Trying My Hand At Astrophotography

Your moon image is over exposed, the moon is way to bright. It looks like the lens is producing a ghost image. If it were exposed correctly, this might not be a problem. But realize 18-250 is a long range to cover. And while this lens may be ok for day time with a lot of light it has limitations when you are using in difficult conditions.

Go out on youtube and look at recommendations on lens. The criteria for a good lens was F 2.8 or better, low Coma and low vignetting. There are a number of Rokinon lenses out there that fit the bill but you have to find a good copy because they suffer decentering (one side of the image is sharper than the other). They are also all manual focus but they are inexpensive. I found a Sigma 14 F1.8 art but that lens is $1600 new. I found a used one. For crop sensors I bought a Tokina 14-20mm f/2.0 I found a used one for $150 dollars, for that price it works very well. I am just starting out shooting astro myself although I have experience in other genres. There is a lot to astro. I went out to shoot the milky way, you need photopills ot see where it is going to be in the sky. I did not know there were milky way season. If you shoot out of season, you don't get the galactic core core which is what happened in this image. It also depends what part of the world you are in. I am waiting for March to September. Good luck. Lots of reading and watching. My experience, make sure you dress warmly when cold, have flashlight water, snack , insect repellent and bear spray.

How much does it cost to rent a lens? 50 to 100 dollars a day? I would look on craigslist and try and get a lens cheap. I believe this one is rated well, you could offer him $250. philadelphia.craigslist.org/pho/d/bath-r...wide/7433123232.html   It works well for environmental portrait as well. F1.4, 1.8, 2.0 work well for single shot astro, f1.4 has double amount of light over 2.0 and 2.0 has double the light over 2.8, but you can still get some good images with f 2.8 If you got it for 250 and it did not work out sell it for $200 or 150, you would loose $50 to 100 dollars, almost the price of rental. If not keep your eye on craigslist you might find something for less. Good luck