Astrophotographers are a passionate bunch, and they now have a new dedicated social media and web platform to share their work, find inspiration, and learn how to improve their craft. Picastro is all about showcasing genuine astronomy images from astrophotographers worldwide, whether they are beginners or seasoned pros.
DIY Photography reports that Picastro was founded by amateur astrophotographer Thomas McCrorie, who beyond being a talented astrophotographer, is also a dedicated educator. He has written a series of blog posts on Picastro’s website that offer tips on selecting good astrophotography targets, improving astrophotography from capture to post-processing, and more.
The app launched late last year, and in the months since, Picastro users have shared a lot of really incredible photos. The Picastro gallery is a great place for astronomers to find their next target and find inspiration. It’s also a treasure trove of fantastic photos for all space photography enthusiasts.
Picastro is not based on algorithms and doesn’t feature ads — McCrorie built the app, first and foremost, to be a clean, accessible platform for highlighting high-quality astronomy photos that might otherwise be lost in the noise on typical social media platforms. McCrorie explains that the app is “distraction-free” and delivers a beautiful visual experience “free of bots, ads, spam, and generative AI.”
Further, unlike many social media apps, even those built with photography in mind, Picastro supports very high-resolution image uploads. Users can upload JPEG, PNG, and WEBP images up to 120 megabytes in size, which is massive. The team is also working on developing TIFF support, which would further increase image quality.
Astrophotographers also want more and different metadata fields for their images, including precise camera and telescope setup information, the specialized filters used, the guiding technology employed for image capture, and more.
Users can also join groups specific to their own camera setup, their favorite celestial targets, and more. There is an inherent community aspect to social media, after all, and Picastro is designed to help astrophotographers connect with like-minded people.
Pricing and Availability
Since Picastro doesn’t include ads, it does require subscriptions for complete access to all its features. While there is a free “Curiosity” plan, it only allows up to 15 uploads, with a maximum file size of 15MB per photo. Free users cannot vote on other people’s photos, which is how images of the week and month are selected on the platform.
Additional plans, Titan, Callisto, and Ganymede, cost between about $5 to $10 monthly.
Picastro is available on iOS and Android.
Image credits: Picastro
