Interview with Astrophotographer Nazmus Nasir

Ready for another excellent interview? Let me introduce you to Nazmus Nasir!

A software engineer by day and an amateur astronomer/astrophotographer by night, Nazmus Nasir has been interested in astronomy since a young age. He got his first telescope when he was a teenager. 

Since 2019, Nazmus has helped people research their own telescopes and astrophotography gear and whenever he can, he takes people stargazing with him. He also occasionally organizes meetups to show people some of the planets up close through a telescope. 

Cendrine Marrouat: Hello Nazmus! Is there a particular event that triggered your desire to become an astrophotographer?

Nazmus Nasir: I think for a lot of astrophotographers, the Hubble Space Telescope played a huge role in their decision to pick up this hobby. Some do it professionally and they do it really well.

When I was young, seeing a picture of the Eagle Nebula (also known as the Pillars of Creation) taken by Hubble blew my mind and I had the urge to try and take pictures of the night sky myself. It took me another 15 or so years before I really started my astrophotography journey.

I am excited to see a wave of new astronomers and astrophotographers inspired by the James Webb Space Telescope in the coming years.

CM: How do you usually work? Do you follow a specific process or pattern?

NN: My process can be simplified as the following: Check weather, find target, take pictures, stack pictures, and process pictures.

Getting clear skies is probably the biggest challenge I face. I’m sure most astronomers will agree with me. Once I have good weather and I figure out what to image, I will ask my telescope to stare at that object for hours, taking as many exposures as possible. This is the longest part of the process.

I think the most fun part of the process is stacking and processing the images because that’s when I start to see the fruits of my labor.

CM: What are your favorite subjects? Planets, stars, comets, etc.? Why?

NN: It’s hard to pick because I love them all. I love comets because they are rare and amazing. I love stars because you don’t realize just how many there are until you take a camera and take a long exposure of any part of the sky. I love Planets because I do outreach and I let people see the planets like Jupiter and Saturn through my eyepiece. They always light up and I love that feeling. Especially when kids see the rings of Saturn for the first time. My astronomy club (Amateur Telescope Makers of Boston) also does outreach and I do my best to join and help out.

As much as I love the rest of space, I think my absolute favorite event is a total solar eclipse. There is no better feeling than experiencing the moon slowly covering the sun until all you can see is a black hole in the sky revealing the Sun’s massive corona. This is a very rare event and something I wish everyone in the world could experience at least once. I have seen two in my lifetime so far, and I plan on traveling to see the one in 2024.

CM: What is the farthest your telescope and camera have reached? How did it feel?

NN: I believe the farthest object I’ve imaged and that I was able to identify is 130 million light years. It’s a group of Galaxies called the Draco Tripet. They’re beautiful galaxies and I caught them from my light polluted backyard. It was an experiment and I didn’t think I’d be able to get any good details but I was wrong.

When I saw the first image come in, I was extremely excited because I could see the structure of the galaxies. It felt amazing and I’m planning on trying even farther galaxies this year because I believe my telescope can catch it.

CM: Could you tell us about your two favorite photos?

NN: Picking favorite images is tough but if I were to pick, it would be my images of the Andromeda Galaxy and the Heart Nebula. Both of these objects are visible from my backyard so I have been able to spend quite a bit of time on both targets.

The Andromeda Galaxy is bright and large. It’s the farthest object in the universe that we can see with the naked eye (if you’re in a dark enough area). With the naked eye, you can see the bright core, and what looks like a fuzzy cloud surrounding the core. It’s one of my favorite targets to show people through a telescope. And if we were able to see the full glory of the Andromeda Galaxy with our naked eye, it would be 6 times the width of the full moon.

The Heart Nebula is a fairly bright nebula in the constellation of Cassiopeia. It’s also massive (in terms of field of view) and the colors that you can get out of it are beautiful. It has a bright cluster of stars right at the center and it’s one of my favorite objects to image every year.

Both of these images appeared in a Gallery at Harvard University from March 2nd to April 6th, 2023, and I’m very proud of that!

CM: How challenging do you find astrophotography compared to regular photography? Any tips for people interested in giving it a try?

NN: The learning curve for astrophotography is a bit steeper in my opinion. It can also get very expensive very fast because different objects in space require different gear (for example, long focal length for planets and shorter focal length for most nebulae). The costs may look similar to regular photography, especially if you’re a professional photographer with many prime lenses. But the costs of astrophotography can really run away from you.

Light pollution is also a huge factor. From the cities, you can look at planets and the moon but you’ll be limited from catching anything else unless you invest quite a bit of money getting gear that can cut through the light pollution.

Some people get into this hobby by spending thousands of dollars to get the best equipment so they can hit the ground running. My tip for anyone who wants to start out: Don’t run, crawl! At least walk for a little while.

I would recommend starting with visual astronomy first. You can get a cheap telescope and learn the sky. I usually recommend a tabletop Dobsonian because they are easy to use and they resell very well when you’re ready to upgrade. Upgrades to this can include a brand new telescope, a star tracker, a computerized mount, and a new camera (whether it’s a DSLR/Mirrorless or AstroCam).

My second tip would be to use what you have. Do you have a camera that can do long exposures and a lens? Put it on a tripod, point it at some part of the sky, and take a whole bunch of images and stack them. Most smartphones can do this nowadays. This would be considered widefield astrophotography or nightscape astrophotography if you can see the ground. A wide angle lens and a simple camera can allow you to catch the Milky Way galaxy with ease. This will get you started and give you a feel for the hobby.

I have more tips but the last tip I’ll leave here is to look for a local astronomy club. Astronomy clubs exist all over the world and astronomers love talking about astronomy. If you reach out or even visit their field and ask questions, I guarantee they will give you more information than you can hope for.

CM: Who is your favorite astrophotographer or astronomer? Why?

NN: My favorite astronomer is Fritz Zwicky, a Swiss Astronomer from the 20th century. Aside from his super fun name, he has made many discoveries and coined many terms in his lifetime that will be used for as long as astronomy exists. Some discoveries that he’s known for are supernovae, neutron stars, gravitational lensing, and dark matter.

He’s a really interesting person and I encourage everyone to look up his life. The ‘green’ comet that made headlines in early 2023 was nicknamed Comet ZTF (full name is Comet c/2022 E3 (ZTF)). The ZTF is short for Zwicky Transient Facility, named after Fritz Zwicky.

CM: How do you use social media to share your images with the world?

NN: When I have something that’s worthy of being shared, I’ll post a version of the images on as many social media sites as I can, from Reddit to Mastodon to even Facebook. I will often say something about what I’m sharing to generate interest. I admit that I’m not great at promoting myself but I try my best.

I also started making videos on YouTube where I share my capture and editing process so that others who are interested in learning how I do things can see me in action. I also try to provide tips and tricks that I’ve picked up over the years and they are usually very well received by my audience.

Before the world sees anything I publish, I share the images (or videos) with my wife and get her thoughts first. She’s always honest with me and always gives me great feedback which makes me look better than I would otherwise.

CM: Anything else people should know?

NN: Anyone looking to get started with Astronomy and Astrophotography should feel free to reach out to me through any of my social media links. I love talking about astronomy and I’m always happy to answer questions and give advice whenever I can.

My current project includes creating helpful videos on how to capture and process images on my YouTube channel and also to update my website which was created back in 2010.

I also plan star parties when the planets are out where I’ll invite friends, colleagues, and even strangers on the street to look through my telescope. I’ve been doing this on and off since 2012 and I hope I can continue the tradition.

Thank you!

Support Nazmus Nasir’s Work!

• Website : https://www.naztronomy.com
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/naztronomy
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/naztronomy

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Cendrine Marrouat is a writer, photographer, podcaster, blogger, anthology editor, and the co-founder of Auroras & Blossoms and A Warm Cup of Cozy. She has authored and co-authored more than 40 books, including The Train: A Short Story (2023), In Her Own Words: A Collection of Short Stories & Flashku (2022), After the Fires of Day: Haiku Inspired by Kahlil Gibran & Alphonse de Lamartine (2021), Rhythm Flourishing: A Collection of Kindku and Sixku (2020), Walks: A Collection of Haiku (2019-2020), and In the Silence of Words: A Three-Act Play (2018).

Cendrine's work has appeared in many publications. She is the creator of the Sixku, Flashku, Sepigram, and Reminigram; as well as the co-creator of the Kindku, Pareiku, Vardhaku, and Hemingku.