In what seems like an eternity, we had a clear night and one that wasn't too cold, I was eager to get out with the camera as for Christmas I got had an iOptron tracker bought for me as a present as I'd been wanting one of these to get some great shots, especially longer exposures of the night sky as this is something that has always fascinated me.
As soon as I got home last night, I got the camera out with my new Benro tripod, this tripod is awesome for long exposures, it's a solid piece of equipment.
The first snag I got was the polar alignment, I seem to struggle last night, although I do need to get the finder scope adjusted, however for some reason the tracker head didn't look like it was pitching steep enough to get Polaris in the right place, however I did do an alignment but I think it was slightly off.
I tested a 2 minute exposure, shot at f/8 and ISO 100, but I was getting a little bit of trailing, so I reduced the exposure time to 60 seconds, I then shot 30 of these, around 5 dark frames, and then around 5 light frames to help with vignetting etc. My target, one of my favourites, Orion.
(The Orion Nebula, approx 1344 light years from the earth, and the closest star forming region to the earth).
The moon however didn't help, I do live in a bit of light polluted area, especially with peoples lights in the gardens etc, not being too far from Sheffield city centre as well, but, the moon didn't help either with shots, but it was only a half moon thankfully so wasn't too overpowering to get what I wanted.
This was my second attempt with the tracker, I do have an issue with the finder scope that I am going to try and correct later today, BUT, the images I managed to get for my second ever attempt, has certainly made me want to do more, with the images I shot, I tmerged them using sequator, I've not even done any noise reduction on them, using just a standard 24-105mm F4 lens, I am so surprised with how good these turned out, especially as I shot them at f/8 too.
Keep looking for more shots in the future, and I really can't wait to get the wonderful milkway core when it becomes the milkyway season.
Thanks for reading..
All the best :-)
