My Second Attempt at Capturing the Lagoon Nebula

It's always a journey of learning and refinement in astrophotography, and my second attempt at capturing the magnificent Lagoon Nebula is a testament to that. While I can still see areas for improvement, looking back at my previous attempt, the progress is undeniable. This shot was taken from my backyard in Tasmania last night.

Equipment and Acquisition

For this capture, I utilized the following equipment:

• Camera: Sony A7 IV
• Lens: Sony FE 200-600mm G with a 2x teleconverter
• Mount: Star Adventurer GTI

This setup allowed for a 1200mm focal length, which is my first time using the 2x teleconverter. I'm pleased to report it worked surprisingly well, providing a detailed view of the nebula.

I managed to collect 272 subs, each 30 seconds long. Despite some initial challenges where the guiding seemed to falter for about half the session, I was fortunate enough to still acquire decent frames. Unfortunately, the moon rose before I could gather enough data for a truly clean image. My Bortle scale rating for the viewing location is about 3.

Ongoing Learning and Challenges

As I continue to hone my skills, I'm still working on mastering some of the fundamental aspects of astrophotography. For instance, I'm aiming to get NINA (Nighttime Imaging 'N' Astronomy) to reliably handle focusing and slewing to my targets. Currently, I'm still manually adjusting things in a rather uncoordinated manner.

I'm particularly happy with the blue hues present in this rendition of the Lagoon Nebula. It's a subtle detail that adds a lot of character to the image.

This endeavor is a constant learning process, but seeing the improvements from one attempt to the next is incredibly rewarding. I'm excited to continue pushing the boundaries of what I can capture from my own backyard!