{"id":400347,"date":"2026-03-23T22:15:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-23T22:15:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/400347\/"},"modified":"2026-03-23T22:15:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-23T22:15:11","slug":"backyard-astrophotographers-images-play-at-the-end-of-project-hail-mary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/400347\/","title":{"rendered":"Backyard Astrophotographer’s Images Play at the End of ‘Project Hail Mary’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ARod Prazeres\u2019 images appear during the end credits. <\/p>\n

A photographer has expressed his delight as his images of deep space objects appear in theaters worldwide during the end credits of Project Hail Mary.<\/p>\n

The new blockbuster stars Ryan Gosling as Dr. Ryland Grace, who awakens on a spacecraft suffering from amnesia and has to piece together what he\u2019s doing there. When the credits roll at the end of the sci-fi epic, photographer Rod Prazeres\u2019 images of far-off galaxies dazzle in the background. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt all started with an unexpected Instagram message from a production company in Los Angeles,\u201d Prazeres explains. \u201cThey were working on a sci-fi film and asked if I\u2019d be open to licensing some of my work for a sequence.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"Bright,One of Prazeres\u2019 stunning deep space photos. \"AIt\u2019s worth staying until the end to see them. | Photo by Matt Growcoot <\/p>\n

The photographer from Brisbane, Australia, tells PetaPixel that he\u2019s been shooting the stars since July 2023. After three years of becoming passionate about astrophotography, the message from Hollywood was very exciting. <\/p>\n

\u201cI remember thinking, \u2018this can\u2019t be real\u2019,\u201d Prazeres writes on his website<\/a>. \u201cFor months, I couldn\u2019t really tell anyone. When something like this is still moving, you don\u2019t want to speak too early.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"Colorful,<\/p>\n

Initially, Prazeres thought his pictures would be used in a different sequence, but over the course of production the creative needs of the Project Hail Mary team changed and he worked with the team that was putting together the end credits. <\/p>\n

\u201cAt one point they even asked how I capture these images, which was one of those moments that made it feel very real, very fast,\u201d Prazeres says, who adds that in a world of AI and CGI, it\u2019s great that the producers wanted the real thing. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt meant a lot to know they were genuinely excited to use real astronomical data and real structures from the night sky, rather than generating something from scratch,\u201d Prazeres writes. \u201cIt felt like a win not just for me, but for the astrophotography community too.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"ARod Prazeres <\/p>\n

\"Bright<\/p>\n

Prazeres captured most of the photos from his backyard in Brisbane. \u201cThis is part of what makes the whole thing feel so surreal to me,\u201d he tells PetaPixel. \u201cThere\u2019s something pretty amazing about photographing deep space from suburban skies and then seeing that work on a cinema screen.\u201d <\/p>\n

How Does He Capture the Images? <\/p>\n

On his website, Prazeres explains that he delivered starless versions of the pictures so that bright stars weren\u2019t \u201ccompeting for attention\u201d at the end of the film. \u201cThe underlying structures and color are still built from real captured data,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n

The photographer captures the images via a motorized mount that tracks the sky as Earth rotates, moving in sync with Earth\u2019s rotation so his target stays perfectly framed and steady. <\/p>\n

He then takes hundreds of long exposures \u2014 as long as five to 10 minutes \u2014 across multiple nights. \u201cI\u2019ll usually shoot through special narrowband filters (for example Hydrogen alpha and Oxygen III), which isolate specific wavelengths of light emitted by the gas in nebulae and help reveal structure that is otherwise far too faint to record cleanly,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n

\"Swirling<\/p>\n

\"Bright,<\/p>\n

The individual frames are then calibrated for things like sensor noise, dust shadows, and optical artifacts. They are then aligned and stacked to further eliminate noise. This processing reveals faint structures far away in the Universe that are almost hidden in the data. Prazeres says that no generative AI \u201cof any kind\u201d is used during the process. <\/p>\n

\"Colorful<\/p>\n

If you\u2019d like to buy a print of one of the photos that appear in Project Hail Mary, you can find them here<\/a>. More of Prazeres\u2019 work can be found on his Instagram<\/a> or website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Image credits:<\/strong> Photographs by Rod Prazeres<\/p>\n