A method of automatically tracking and photographing celestial objects which enables the capture of a still image of a celestial object (s) in a state where each celestial object appears stationary simply by making an exposure with a camera directed toward an arbitrary-selected celestial object and fixed with respect to the ground and without using an equatorial, and also a camera that employs this method are achieved. The method of automatically tracking and photographing a celestial object according to the present invention includes inputting latitude information at a photographic site, photographing azimuth angle information, photographing elevation angle information, attitude information of a photographic apparatus and focal length information of a photographing optical system; calculating movement amounts of the celestial object image relative to the photographic apparatus, for fixing the celestial object image with respect to the predetermined imaging area of an image pickup device, using all of the input information; and obtaining a photographic image by moving at least one of the predetermined imaging area and the celestial object image based on the calculated relative movement amounts.
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