My new star tracker cost more than my camera but it was worth every penny
I saved up for a Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer last year, about $400. Before that, I was just using a tripod and short exposures, so my Milky Way shots had a lot of noise. The first night I used the tracker, I got a 3-minute exposure of the Orion Nebula from my backyard. The detail was amazing, like I could see the gas clouds clearly. It did take a couple of tries to get the polar alignment right, but now it's easy. Has anyone else made a big gear jump that really changed their photos?