About Us
I'm Doug, and I spend my nights chasing dark skies to photograph the cosmos. My co-pilot is Phineas (Phin for short), an English Cream Golden Retriever who's been on every trip since day one. He may not care about the Cassini Division, but he's great company at 3 AM when you're waiting for Jupiter to cross the meridian.
The Rig
We tow a 2023 CampInn 550 behind a 2023 Tesla Model Y. The CampInn is one of the lightest and most compact teardrop campers on the market, which makes it perfect for EV towing and for squeezing into remote dark sky sites that full-size rigs can't reach.
EV towing has its quirks — you learn to plan charging stops carefully and watch your range budget — but the quiet electric drivetrain is a real bonus at campsites. No engine noise, no exhaust, just the sound of wind and Phin snoring.
The Channel
Campin' Under the Stars is a YouTube channel where we document our camping trips, astrophotography sessions, and the occasional gear review. The goal is simple: show what's possible when you get away from city lights, whether that's naked-eye views of the Milky Way or high-resolution stacked images of Saturn's rings.
The Photography
My imaging targets range from solar (hydrogen-alpha prominences and sunspots) to planetary (Jupiter, Saturn, Mars) to deep sky (nebulae and galaxies). The solar and planetary work uses lucky imaging; the deep sky work uses longer tracked exposures. All of it benefits from getting to genuinely dark locations — which is the whole point of camping.
If you want to follow along, subscribe to the YouTube channel or check out the photo gallery. Clear skies!