Beginner’s Luck – First Astrophotography Session
Equipment
- Nikon D5300 (unmodified)
- Sky Watcher Star Adventurer Pro
- Tamron 70-300mm F/4-5.6
While setting everything up, I met so many new friends (mostly dogs). It made the setup way less lonely.
And the weather? Perfect. Not a single cloud in sight.
My very first polar alignment went surprisingly smooth. I got there a bit early, so I had to wait until Polaris became visible. Until then, I just stared at this burning red dot in the sky—Mars. Not a bad way to pass the time.
My plan was pretty ambitious: First, 2–3 hours on M31 (Andromeda Galaxy). It’s the closest major galaxy to the Milky Way and is actually on a collision course with us (but don’t worry, not for another 4 billion years). It’s about 2.5 million light-years away and contains over a trillion stars.
But yeah… plans changed quickly. Andromeda was way too low, and with the light pollution, I couldn’t even find it. So I decided to start with M42 (Orion Nebula) instead. Located in the “sword” of Orion, it’s a massive stellar nursery—where stars are being born. It’s about 1,344 light-years away and is one of the brightest nebulae in the night sky. You can actually spot it with the naked eye!Framing M42 was super easy—honestly couldn’t have asked for a better start. But I chickened out a bit and didn’t go full 300mm with my lens. I ended up at around 220mm-ish because I didn’t want to crop out part of the nebula. Better safe than sorry.
I tried using my Bahtinov mask to focus, but it didn’t really work as expected. So I just used Rigel (right below M42) and went for it. Not the most precise focus ever, but I was too excited to start capturing. The focus actually turned out really well! Beginner’s luck? Maybe.
What I didn’t expect was how much humidity could be a problem in such a wide-open field. Definitely something to watch out for next time.
After 2 hours on M42, I was ready to finally go after M31. But then… the battery symbol started blinking.
I hoped it would last, but something told me to do my calibration frames first. Luckily I did—because right after, my camera died. No backup battery (rookie mistake). And just like that, my first astrophotography night came to an end.
I was a bit bummed, not gonna lie. I didn’t get to shoot M31, and with the moon getting brighter and it already being March, Andromeda won’t be high in the sky again until next winter.
But I’ll be back. I’m coming for you, Andromeda!
Previous Processed Images
Over time, my processing skills have improved. That’s why I occasionally return to old projects and rework everything from scratch—just to see what kind of results I can get now. It’s always nice to see how far I’ve come. So, here are all the versions (even the really bad ones)!
