Unpopular opinion: Most 'deep sky' photos from suburban driveways are a waste of effort

I spent 3 nights this month trying to capture the Helix Nebula from my backyard near Phoenix, and after stacking 200 frames all I got was a blurry green smudge thanks to light pollution. My $600 setup just can't compete with all the streetlights and neighbor's security floods washing out every bit of signal. Is anyone actually getting usable results from Bortle 7 zones, or should I just quit trying and stick to planetary?

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wesleybutler15d ago

People who say you just need better processing skills to pull detail out of light polluted skies are full of it past a certain point. I spent a whole season trying to get the Veil Nebula from a similar zone and it always came out looking like someone poured dish soap on the lens. Narrowband filters help but they cut your signal so much you need twice the exposure time just to match a dark site. Not to mention those filters cost as much as a whole new mount sometimes. Might be worth saving up for a weekend trip to a Bortle 3 spot instead of burning out on suburban data.