Long Exposure and Astro-Photography Using Raspberry Pi

The raspberry pi on the module is running a Debian based operating system called Raspbian. As of the time of Instructable, the latest version of the OS is Raspbian Buster, which is what we decided to use. The OS can be downloaded using the following link. (Raspbian Buster OS) Make sure to download the option that says “Raspbian Buster with desktop and recommended software” because some of the recommended software will be useful for this project. Once the zipped folder is downloaded, you will need a micro SD-card with a memory of about 16 to 32 GB.

To flash the SD-card with the OS, we recommend using the Balena Etcher software, as it is simple to use. It can be downloaded from the following link. (Balena Etcher) Once you open the software, you will be instructed to select the zipped folder you just downloaded, then plug the SD-card into your computer, and the software should automatically detect, finally click on the flash icon. The process should take 2 to 3 minutes. Once complete, unplug the memory card and plug it into your raspberry pi.

Connect the raspberry pi to an external monitor using an HDMI cable, and connect a mouse and keyboard via the USB ports. Finally, power the pi using the micro-USB port and a 5v adapter, and the pi should begin the booting process. The OS will then walks you through the necessary updates and various other settings, such as connecting to a wireless network and setting up the date and time, simply follow along. Once the process is complete, you have set-up the OS on your pi and you can now use it as a regular computer.