Amateur astronomy/astrophotography (light, telescope)

[Fuzz]

Anyone else into amateur astronomy or astrophotography?

Although I've been interested in astronomy since I was little, I finally live in a place with low light pollution, which enabled me to get a telescope last summer (a NexStar 8SE). Added a dedicated astrophotography setup last month. So here are my first attempts...

Click on images for larger versions.

First night out was a start-stop affair with clouds rolling in and out. Had to do the final setup/calibration in the dark, resulting in no guiding and focus being off.


Finally got things dialed in the next time out, but got too ambitious and went for a hard target in Fireworks Galaxy:


Veil Nebula:


I was pretty happy with this Cigar Galaxy (M82) -- got the dark and flat calibration right:


Went for M4 two nights later, but focus was off:


Tweaked with the focus and targeted two galaxies that same night. Short exposures, but still relatively happy with the results:




Will add more images as I capture them.

[Sman]

Nice shots for your first time. I used to get into binocular astronomy, and I have a hand full of scopes, but since moving to a city several years ago, I rarely set up.