Hello from Pennsylvania USA

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Steven Gill (Parkesburg Observatory) avatar
Hi,

My name is Steve and I'm in a Bortle 5 area in Southeastern PA. I've been doing astrophotography for just over a year, starting with lenses and my Sony a7ii, doing lunar and Milky Way work.

I wound up getting a telescope at the end of the summer, jumping into the deep end with a Celestron Edge HD11. I thought I'd be spending most of my time doing planetary, which is why I chose the scope, but have fallen in love with Galaxy and other DSO photography. I belong to a Discord group (started as slack) that brings a bunch of people together with different experiences. I wound up signing up just around the time @Nico Carver  mentioned astrobin, so my timing was either great because I was thinking of it or bad, because I missed out on the promotion. Either way I love it and the features here.

I'll avoid advertising too much, but my Instagram is parkesburg_observatory and I'm excited to be part of this community!
Respectful Engaging
chefjedidiah avatar
Welcome Steve, 

Welcome to thunder dome! (big focal length to jump in with).  But take it from me who also started cold with over 2500mm to manage, yes it is a good idea to start with that much focal length.  My favorite part about astrophotography is picking out those tiny objects that are really far away.  There is just something special about catching photons that have been travelling through space for millions of years, only to be intercepted by my mirror, very cool to me.  Anyway, enjoy and welcome!


Jed
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Jeffrey Stirman avatar
Welcome! Can't wait to see the images in all their glory. I follow you on the IG.
Dale Penkala avatar
Welcome Steve! Look forward to seeing your work!
Trace avatar
Welcome Steve!  Envy your B5.  B8 here in San Jose.

CS/Trace
Steven Gill (Parkesburg Observatory) avatar
Jed, Jeff, Dale, Trace - thank you so much for your welcoming messages!!! 

I wound up extremely lucky for my location, between B5 and decent property, with Amish neighbors and farmland on the other side, I get very little local light issues. 

I'll keep adding higher res photos as time permits. 

Steve
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