Topic: Beginners in Astrophotography 4 Nicki Nessas

It's great that you're joining our little beginner series, Nicki. It's always nice to see a woman in our hobby. How did you get into astrophotography?

Hello Karl, hello Rudi, thank you so much for letting me participate in this introduction series. I'm Nicki, and I've been involved with astronomy since the blood moon event in July 2018. The entire universe has always fascinated me, but that evening was the catalyst for everything that followed. After my fascination became known, my neighbor promptly gave me a used beginner telescope, a 60/700 refractor. When I saw the moon up close for the first time, I quickly realized that there had to be more to see.

So, after a long search, I decided to buy my first "real" telescope at the end of 2018. I also received advice from my now-colleagues at the Paderborn Observatory, where I promptly joined the club. The result was a Bresser Newtonian 150/750 with an Exos 1 mount without tracking or GoTo, which had been recommended to me several times as a good all-rounder.

At the time, I wasn't really aware that I might want to do astrophotography someday. Gradually, terms like long exposure and autoguiding came into play. I also had real trouble finding objects, despite using various aids like apps and star atlases. Then I came across Karl. Thanks to his excellent help and advice, I finally switched to a Skywatcher GoTo mount in June, specifically the EQM 35 GoTo Pro Syncscan.

Throughout the year, I expanded my accessories in all directions. I also spent several evenings tinkering, for example, building a solar filter, which allowed me to photograph sunspots in April. I had considerable difficulty with precise polar alignment at first, but now I've got that down really well too.

Until then, my favorite object had always been the moon. I also didn't have much experience with the camera on the telescope. Thanks to various forms of help and my personal mentor, I was able to take my first steps from the middle of last year onwards, photographing more than just the moon.

Andromeda was my first real test, not yet perfect, but I was bursting with pride to have finally managed my first deep-sky photo with all that equipment. Then, at the end of the year, came my favorite, Orion with its M42 Orion Nebula, a long-cherished wish and dream.

Again, bursting with pride... From a test evening where I actually wanted to learn guiding, the images of M81/M82 and my latest M42 were created. Before that, I had also acquired a ZWO ASI 120 mc camera simply to get detailed images of the moon; this will soon also help me with guiding, where my training is still pending. In addition, my Coronado PST is also waiting for its first real use.

Of course, everything can be expanded and improved, especially the image editing, which I'm still struggling with, but I'm happy about every single small step. I've also managed to adjust my setup so I don't have to go outside much in the cold anymore... In short: I'm absolutely thrilled that I've finally mastered all the technology and can take photos like these; it remains astronomically exciting...