First steps into astrophotography

I have always been fascinated by astronomy. Since I got a decent DSRL (Canon 5d MKIII) the idea came up to deepen this fascination by going in the astrophotography direction. As soon as I got the 5d and a decent wide angle lens (Canon 16-35mm, 2.8F) I walked into the night and tried to shoot the milky way. The first shots were taken on the Pretul, Styria, Austria - near Mürzzuschlag the town I grew up. Unfortunately, the moon was very bright and it was quite difficult to find the right exposure time. By using the wide angle lens, a relative high ISO setting (about 2000), and an exposure time of at maximum 25 to 30 seconds one can get enough light of the milky way to highlight some details without getting star trails due to the rotation of the earth.

One of the first results can be seen here before post-processing with Lightroom.

• Camera: Canon 5d MKIII
• Lens: Canon 16-35mm 2.8F (pics taken at 16 mm and 2.8F) 
• Exposure time: 25s
• ISO: 2000

Without post-processing:

With Lightroom post-processing:

After a two month break (mainly due to my vacation in Iceland) I tried to shoot the milky way again. This time near to Graz on the Schöckl. Although some light pollution was present due to the vicinity of Graz, the sky was still much darker than the first time.

The following shot was taken with similar settings:

• Same lens at 16 mm, 2.8F
• Exposure time: 20 sec
• ISO: 2500

Without post-processing:

 With Lightroom post-processing:

Getting longer exposure times with the Astrotrac guider

Without guiding one is limited to wide angle shots at max. 30 seconds exposure time without getting any star trails. By using a guiding device like the Astrotrac TT320X-AG which compensates the earth rotation, the exposure times can be significantly increased.
My Astrotrac guider arrived in November and luckily there were clear skies over Graz. I took my first shots of Orion the hunter, which features gorgeous nebulas, such as the Orion Nebula.

The first shot covers the sword and the belt of Orion. Again, both versions of the picture are shown:

• Lens: Canon 70-200mm 2.8F (at 165 mm 2.8F)
• Exposure time: 34s
• ISO: 800

Without post-processing:

With Lightroom post-processing:

The second shot is taken at 400mm and captures the sword of Orion. Again, both versions are shown.

• Lens: Canon 70-200mm 2.8F and 2.0 extender (photo taken at 400 mm at 5.6F)
• Exposure time: 41s
• ISO: 800

Without post-processing:

With Lightroom post-processing: The sparkling effect for the sword stars was added with the Topaz star effects plugin.

I am pretty happy with these first results and looking forward to clear skies over Graz. Next time, I will definitely take multiple exposures, which can then be combined by DeepSkyStacker to extract more information and reduce noise.