The author chronicles their five-month journey in astrophotography, detailing improvements from their first untracked photo of M31 to more refined images using advanced equipment like a star tracker. Highlighting iterative processing and gained experience, the post emphasizes significant progress in capturing and processing celestial objects like the Andromeda Galaxy and the Rosette Nebula.
In this post, the author describes their astrophotography process focusing on capturing the Elephant’s Trunk Nebula (IC 1396) from Gjern, Denmark. The procedure entails selecting a target, planning observations, and optimizing equipment setup for night conditions. Initially, challenges like weather and technical issues resulted in only 47 exposures, yielding 70 minutes of usable data. Subsequent attempts increased data accumulation, improving the nebula’s visibility in images significantly, with a total of 7 hours of cumulative observation time leading to greatly enhanced details and structure in the final photographs.
The Tamron 150-600mm f/5.6-6.3 Telephoto lens, with a 95mm aperture, was originally used for landscapes, but now offers potential for astrophotography. After upgrading to a Nikon Z5, and adapting the Nikon FTZ II adapter. The lens comes to life once more.
Over the past decade, the author has periodically engaged in astrophotography, using an older Meade 8″ telescope which lacks modern features, leading to frustration. To improve, they’ve decided to build a new astrophoto kit from scratch, starting with a Skywatcher Star Adventurer GTi mount, their Nikon Z5 camera, and a Tamron 150-600mm lens.
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