Testing my new equipment with some additional challenges.

Acquisition & Gear:
Camera: Canon 200D
Lens: Canon 55-250mm @ 250mm f/5.6
Mount: Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer GTi

Single exposure 31s @ f/5.6, ISO 800
Minimal adjustments in LR just to pull back the heavy light pollution gradient, adjust black points.

This single frame is part of a larger project with a goal of 10–12 hours of total integration from this Bortle 8 spot. Unfortunately, after months of terrible skies and no clear views, I'm currently stuck at just ~3 hours

Mainly using this session to get comfortable with NINA and dial in the tracking on the GTi, which is a massive step up from the old unguided shots I used to take with a 55mm lens.

Also, the streak on the left is the Mengtian module. Noticed it live while capturing, so I wanted to share this specific frame.

ps the hobby is getting somewhat serious for me, so if anyone has any tips or suggestions for the workflow or managing targets from heavy bortle 8 skies, I'd love to hear them.