TIANJIN, March 9 (Xinhua) -- Yang Jing chooses her position, sets up her camera, adjusts its parameters and waits for the celestial phenomena to appear before pressing the shutter button.

Yang has repeated this process countless times over the past 10 years, but she says she still feels excited every time she looks up at the stars.

Her passion for stargazing began about 10 years ago, when she began learning about astronomy, got to know astronomical experts and met other enthusiasts.

Driven by her interest in stargazing and photography, she embarked on her astronomical observation journey. As Yang is a native of north China's Tianjin Municipality, her observations take place mainly in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, also known as "Jing-Jin-Ji."

Over the years, Yang has not only recorded astronomical phenomena such as the Geminid meteor shower, but she has also witnessed the environmental changes taking place in the region.

She remembers that 10 years ago, photos taken by astronomy enthusiasts in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region would often reveal a sharp contrast between the starry sky above and the smog below. And the smog was sometimes so dense that photographers were unable to capture any image at all.

This led many stargazers in the region to travel to places with clear skies, such as north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

"The air quality in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region used to be poor all year round," Yang said, noting that the smog seriously interfered with astronomical observations and photography. On many nights, Yang and her friends had to drive away from the polluted cities to find suitable locations.

To take good pictures of the starry sky, they had to wait for the wind to come, she said. "Most of the time, we had to wait for a windy day followed by a clear night, and then we would rush to the suburbs to see more stars."

Data shows that the average concentration of fine particulate matter -- known as PM2.5 -- was 106 micrograms per cubic meter in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region in 2013, making the region and its surrounding areas the most polluted in China.

But over time, massive change has taken place. The coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region has been a key national strategy since 2014, with environmental protection being a key area of concern for all three locations.

"I bought an astronomical telescope in 2016. By then, the regional air quality had already changed, and the number of nights I could see the stars was increasing," Yang said.

Thanks to the region's coordinated efforts, its average concentration of PM2.5 fell to 37 micrograms per cubic meter in 2022, and its air quality improved significantly -- as did the air quality in its surrounding areas.

"In the past few years, we have been able to see the stars shine more often and in more places," Yang said.

In 2022, which was a particularly good year for stargazers, she observed and photographed celestial events for more than 100 times. "Improved atmospheric transparency has significantly increased our likelihood of observing amazing celestial phenomena."

And Yang has witnessed more changes in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. "The region's environment is getting better and better. The mountains are greener and the waters are becoming clearer."

Last year, Yang began exploring more of the universe. "There are beautiful deep-sky objects like nebulae and galaxies out there, but most of them are not visible to the naked eye," she said.

Yang is now studying astrophotography and she is eager to share her passion with others. "I hope more people will be able to see the romantic stars," she said. Enditem

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