Milky Way Untracked: A Pixel 8 Pro Astrophotography Test
A single 4-minute shot taken with a Google Pixel 8 Pro. I took it as a test to see what the astrophoto mode on this phone can do, and I have to say, I was surprised, so I thought of posting it here.
Acquisition and Processing Details
The image is a single 4-minute exposure captured using the astrophotography mode of the Google Pixel 8 Pro. The shot was taken untracked, meaning no equatorial mount was used to counteract the Earth's rotation.
The raw image was processed in Lightroom, with adjustments including curves for contrast enhancement and color correction to bring out the details of the Milky Way.
The Star Trailing Question
One of the most common questions when dealing with long exposures of the night sky, especially untracked, is the presence of star trailing. In this case, the user noted that upon zooming in, some star trailing is indeed visible. It's hypothesized that the phone's internal software might be applying some form of stacking or image stabilization to mitigate the apparent trailing.
This experiment highlights the impressive capabilities of modern smartphone cameras for astrophotography, pushing the boundaries of what's possible with dedicated hardware.
