting data whenever conditions allowed, followed by another 13 hours of processing. It may not be my prettiest image, but seeing the final result emerge from Bortle 9 skies—especially after being told it might not turn out well—made it especially meaningful.
For me, these projects show how much can still be achieved from heavily light-polluted skies with a compact setup, enough integration time, and persistence. I hope my experience can encourage other young astrophotographers to keep experimenting, learning, and pushing their equipment further.
Condividere