Over the past year, I have imaged the Orion Nebula a few times with drastically different equipment, leading to this array of images. The first two I ever took (12/5/22 and 1/15.23) used only a tripod and a 300mm lens, only varying in time. The one from October was taken with a telescope and a tracking mount, but struggled with noise due to light pollution and a relatively warm night. My most recent image was taken with a telescope, tracking mount, ASIair Plus controller, and under Bortle 2 skies, making it the best by far.

Like the Orion Nebula, I have photographed the Andromeda Galaxy with drastically different equipment, leading to a variety of images (and image quality). The first and second were taken with just a 300mm lens and a tripod, and struggled to show any significant details. The 3rd image was taken with a star tracker, 300mm lens, and under Bortle 2 skies, but only consists of 30 minutes of exposure due to clouds. The latest image was taken with a telescope and tracking mount and has almost 2 hours of exposure time.

This famous winter sky target is one that I have attempted to photograph, but (clearly) it has never worked out. Finally, with my new astro camera and some 3 minute pictures I was able to get a clear image.

M101, one of the most well known galaxies from the messier catalog, is a fun target to capture due to its relatively large size and brightness. Over this past year I have progressed from using just a mirrorless camera, lens, and tripod, to adding a startracker, and now a full blown kit with an astronomy camera, telescope, etc. The increase in quality is apparent, despite my newest photo being taken in moonlight, light pollution, and poor seeing.

Although I have only taken 2 images of the Flame and Horsehead Nebula, it shows one of the more visually obvious changes. The first image was taken with a 300mm lens and a tripod under Bortle 7 skies, unideal for objects as faint as they are. The second image was taken with a telescope, tracking mount, and ASIair Plus while under Bortle 2 skies, showing much more details and vivid colors.

My second time taking a picture of the Pleiades. I was able to dedicate more time to the second one, and combined with the newer equipment I was able to draw out much more of the blue nebula surrounding the star cluster.

This pair of galaxies is my go to target for new equipment because it is easy, visible in one exposure, and almost always above the horizon at my latitude. The first time I imaged this object I had just gotten a star tracker, and a few weeks later I imaged it from a dark sky site. Now, as my first image of 2024 and my first image with the ASI533MC Pro, you can see just how far I have come since last May.