Astrophotos
As a fairly new astrophotographer, these images will be quite poor to the discerning eye. Artifacts like dust spots, field curvature, and star trails can be seen in pretty much all of them, among many more artifacts. Regardless, I find a lot of satisfaction in this hobby as a fascinating blend of science and art.
M101: Pinwheel Galaxy
Figure 1: M101, The Pinwheel Galaxy
Details
It’s been a while since I took this image, but I belive it total around 3 hours of integration
M42: The Orion Nebula
Figure 2: M42, The Orion Nebula
Details
This image was processed from my first ever outing doing astrophotography. It totals around 12 minutes of integration from the Bortle 1 sky around the McDonald Observatory. Weather prevented any more data collection, but I’m still surprised at how much I was able to get out of it. By contrast my image of M101 was taken from a very light-polluted Bortle 8 sky, and that image was 3 hours of integration. This image always surprises me at how much better it is to image under dark skies.
The uneven illumination on the bottom left of the image is due to a strange reflection pattern on an IR cut filter I have for my camera. It’s not present in other images because I imaged those without the filter.