So what we knew all along… It was possible to do these not-so-processor-intensive tasks on older pixels and other devices after all.
I hate that Google artificially limits these features to new phones. The only reason I’ve stuck with pixel this long is their call assistant to answer then decline spam calls without having to notifying me.
You need a tripod or something to rest the phone against. The prompt to take an astrophotography photo doesn’t come up until the phone had been held VERY still for 5-10 sec.