As of May, 2002 I've been trying to do astrophotography/CCD imaging in some form or another for about four years now. Astroimaging is HARD...it takes dedication, learning lots of new skills, technical competence, and an artistic eye. But mostly what it requires is TIME. To get good at something, you have to practice it as much as possible -- that can be hard to do with astroimaging, since most of us amateurs have jobs and lives; throw in clouds and lunar cycles, and it's often hard to get out and image for more than one or two nights a month. It can take a long time to get good at the required skills when you can only practice them once or twice a month! My advice to folks wanting to begin this challenging activity is simply to do it as often as you can, take copious notes about what went right and wrong during each session, and always challenge yourself to do better every time out. Get to know the equipment you have, whether it's modest starter equipment or the most expensive money can buy -- know its strengths, weaknesses, quirks, and foibles. And finally, celebrate your successes and learn from your mistakes without getting frustrated!

One way you can learn as you progress is to compare how well you did something previously to how well you're doing it now. This page details some of my attempts to do just that. Throughout my own learning curve and changes in equipment, I've often imaged the same objects time and again. Comparing those images can be instructive, and sometimes downright funny (as in I can't believe I thought that was good back then!). Here are some examples:

M16, The Eagle Nebula

Another example that I thought some might like to see...

This was the first image I shot of the Horsehead/Flame Nebula region around Alnitak in Orion. Shot in January 2000, done with an MX7-C camera, an Orion ST-80 achromat scope, riding piggyback on my LX200 mount. At the time I thought this was a really good image...and in fact, StarlightXpress used it in advertising for their cameras for many months, and it got a lot of oohs and aahs. However, a more recent version...

Of course, equipment makes a difference. This was through a Takahashi Sky90 riding on an AP900GTO mount. HX916 camera, H-alpha filtered luminance, and a total of 397 minutes of exposure time. The real difference, however, is that my imaging technique has improved (just knowing that you need to do lots and lots of imaging time for good signal makes a world of difference!), and so has my ability to process the images. This region is one that I like to shoot nearly every year, just to see if I can do better than the image I already have. This one was shot in December, 2003...wait 'til next year!