Despite the appeal of Astrobin Image of the Day and APOD, we stick to astrophotography for reasons intertwined with our nature. Witnessing the spectacular beauty of the cosmos through an expensive lens never fails to amaze; the incredible images we work so long and so hard on never fail to stupify us and magnify our curiosity. Astrophotography has become my night job, and I plan to remain indulged in the hobby well into my research years (I plan to study astrophysics once I graduate high school). I am so happy to join such an amazing community of curiosity and problem-solving!

Around one year ago, when I joined the Milwaukee Astronomical Society, I imaged Messier 27 using the club's 12.5" reflector dubbed "B-scope." The blurry 30-minute image was the first image I had ever taken with a telescope and a camera (other than my phone); despite the blurry, low-quality images (as my fellow astrophotographers would agree), I regarded that night as one of the greatest nights of my life. The color image below is the image I took using B-scope.
One year later, I learned the telescope we dub "G-scope," a 14" Celestron EdgeHD telescope with full imaging capabilities. The telescope sits under a large, notoriously laborious dome, a dome that requires constant attention and careful management.

On my first night imaging with "G-scope," I blundered a few times (as any rookie does); even so, I managed to work through the blunders and figure out the mistakes I made. After a lot of problem-solving and troubleshooting, I was able to obtain 3 hours of images of the Dumbbell Nebula in OIII. The monochrome image above (the image was taken with a monochrome camera) is the result. The image is 3/16th complete, for I still need 13 more hours of integration (HOO- 8 hrs of OIII and 8 hrs of Ha).

Working with G-scope has been a humbling yet rewarding experience, for I realized that my understanding of astrophotography is still shallow, even infantile. An involved and deep-field telescope, G-scope quickly became my favorite telescope to use, despite the mistakes I made. I am beyond grateful to be able to work with such a magnificent telescope.

Color Image: Taken on October 11th, 2020, using a modified Canon EOS Rebel T3i (full-spectrum) and a 12.5" Newtonian (no filter)
- 30 minutes of 30-second exposures
Monochrome Image: Taken on August 30th, 2020, and the morning of August 31st, 2020, with a C14 EdgeHD telescope, an SBIG STT-8300M camera, and an Astrodon 3nm OIII filter
- 180 minutes of 20-minute exposures

The color image is a "revision" such that all viewers can see the full-res image.