For years, capturing these brilliant moments on camera has been the domain of professional photographers. Night Sight¹ on Google Pixel makes it a great astrophotography phone, so anyone can snap those spectacular shots of the night sky.

One of the trickiest aspects of night photography is keeping the camera still, and it’s especially important for star photography, which requires the aperture to stay open longer. But with Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold, Pixel users no longer need a tripod to steady their shots, because Pixel Fold balances nicely when it is in tabletop mode with one screen pointed directly up at the sky. Plus, Pixel Fold gives you a better view of exactly what you’re capturing. Its split screen lets you see what the camera is pointed at, so you can take a photo of the night sky without the guesswork.

The technology star behind these spectacular night-time images is the Google Tensor G2 chip in Pixel phones. Tensor G2 brings Google’s advanced computational image processing to Pixel Fold to enable efficient hands-free photos and sharper low-light photography.  

And it’s a game-changer for astrophotography. Google Pixel eliminates hours spent taking hundreds of long-exposure shots by condensing the process into one single four-minute exposure – no editing necessary – using Night Sight.¹ This feature will automatically engage if the phone detects a steady camera and a dark setting away from light pollution.

Pixel 9 Pro Fold

An epic display of Google AI.

“You don’t need to mess with apertures like you do on a traditional camera,” says Nicholas Wilson, an astrophotographer who has worked with the Google Pixel team to develop some of its pro-level features. “Google Pixel takes all the hard work out of the process.”

Wilson’s work used to require a DSLR camera, telephoto lens, more than a hundred long exposures over a period of hours, and photo editing software. Those edits included a technique that eliminated “noise” in an image, whether it’s the hint of magenta or green, or passing planes or satellites. Now, anyone with a Pixel Fold can set their phone down and get spectacular images with just a few taps.

Pixel Fold is also much lighter than any camera gear: its slim fit slides into your pocket and you can hold it with one hand whether it’s folded or not. Plus, its Corning® Gorilla® Glass Victus™ screen makes the outer glass resistant to scratches. 

Shaky shots caused by shaky hands are a thing of the past with Pixel 9 Pro Fold, because a foldable phone provides stability on most surfaces, something you need for long-exposure photography. Set the foldable phone on any surface, whether it’s a rock or a car roof, open the Night Sight feature, and within minutes, you’ve got a high-resolution, Instagram-worthy image that would have been impossible to get in the past. Just click on the Night Sight feature, which takes 16-second photos and merges all of them together for a single crisp and detailed night photo.

Want to get a picture of the moon with El Capitan? No problem. Arches National Park framing the Leo constellation? Perfect. Pixel 9 Pro Fold is your ticket to all the long-exposure pictures you’ve ever imagined but were never able to take.

“Anybody can take these photos,” says Wilson. “If you have a desire to go take astrophotos and you have patience, you can get a great shot.”