My main reason for buying the new telescope (AT8RC) was to prepare for what astrophotographers refer to as “Galaxy Season.” In late winter and early spring in the northern hemisphere, there are many interesting galaxies and galaxy clusters that rise around sunset and are visible most of the night, hence the name galaxy season. So far, I have mostly imaged the larger (closer) galaxies because my telescope had a fairly wide field of view (1.34 degrees or about 3x the full moon.) The new telescope has a much longer focal length (1625mm vs 563mm) and so acts like a telephoto lens that allows me to image much smaller objects. The field of view with the new scope is about 0.5 degrees, or about the size of the full moon. This image of NGC 891 is my first “smaller” galaxy. The resolution is a little less than my other images because, ultimately, my limiting factor is the atmosphere…which is why NASA spends Billions of dollars to put telescopes in space! A little more info can be found here: NGC 891
