Galaxy Season Update

It has been a while since providing any updates about my astrophotography progress. And I have made some significant improvements.

Seen below are some of my first good galaxy photos on the left. On the right are the same targets, but with some improved equipment, and technique.

This dramatic improvement is due to a new camera. I put some money aside, and bought a dedicated astronomy camera. This new camera allowed me to use my current telescope, and put my smaller guidescope to the task of guiding. This is the giant rig all set up for initial testing in my messy office.

This telescope has a much longer focal length than what I was using before, which gives much more magnification than the other. And the new camera can be completely controlled by the computer. That means no more standing outside all night, and no more changing batteries. This rig can be set up to take pictures all night, then I can wake up to put it away in the morning. This way, I can get much more image time than I would otherwise.

Even though my pictures are still black and white, I doubt anyone would argue that this camera makes no difference. I’m still very amateur in skill and equipment, but seeing such a huge improvement makes me very excited for what is next.