I am revisiting one of my favorite targets after five years of additional experience and significant equipment changes. My original
https://www.astrobin.com/324613/ (added as a revision to this image for ease of comparison) was taken from Muleshoe Ranch, Arizona, over the course of two nights using a OSC CCD camera and 100mm aperture refractor.
This latest version was taken from my backyard observatory in remote Duquesne, Arizona. This version was shot from a permanent installation with a 130 mm refractor, a mono CMOS camera with filter wheel and with over 50 hours of data.
The two images aren't even in the same league although the first was likely taken from slightly darker skies. I attribute the difference to several factors:
- imaging with a mono camera with high quality filters vs a OSC camera
- vast improvements in the quality of CMOS cameras
- larger aperture telescope
- longer integration time
- a significant improvement in the software tools for astrophotography
- five years more experience doing astrophotography
At this point I find it hard to believe I will see such significant improvements in image quality over the next five years. But, if you had asked me then what to expect five years in the future it certainly would not have been this. I also see this level of improvement in the works of those I follow on astrobin. The entire field seems to be making this leap together. It's an exciting time to be an astrophotographer!
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