These are the best Canon lenses for astrophotography, chosen for their fast apertures, clean corner performance, manageable coma and sagittal astigmatism, and reliable manual-focus handling so you can pull tack-sharp stars from blue hour to true dark on RF mirrorless or adapted EF bodies. For native RF wide primes, the RF 16mm f/2.8 STM is the tiny no-excuse astro starter—carry it everywhere for sweeping Milky Way arches and dramatic foregrounds—while the RF 24mm f/1.8 Macro IS STM brings a brighter aperture, pleasing micro-contrast, and stabilized framing for composing in the dark (IS won’t freeze star motion, but it helps you line up before the shot); the RF 35mm f/1.8 Macro IS STM is a superb “environmental night” lens when you want a tighter Milky Way core or star-lit landscapes with a stronger subject. If you prefer zoom flexibility, the RF 15-35mm f/2.8L IS USM is the go-to fast ultra-wide for night landscapes and tracked panoramas—prime-like sharpness, quiet Nano USM focus for night-video B-roll, and a constant f/2.8 that balances exposure and edge discipline—while the RF 14-35mm f/4L IS USM saves weight for long hikes and excels on a star tracker or for blended blue-hour/astral composites where you don’t need f/2.8. Tele-astro fans should look at the RF 135mm f/1.8L IS USM for exquisite, low-coma star fields and nebula frames on a tracker (and for night-portrait “astro-scape” sessions), the RF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM for bright constellations and compressed moon-rise sequences, and the RF 100-500mm f/4.5-7.1L IS USM for lunar detail and tight star clusters; if you travel ultra-light, the RF 85mm f/1.2L/1.4-class look (or the compact RF 85mm f/2 Macro IS) makes luminous night portraits with the Milky Way as a backdrop. Adapting EF glass opens Canon’s proven astro legends: the EF 24mm f/1.4L II USM remains a classic for bright skies and clean rendering of the core, the EF 35mm f/1.4L II USM with Blue Spectrum Refractive optics controls color fringing and keeps corners respectable at wide apertures, the EF 16-35mm f/2.8L III USM improved edge coma and is a workhorse for single-frame Milky Way landscapes, and the EF 16-35mm f/4L IS USM is a lighter, filter-friendly option that shines on a tracker; for rectilinear extremes, the EF 11-24mm f/4L captures vast sky domes and dramatic foregrounds (best on a tracker or with stacked shorter exposures), while classic teles like the EF 135mm f/2L USM and EF 200mm f/2.8L II USM deliver beautiful star-field compression, nebulae, and Orion-belt compositions with minimal weight. Practical astro technique matters as much as glass: switch to manual focus, use magnified live view on a bright star and slightly “rock” through infinity to land the crispest point, then tape the ring; start at f/1.4–f/2.8 for wide primes (stop one third to one stop if edges need help), expose around 10–20 seconds at ISO 1600–6400 for 14–24mm on full-frame (shorter at longer focal lengths), and consider stacking multiple short frames to lower noise without trails; turn off IBIS/IS on a tripod, use a remote or 2-sec timer, and enable long-exposure noise reduction only if you’re not stacking. A slim square filter kit is useful for blue hour grads, but skip polarizers at night and pack a lens heater to prevent dew. For tracked work, a compact equatorial mount lets you stop down for corner sharpness and run lower ISO; for blended astro-landscapes, capture a sharp foreground at blue hour and a sky plate in darkness with the same lens and nodal position to keep geometry natural. A simple Canon astro kit that covers nearly everything is RF 15-35mm f/2.8L for sweeping skies, RF 24mm f/1.8 (or adapted EF 24mm f/1.4L II) for bright single-shots, and RF 135mm f/1.8L (or adapted EF 135mm f/2L) for tracked tele-astro and luminous night portraits; add the RF 100-500mm or EF 200mm f/2.8L when the moon, clusters, or compressed horizons are the brief. Whether you’re framing arching cores over desert formations, stitching tracked mosaics in alpine air, or timing a supermoon over a skyline, Canon’s fast wides, disciplined zooms, and clean teles provide the speed, corner control, and focusing confidence that turn dark skies into detailed, publishable images.