Those of you who read this blog on weekends already know about my latest night sky photography adventures. But there's more going on. For quite some time I've been mulling the idea of getting more serious about astrophotography, and lately I've been mulling it more actively.
I haven't pulled any triggers yet, but all this mulling means that I have deep sky objects on my mind. Of those, there's only one big enough to see with the naked eye: the Andromeda Galaxy.
And it occurred to me that since I photographed half the night sky during my Milky Way imaging last weekend, maybe I got a view of Andromeda in there. And I did! It's not much of one, mind you, but it's officially my first DSO.
I've been loving the turn to astrophotography, fwiw. It blew my mind the first time I saw the Andromeda Galaxy through binoculars - it was basically an elliptical gray smudge, sure, but I was looking at ANOTHER GALAXY with my own eyes.
very cool! - check out this youtube channel -- https://www.youtube.com/c/AstroBackyard/featured
Turns out, NASA’s APOD today is
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
Check out the latest from the Webb!
Good luck Kevin…hope you pull the trigger on astrophotgraphy. I’ve always been interested in astronomy, and now that I’m retired it is something I’m considering as well…curious to hear how it goes (if you go ahead).
Our Sentinel in SoCal. You know that's where the invaders are coming from...
The Orion Nebula is visible in your 20 Oct 2020 lunchtime photo, so that DSO predates this one.
Here's a YouTube channel that I find useful...
https://www.youtube.com/c/TheNarrowbandChannel
Kevin, take a look at some of Ed Ting's videos on astrophotography. His YouTube page is here https://www.youtube.com/user/edting/videos and while he does astrophotography himself, he strongly cautions careful evaluation regarding anyone contemplating getting started. Another extremely valuable resource is the CloudyNights forum https://www.cloudynights.com/index.
Here I'm assuming you want to do more than buy a long lens and stack up short exposure photos from your DSLR. (Such as today's APOD https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap220711.html, as mentioned by an earlier commenter. This is wonderful work, but...)
I'm guessing you're thinking of a telescopic setup. First big issue is, are you willing to part with $10k - for a barely feet-in-the-water level rig - that will weigh over 50 pounds and be a challenge to set up every time? Expect the mount to be the single priciest component - the mount is vital in photography. You'll need to learn how to do precise polar alignment in your dark desert viewing location. You'll need to be able to run a tracking scope - so that's **two** cameras you'll need to buy. Unless of course you're imagining using your DSLR as the main imaging camera, which can be done, but can be problematic (matching focal planes between a scope and a commercial camera can be hard).
Not meaning to be a downer here, but telescopic astrophotography is a BIG leap, with a learning curve that never quits. Huge commitment of time and effort. Dozens of cat years to master, and the technology keeps leapfrogging. I just want to alert you so you enter with open eyes.