Also recently: Blue Ghost lander captures sunset shots on moon before falling silent https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43410302
I was in Tenerife in November 2024. I did some basic astrophotography one night with my Pixel 6 phone and a steady hand.
I managed to photograph M31, the Andromeda Galaxy for the very first time. It just appears as a faint oval smudge... but I was in awe.
Locating it was a challenge (I was flipping between a 2D star chart and my photos) so I was very happy to finally capture it. A few days later I discovered the Stellarium app which makes locating things much easier.
Keeping in mind that you photographing a specific thing in the sky, not the startrails, as missing a frame will be very visible there.
Unfortunately, we weren't the only people with this idea. Half the town had descended on to this one meadow. It was quite comical seeing people awkwardly milling around who had clearly never been in a meadow in the dark before. Phone lights were on as well as fully lit screens etc. I think I've had better night vision during the day.
One of them suddenly exclaimed, "is that it?!". It was, in fact, not "it", but rather the glow from the town in which we all lived.
I think the shelter's closed right now, so I guess in both cases it would probably be workers coming down.
Seems like they decided last minute to hike up for doing the shooting, so I hope they got the night permit.
Whining about flashlights ruining your shot is one thing - not having compassion for someone who might be searching the mountain for a lost colleague, or any one of a number of other possible scenarios, is another thing entirely.
Its quite psychopathic to not at least consider that there might have been a more noble purpose behind those flashlights than just "some random creep ruining my special shot".
In this scenario, the onus of responsibility is on the photographer, not the other visitors, to ensure the sterility of their scene. Why didn't the author climb up there and talk to them, or coordinate at the visitors center, or some such effort - instead of just immediately jumping to hostile blame.
