I also wanted to say, just keep the hobby fun. Also, keep your YT video making as fun as possible too. You aren't a servant to YT/viewers like me, it's us the viewers who actually owe you something, for all the hours of work you put in to produce and upload said videos that viewers like myself get to enjoy and learn from, so no pressure and plenty of fun wherever possible my friend!

@AstroExploring

5 ай бұрын

Very kind words, Wesley! Thank you

I find Astrophotography so easy to burn out on, I’ve not done any for 7 months other than bit of Milky Way, mixing work with late nights isn’t as easy as I get older. It’s good to see you back, but life, happiness and enjoyment has to come first for you.

Good to see you're back - looking fwd to future videos! Take it easy and enjoy your family life.

I will be here patiently waiting for your videos. Stay happy and enjoy life!!

Great to have you back! Looking forward to your equipment reviews. Wishing you a stellar 2024.

Congrats on the upcoming arrival, and welcome back. Love your videos.

Glad you’re back Nick. Looking forward to seeing what you bring to your channel this yr.

Thank you for giving me the chance to join your path through space and time ... I like your open style of communication and wish you and your family all the best for 2024 ... Happy New Year and greetings from Switzerland ... bad conditions as well ... clear skies!

Good to have you back Nick. I have always enjoyed your videos and our interactions on here & twitter etc. Glad you've found your mojo again, I will look forward to seeing new stuff. As always I will support and spread the word! Thanks for all your efforts helping people in this hobby.

Congratulations on the baby. I enjoyed your videos and your teaching style. Glad you’re back when you have time.

Glad you are back! I have missed your level of sarcastic humour in your videos, it is what made them very watchable. Congratulations on the new baby coming soon. See you in a year (that when you might get a bit of free time once the initial nappy rush has pasted)!!!

Good to see you back at it.

Welcome back!!

Sounds like the break did you good. Totally understandable. Glad to hear you are back and motivated! It's all about entertainment, learning opportunities and sharing ideas. You are very good at that. And congratulations on the new family addition!

Good to see you back Nick. 👊🏼

Hey, welcome back and congrats on the upcoming new member of the family! Looking forward to the AM5 review and love the new perspective for your channel. 😊

I learnt a lot from your videos. So thank you for those. I totally understand why you had to take a break. Weather has been hopeless and those clear nights just dont synchronise with life. Best wishes for 2024. cherish the family moments.

Welcome back , you've already helped me on my journey so thanks a lot.. totally agree with all you said . Good luck with new baby!

@AstroExploring

5 ай бұрын

Thanks so much, Nigel!

Good on you, Nick. I do enjoy your videos and advice on astro. 2023 was pants in the uk. Here's to clear skies. Keep up the good work. Congratulations on the new baby and good luck with balancing the new baby and astro

Nick, your honesty is very refreshing. Great to see you back.

Nice to see you back mate.

good job ....less is always better. Congratulations for your new entry family. i waiting for you .... but ....easy

Glad to see you back....ive just forced myself to setup for the first time in about 4months, the weather has been terrible!!!

ZWO Seestar is simply amazing. That linked with some post processing in Siril / Gimp / DSS would be good.. hint hint.

So glad you're back, Nick! You have been so useful on my astro journey as I have some of the same gear as you i.e. Skywatcher 72Ed , HEQ 5, etc. Your experiences have been invaluable. I agree that keeping everything fun is so important for any hobby. Hope everything goes well as regards your new addition to your family. Looking forward to new videos when ever they come out!

@AstroExploring

5 ай бұрын

Thanks David, appreciate the support!

Congratulations on the baby👏👏👏 fun time’s ahead. Loved your video, I love astrophotography but it can be a bit overwhelming at times. It’s nice to keep it simple sometimes, camera and a tripod, and just get out under the stars.

"Family comes first" as Dom Toretto would say. Big welcome back and I hope you succeed in finding a good balance between life and hobby. We enjoy watching your videos and we hope yhat you will enjoy making them. 😊 We don't get a lot of clear nights here in the far north of Sweden but I'm willing to send you a couple if it helps. 😉

Glad to see you back Nick and congratulations on the family! I was in the same position about a year ago and made the choice to move wholly over to landscape Astro. I found that a simple camera and your lens of choice on a fixed tripod to be extremely satisfying. Again, great to see you back (at whatever pace works for you). Enjoy that family!!

Welcome back Nick and I am glad you took a step back from producing videos and even from astrophotography for a while. Always good to recharge but also important to realize that priorities in life do change, especially with a young family. I also think that going through the global Covid experience has really thrown a spotlight on the importance of mental health. I think many of us were probably having mental health challenges before Covid, but just buried it, as this seemed to be the societal norm. I am glad to see more people talking about it more, and re-evaluating what is important in our lives. Like any hobby, astro can become a chore if you let it. Add the pressure of putting out videos, and it is easy to see why some people just give up (that goes for all hobbies). Anyway, welcome back, take your time, do some imaging when you feel inspired and hug your wife and kids often! Good luck with the newborn! Dr B (just a biologist, not a medical doctor or mental health expert!) from Manitoba, Canada

I always liked your down-to-earth content so put it out there as long as it's fun for you!

Great to have you back Nick. All the best in 2024.

I can 100% sympathize with everything you said. The burn out from work, family balance, hobbies, etc. I used to do photography professionally on the side. Stopped that a few years ago and this past year really got back into nature and astrophotography for pure hobby. The break did SO much good to renew my love for photography. I wish you well, make some vids here and there but pit yourself and your love for your family and hobbies 1st!

Great to hear that you're doing well and you have another one on the way. That's what's important, not all this social media stuff. Remember, the only thing that demands a new video is the algorithm. No real person (not a reasonable one anyway) demands new content. Glad you are still enjoying astro stuff because enjoying it is the reason we do it. Wishing you and your family all the best for 2024 and clear skies! 😃

I can definitely relate Nick. I'm feeling crap about it all and tonight my session compounded that (first chance in 3 months). Lugging everything down 2 flights of stairs from my flat, hoping no one has lights on that surround me. Hauling electricity cables out my 1st floor window to power it. As you said I'm not enjoying it and after no dso for 3 months I should be chomping at the bit. I'm taking a complete break from dso astrophotography and going back to my dslr and simple tripod if I can be bothered. Even my ST80 on simple AzGti alt az mount. Just do what you enjoy as you said, you owe us nothing, do what makes you happy. Good luck with the new addition to your wonderful family. Thank you for your videos, I always enjoyed your beginners videos and learnt so much. All the best for 2024 with everything Nick 👍

Welcome back... I'm just getting back into astrophotography after a 2 year break and really enjoying it again... If you haven't already the guide scope you are using is a great small widefield telescope once you add the Starizona field flattener. I have taken some really nice images so far in the past month back in the hobby...

Good to see you back mate, there's no pressure quite like the pressure we put on ourselves! :-) Congratulations on the new addition to your family by the way!!

Good luck with 2024 mate. Sounds like 2023 was a necessary break for sure. I also struggled with astrophotography during 2023 also. I wonder what the deal was with that. Totally agree with you that astrophotography comes in all different flavours and doing what you enjoy is best. This year I think i want to focus more on the nightscape photography - camera and tripod. Should find a night when we can go shoot together. That would probably be some good fun All the best for 2024

I got nothing done 2022/2023 and so far in 2023/2024 I've had two nights of clear skies in Glasgow. At times I wonder what made me think of taking this up as a hobby when the weather is so sh1t. I'm going to keep at it but like you I'm going to keep it simple and see about building back up. On the simple side, I'm interested in what you do with the Seestar, if it's a useful toy I think I'll get one, as long as it really is a simple set up, so I'm very interested in your reviews on it.

@AstroExploring

5 ай бұрын

The Seestar is awesome! It’s obviously no replacement for a proper rig but you can be imaging something within seconds

@paulmckeown5672

5 ай бұрын

@@AstroExploring that's what I'm looking for at the moment. If I can see a couple of hours is going to be clear, I can quickly set it up and do some imaging of something! Then when I want to do better I can bring out the bigger scopes/mounts that needs a bit more time to set up. I'm buying one.

I know how you feel man! I went to Bamburgh in april 2023 with AstroHBF and shot the spring arch over the castle.... then due too work , weather and life, ive not shot since! Ive built a whole fiat ducato campervan out for my "astro trips" and ive not even slept in it either!! I need a kick up the arse!

wahaaaaaay.. welcome back… :)

Wise words Nick. Life is too short to be putting yourself under unnceccesary pressure. We all enjoy your videos whether or not they come out weekly. I wouldn't have begun my astro journey without your help in showing me how to use your old gear and I'll always be grateful for that. Stay positive fella and best wishes to the expanding family!

Kuddo's to you.. Happy New Years... Just have fun and remember our creator..

Nice to see you back, and totally understand why you had a break, and your certainly not on your own, having a break is almost a necessity in this hobby at some point, it can become a bit of a chore, I found my home built observatory made the difference for me, as I was fed up with dragging all the kit out outside, only for it to cloud up, it got me down…but now it’s a 2 minute set up Oh, and I totally agree with you re social media….excluding YT of course…. Good luck for 2024

@Astro_Shed

5 ай бұрын

@tradde11 yes, it made a huge difference to the hobby for me, best thing I ever did. I started my own YT last year, and I have realised how much work that takes too, and I am a total newbie where that concerned…so kudos to anyone that can produce 1 video a month, never mind 1 a week…

@AstroExploring

5 ай бұрын

I do hope to one day have my own little obsy!

Thanks for the deep message. It is not just about astrophotography, I believe. Our passion can begin to consume us with time, of course. And we put this pressure on ourselves indeed. Stop, rethink, that’s the way to go about so many things in life.. thank you 🙏

"If astrophotography is stressing you out, then you're doing it wrong" -- Love it!! Excellent stuff - Your videos have helped me to stop being so frazzled over astrophotography (loads of new software, guiding, etc. - uggh!). All of the stuff you mentioned is very relatable. Congratulations on the new baby! Cheers!

Wish you and your - ignored ;-) - family all the best in 2024. Hope your new baby will be well and you have a lot of fun with her/him. we got grandparents 10 Months ago - epic. thanks for this open video, have fun and take care.

AM5 review eh?! That's on my list for this year so looking forward to that 👍

Well said, keep it fun. Have you thought of a heated observatory? I'm just about to build one. It's a beautifully clear night here, N of Scotland one of the very few nights like this, but it's to damn cold so I will be sat in front of the tele. I froze being out last night 🙂 -8* Brrrrr

I just wanted to comment about 2023 weather in uk. I kid you not, up here in Liverpool, I have had just 5-6 clear/cloud free nights since mid June last year!! I almost threw in the astro towel late 2023 because I just thought "my goodness I'm spending thousands on a hobby I am barely able to enjoy!!??" thankfully I persevered, and will continue to persevere, because I really do love the hobby, warts and all!

@AstroExploring

5 ай бұрын

Ah man, I feel your pain!

@RobBarter

5 ай бұрын

I apologise profusely. I came back to the hobby after many years and bought a complete new setup at the end of May 2023! Hence the weather since then.

@user-lt9py2pu6u

5 ай бұрын

It's been the same where I live just outside Chester.

Hello, Happy to you see you back. Take care of yourself and your familly. Enjoy any picture taken, no matter the quality, it's not a competition. I really like the Seestar S50 received last September. I was able to do 15 minutes to 2 hours sessions with pleasure and less stress instead of using my heavy equipments. The second half of 2023 in East of France (I am close to Luxembourg) was awful and the Seestar has permitted to get pleasant pictures and define my future targets with better equipments. Bye

Welcome back Astro & youtube can be a pain I just upload as & when hence the small subs but I don't care as life gets in the way & its a matter of finding time, as for astrophotography I'm no expert either & I've been doing it 10 years + & like you never used a mono camera nor am I interested in doing so. 2023 was pretty terrible astro wise as for uploading just do as & when you feel like it no need to put pressure on yourself. Take care & look after yourself & your family

Me too, now I have forgotten most of what I knew before.

@AstroExploring

5 ай бұрын

Me too!

Your children will grow and change right before your eyes. That's your priority. The stars will always be there when you're ready.

Thank you for your candour - you speak for many of us, I suspect. I love the gear, but dread actually using it in the dark, cold and being alone.

I just found you yesterday looking into raspberry pi. Just bought the pi5 today only to find out astroberry dose not work on the pi5 after i bought it. Yes 2023 in the UK was crap let’s hope 2024 will be better

I kind of abandoned the hobby almost two years ago. I was shooting with a SA 2i and DSLR and while I'm sure my processing could have been better, I just wanted to go all in on astro gear instead of using my DSLR. So I decided to sell my DSLR and pretty much all of my lenses, I only ever bought older style (the Nikon D series) lenses to save money and quite frankly I probably didn't need the new stuff anyway since photography is more about the composition and all that rather than having the fanciest of gear, which is like total opposite of what astrophotography is. Anyway I sold it all and then had 3 months of pretty much no clear skies at all, and that made me put that money earned from the sales into a savings account instead. And there it stayed. I'm looking up all my old Astrophotography channels on KZread now to see whats up and saw this video (obviously) and yea I can feel your frustration and disappointment of not enjoying a hobby that used to be fun through the screen. I have two kids, 9 and 4 now, and its a full time job as expected but it's extra tough when your hobbies turn into a burden almost. So now I'm thinking I should just get a DSLR again and get into regular photography because that was at least quite available as a hobby. Just bring the camera with me, if I used it I used it and if I didn't well then I didn't. Like it always was. Anyway I hope you do get going again, I certainly always enjoyed watching your videos believe it or not. I really don't subscribe to channels willy nilly and I guess there's just something about how honest and open your videos are on whatever topic you pick. I very much enjoyed the astroberry / rpi videos you made. I was going that route myself but as you can guess it never happened. I've waffled on long enough. Best wishes for the family, I guess you are a two time father by now so welcome to the club. And looking forward to whatever comes next on this channel. Cheers from Sweden :)

No worries, if we don't personally choose to take a break, then the weather will force us! In USA/New England, it was the weather and the environment that quit on me for nearly the entirety of 2023. First, starting spring, Canada wildfire smoke for 3 months, people with asthma or breathing issues were advised to stay indoors; and just make sure we don't get anything good later, monsoon-tropical jungle-like weather from June to September, with enough rain, that the neighboring town of mine all the way to Vermont, people were using boats and kayaks on the streets from the flooding. Doesn't sound like the most optimal conditions for astrophotography, to say the least.. There comes Autumn and just endless clouds. I had a target, that I was shooting for the entire November and all I collected was like 8 hours. In a nutshell, I think I took more pictures within just 3 months , back in 2021 than the entire year of 2023 and I wasn't even sure what I was doing back then.

Been in the same situation a fewr times... especially when my kids were younger.

I've not done any astrophotography since late August myself. Terrible weather here in the UK on the whole. Ps, welcome back

I feel your pain, we have an 18 month baby and it's a tad tiring me being 50 years old 😂. Wishing you and your family the very best with your 2nd child ❤️

As long as it's fun and you're enjoying it. Id rather have less videos and higher quality/energy than a forced "Well i said i would so i better ". Having two young children has really knocked back my astro nights. The juggle is real, so look after yourself and your family. Any YT will be appreciated but not at any cost

No Pressure Nick but just stick to camera & Tracker imaging

Astrophotography is a hobby. Keep it as such. Do it when you want to do it. Not when you're expected to do it. Your videos are always nice to see, you have a nice relaxed manner. Enjoy life and enjoy what you do. We'll be here and we'll enjoy your next vid, whenever it will be.

Sorry wife, its nice that your water broke and all, but the nights clear so just call a taxi! /s Good luck in your endavours! Just keep it a fun hobby and dont worry too much about the rest, that comes on its own!

Think I've mentioned before, but it's worth saying again; Your best video is the one you _want to make_ , not the one you feel you _have to make_ . It's only healthy to take breaks when you feel unmotivated or if a burnout is slowly approaching - especially when you're doing this as a hobby. Like you said, it's supposed to be something fun you look forward to.

Will miss your YT posts, but only if it doesn't screw with your life excessively. All the best. 👍

Can i have the dust you cleaned from your scope please? It will better than my gear ;)

I couldn't have said it better. I'm retired and have more free time than you, but I have not forgotten the fundamentals of astrophotography; Have fun, learn a lot and get outside and enjoy Gods creation and marvels. Never mind competing with anyone else. If I like the image, that's all that counts. Thanks for your helpful videos and the work you put into them.

seestar. oh yea. the future.

I also wanted to say, just keep the hobby fun. Also, keep your YT video making as fun as possible too. You aren't a servant to YT/viewers like me, it's us the viewers who actually owe you something, for all the hours of work you put in to produce and upload said videos that viewers like myself get to enjoy and learn from, so no pressure and plenty of fun wherever possible my friend!