Serious question, satellite streaks are wrecking my long exposure shots

I was out last night trying to capture the Andromeda galaxy. Every time I thought I had a good frame, a satellite line ruined it, so I started learning to stack images. How do you all handle these without going crazy?

3 comments

3 Comments

derek_schmidt1mo agoTop Commenter

Come on, is it really wrecking every single shot? I feel like people blow this way out of proportion. How many streaks are you actually getting in one frame? Stacking a few images should easily take care of the random line here and there, that's the whole point of doing it. Maybe just take more exposures so you have more to work with.

barnes.shane1mo ago

Yeah, stacking works until you get that one perfect meteor shot with a bright satellite line right through the core. Happened to me last fall up near Big Pine, totally ruined the best frame of the night. Had to clone stamp for ages and it still looked fake.

skylerh501mo ago

Shooting in Joshua Tree last month, I got maybe two or three faint streaks across a 30-second exposure at most. You're right on the money, @derek_schmidt. Stacking just ten frames completely averaged them out in the final image. People do seem to panic over something that basic processing fixes.