Last year, my aurora buddy and I went out to LLCC and had some amazing aurora images during the storm of May 10-11 2024.
This year, on April 25th, there was no aurora for my first night of the season at LLCC and my friend was unable to join me but the skies were clear and I was ready for some astrophotography.
I started with an attempt at the Leo Triplets. Finally I was able to use my new Sky Watcher Star Adventurer GTi. I’d only been trying for a year to make it work and to have the opportunity to get some good photos. Because I am on a budget, the first few times with the GTi I tried to use a 75-200mm lens but those were stressful and unsatisfactory.
Later I splurged on a Rokinon 135mm F2.0 Telephoto Lens for Canon. It is a little better but still, if I become serious about Deep Space Objects, I’m going to need to spend a lot more money.
My goal, as I stated was the Leo Triplets and I did succeed at capturing them.
See the fuzzies? Yeah, those are the Leo Triplets.
Not really impressive with that camera. Not sure if I needed to take longer exposures (I did one minute) or if it’s the lens is just too small.
Either way, it’s a win because I got what I wanted and I now know for sure that the star tracker works!
I attempted the Markarian Chain but failed miserably. That was after midnight though and I was getting tired.
Definitely plan on trying the Markarian Chain again and will plan better for it.
Still not sure how great it will come out but I will try longer exposure, maybe 2-3 minutes or more for it. Next time. Wish me luck!
My other goal for the night was the Milky Way! When I arrived at LLCC I hiked over to where the spot was that I had been told would be a good location. Oh yes.. yes it is a pretty good location.
They guys from the astronomy club wanted to do Milky Way shots too so we all hiked over there. I took the main road and they took the path. I felt the road was easier but they didn’t listen to me. Sadly, although I was doing well, I missed my turn off and had to Marco Polo my way to find them. Ooops.
We got set up and one of us got the dock. His was a star tracker so he got it set up and stepped back to run it remotely.
I was not in my optimal position yet but that’s okay, there is still some fun shots of him on the dock and others of his star tracker. These are all single shots with light post processing.
Truly though, the perfect spot for the Milky Way core didn’t happen till they were done with their antics. My final image after stacking, blending and post processing was amazing which you can see at the top of this page.