Last month I attended my first ever astronomy night! Columbus State University hosted the event at Providence Canyon State Park in Georgia, and it was a fantastic night. I had the opportunity to meet other people interested in the hobby as well as being able to image some targets I never have before under near perfect conditions!
Nebulae and Galaxies are ultimately what got me interested in astrophotography, so I made the drive out to Providence Canyon with a few targets in mind – but primarily the Lagoon Nebula and Trifid Nebula. I had spent the day making sure I could frame the target nicely with my gear and picked a few other targets. Once I arrived, I setup near a few others who were also imaging and got ready for the night. With it being an astronomy night, there were tons of families and people around that were interested in space and telescopes and interacting with them was an absolute blast! I met some great people, and cannot wait to have the opportunity to go to another event like this one. One of the individuals I had set up near had a very similar set up to my own and was imaging the Veil Nebula, a supernova remnant located near the constellation Cygnus. In between targets, I decided to image this target as well.
After spending some time with the Veil Nebula, I then moved on to a target I have been wanting to image for quite a while – The Eagle Nebula. The Eagle Nebula is located in the constellation Serpens. Some may recognize the core of this nebula thanks to The Hubble Space Telescope image of The Pillars of Creation. While the image I was able to get is not nearly as zoomed in on that region you can make them out if you look at the center!
I spent most of my night, however, imaging The Lagoon Nebula and The Trifid Nebula. Both are located near Sagittarius and are great targets for both widefield and deep space astrophotography. I spent nearly two hours gathering data for these targets and am absolutely thrilled with the result – it might be the best astrophoto I have ever taken! I put a lot of effort into making sure I had calibration frames (darks, flats, bias) and spent quite a bit of time learning Siril to bring out as much detail as possible. Looking forward to my next opportunity to get out under the skies with low light pollution!
I have been promising it for quite some time now – and I think it is about time I follow through. With the images I have been lucky enough to capture with my new gear over the past year, I think I am finally comfortable enough to actually sell some prints! I had some proofs made up of shots I have taken throughout the year and was satisified with the results. For those of you that are interested, I will have prints for sale in time for the holiday season! Astrophotography prints can make the perfect gift for anyone with an interest in our universe and are great decor; I have a few of my prints hanging in my office at work, they’re quite the conversation starter. That being said, look for some additional information regarding prints in the next few days… there might even be a Black Friday Kickoff sale and giveaway, stay tuned!
In addition to the above, if you ever have any questions about the astrophotography process don’t hesitate to reach out! I am always more than happy to help out and answer any questions. Furthermore, if there are any particular nebulae or galaxies you’d like to see, let me know and I’d be more than happy to attempt to image them. I am always open to suggestions and requests. I have already started to plan my next target as well as videos for my next few imaging sessions, I can’t wait to share what I have planned!