Sergey S. @sergey@social.ssbx.dev

I've tried shooting out M33 last night, and understood how faint it is. Everything worked against was shooting towards light polluted area, it was not too high above horizon and half way towards my session I tumbled upon rooftop of my house. So here what I got with 20-ish min of total integration time, not much(small smudge towards middle). M33 shot using Canon EOS T3i, 135mm, F4, ISO 800. #astropic

Caph - lone star. I was going to shoot NGC 7822 but missed big time and as a result the only object worth noting is star Caph 54.7 light years away. #astropic

Ажыццявілася мая даўнешняя мара, навучыць дзяцей размаўляць на роднай мове. My dream came true, now kiddos can learn Belarusian and better understand where their parents came from, and why we are so appalled at how Belarusian culture is being destroyed in Belarus. Every day they can learn one word.

What would you shoot with your camera on Christmas Eve ... right, Christmas Tree ... start cluster. I even got a proof of Santa Clause for my kiddos, as he flew by our house with Rudolph Red Nose leading the pack(this shot was removed from final stack, though). But bottom line I should have done my research and understand that it was not a good target for my setup. So here you go that smudge in the middle is a Christmas Tree cluster. Shot with Canon T3i, 135mm, F3.5, ISO 800, 89min #astropic

Shot accidental target last night, I was going after Christmas Tree and missed it, however Rosette Nebula was in the frame at the very bottom, but still, so I cropped it. So it's only 1/5 of the whole frame that I salvaged from about of 2 hours of integration.Rosette Nebula, shot with Canon EOS T3i, 135mm lens F2.8, ISO 800. #astropic

Finally added some necessary equipment. This is my first try using SWSA 2i star tracker. Spent quite a while learning Polar alignment process. But imagine session was a breeze with automation that tracker brings. This is retake of M45 aka Pleiades with new equipment, just 52 min of total integration and a bit of processing. Equipment: Canon EOS T3i, Samyang 135mm lens at F2.8 and ISO 800. 124 X 25 second sub-exposures. #astropic

@thomasfuchs what do you use for star removal, anything fancy or just StarNet++ ?

Back to my backyard which is Bortle 7/8 class, however with bit improved skills I've decided to do retake for Andromeda Galaxy. This is M31 at the forefront with M110 bottom and M32 was "lost in translation" #astropic Specs: Canon EOS T3i, 50mm lens at F2.8 and ISO 1600. 20 min of total integration time.

Had a chance to shoot out of Bortle 4 sky, so I shot my favorite constellation Orion, here is the result. #astropic

Here is an interesting observation, when you trying to vote on each position separately without choosing a party and rather looking at each person, it's close to impossible to find a solid source of information.

I had a chance to take some almost "accidental" shots of M45 aka Pleiades. It looked like a smudge on the night sky, as I stepped outside for a second. So I went back inside and unpacked my gear and started shooting. This is just 12 min of integration of 4 second exposures, but I am genuinely happy with the image. I think I am making progress in this hobby. Post processing is just curves and nothing else. #astropic

Accidental session, shooting Pleiades. I saw it as a smudge in the sky and couldn't resist the temptation to shoot some photons.

In more practical terms, things I am learning is how to take calibration frames, how many of them I need, how to frame targets when you don't have much of visual other than stars to give you that perspective of what you are able to capture, how to find your targets, why stars are tailing and how much you have to compensate for it. Not having access to Hubble telescope should not limit your ability to learn all the science behind it and gain that mastery with your equipment and have fun.

It's all about perspective, the other day I've asked question on one astrophotography discord channel, explaining that I am not using start tracker as my choice to learn more about subject. As a result along with quite encouraging comments and advises I've received bit of criticism pointing that there is nothing I could learn without tracker other than planning session. My answer knowledge is limitless it's person who put themselves into fixed mindset and refuses to see that knowledge.

I have been thinking about optimizing my setup for astrophotography, the main issue is that I have to carry an A4 light tracing tablet which I use for flat frames. After a bit of creative thinking I have thought about using my e-ink Kindle for the same purpose, by just uploading an empty PDF and opening it when it's time to take flats. In mean time while I take light frames I can read some books as well:)

Instead of night sky pictures I got punctures in 2 tires on my way to that park, so I spent several hours on the phone with insurance arranging towing and taking care of my car and myself.

Getting ready to spend an hour and some change at state park taking photos at bottle 4 sky.

Totals of that session: Broken tripod, just few light of first target, no shots of moon or other 2 targets I had in mind. Even though it might look as a failure it wasn't, first of all I've never expected to come out with some usable shots there, it's a full moon after all it's so bright you can see outside, so I got my experimentation done and I am happy with it. Also I've discovered astrophotography mode on a Pixel smartphone, can't resist I took self portrait. #astropic 2/2

I went camping last weekend, state park was Bortle class 4 however it's a full moon weekend. So me being me, always experimenting, I thought to myself let me take my gear out there and see how Bortle 4 + full moon stacks up against Bortle 7. However things didn't go as planned after kids had a blast viewing full moon and Jupiter in binoculars my tripod broke, then I started shooting and clouds rolled in leaving me with just 150 lights of my first target. 1/2