Good image. Sharp focus and properly exposed.

Excellent ----

JPEG is the recording

RAW is the score

You said that you stopped reading the Wikipedia entry when you came to the liability notice that every reference has.

"Okay, I wasn't sure which of us you were referring to so, I looked
and stopped reading after this:
WIKIPEDIA MAKES NO GUARANTEE OF VALIDITY"

Had you have continued reading you would have found this list of if the contributors to this entry in Wikipedia.

Just because Wikipedia is free does not mean that it is not one of the best reference sources on a given subject that is available.

Wikipedia has its trolls who in addition to claiming it is worthless, take great delight in finding errors in the Wiki. When these errors are brought to light, and if confirmed, they are removed. This is a system for self-correction that no other reference system I know of has.

Here are the footnotes that you did not read:

References
"Understanding RAW Files Explained". Luminous Landscape. 2 March 2011.
"Camera Raw Formats". Digital Preservation. Library of Congress. 2006-10-04. Retrieved 2014-03-11.
"Decoding raw digital photos in Linux". www.cybercom.net.
"Exif Tool, Supported File Types".
"Panasonic LX3 Barrel Distortion Controversy". The Online Photographer.
"Panasonic DMC-LX3 Review - Optics". Imaging Resource.
"Panasonic LX3 Lens Distortion". Seriouscompacts.com. Archived from the original on 2008-10-24. Retrieved 2011-12-11.
Panasonic Lumix LX7 Review - Imaging Resource
"Review: Capture One 6 Pro". IT Enquirer. Retrieved 5 October 2011.
"Phase One Capture One 6 Pro Review". ePhotoZine. Retrieved 5 October 2011.
Adobe: DNG Specification
"Realization of natural color reproduction in Digital Still Cameras, closer to the natural sight perception of the human eye".
"Sony Japan announces new RGB+E image sensors". imaging-resource.com. July 16, 2003.
"Sony announce new RGBE CCD". dpreview.com. 15 July 2003.
"Raw storm in a teacup?". Dpreview.com. 2005-04-27. Retrieved 2007-12-09. Dave Coffin, creator of the dcraw program, discusses some of his successful reverse-engineering in this interview, and mentions his enthusiasm for the DNG format.
Reichmann, Michael; Specht, Juergen (May 2005). "The RAW Flaw (at The Luminous Landscape)".
Reichmann, Michael; Specht, Juergen (May 2005). "The RAW Flaw (at The Luminous Landscape)". Archived from the original (DOC) on 2012-09-20.
Reichmann, Michael; Specht, Juergen (May 2005). "The RAW Flaw (at The Luminous Landscape)" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-01-06.
Planning for US Library of Congress Collections: Preferences in Summary
Barry Pearson: What is in a raw file?
Adobe: DNG 1.3.0.0 Specification (June 2009) (scroll down a bit)
Barry Pearson: Products from Camera Manufacturers that use DNG in some way
Barry Pearson: DNG support, to end-September 2006
Barry Pearson: A brief history of DNG
Adobe Labs: CinemaDNG (final bullet point)
Adobe: Digital Negative (DNG) Specification Patent License
I3A (International Imaging Industry Association): WG18, Ad Hoc groups and JWG 20/22/23 Meet in Tokyo
Web archive of widely distributed email: Forwarded Message from a member of the ISO TC42 (technical committee for photography) working group 18 (electronic imaging) standards group
DPReview: Adobe seeks International recognition for DNG
I3A (International Imaging Industry Association): ISO 12234 Part 2 – TIFF/EP Archived 2008-10-23 at the Wayback Machine (scroll down a bit)
NPES: Minutes of ISO/TC 130/WG2, 39th Meeting, see 14f
TIFF structure of Canon CR2
Lossless ITU-T81 jpeg compression of Canon CR2
Describing the Canon Raw v3 (CR3) file format
R. Ramanath; W.E. Snyder; Y. Yoo; M.S. Drew. "Color Image Processing Pipeline in Digital Still Cameras" (PDF).
Keigo Hirakawa. "Color Imaging Pipeline for Digital Still & Video Cameras Part 1: Pipeline and Color Processing" (PDF).
"Inside the Canon RAW format version 2, understanding .CR2 file format and files produced by Canon EOS Digital Camera". lclevy.free.fr.
Ron Day. Understanding & Using the RAW File Format
Nanette Salvaggio (2008). Basic Photographic Materials and Processes (3rd ed.). Focal Press. p. 206. ISBN 978-0-240-80984-7.
William E. Kasdorf (2003). The Columbia guide to digital publishing. Columbia University Press. p. 270. ISBN 978-0-231-12499-7.
"Digital Negative (DNG) Specification" (PDF): 14.
"Comparative test: Canon 10D / Nikon D70 in the field of deep-sky astronomy". Archived from the original on 2004-07-08.
"Digital Negative (DNG) Specification" (PDF): 61.
"Is the Nikon D70 NEF (RAW) format truly lossless?".
"Understanding Camera Raw".
"RawDigger: detecting posterization in SONY cRAW/ARW2 files - RawDigger". www.rawdigger.com.
Kevin Carter (March 3, 2014). "RED Epic Dragon review: First camera to break the 100-point DxOMark sensor score barrier".
Larry Strunk (2006-03-19). "The RAW Problem". OpenRAW. Archived from the original on 2007-12-10.
"Advances in iOS Photography". Apple. 14 June 2016. Retrieved 16 June 2016.
"Microsoft RAW Image Thumbnailer and Viewer for Windows XP".
"Windows Camera Codec Pack". Microsoft. 2014-04-22. Retrieved 2015-02-18.
Understanding RAW Image Support in Windows Vista: Windows Vista team blog Archived 2007-10-12 at the Wayback Machine
"File extension dng support - DNG CODEC for Windows 8 and Windows 7 - Windows Imaging Component CODEC for Adobe Digital Negative files". www.ardfry.com.
Rietschin, Axel. "FastPictureViewer Professional - Image File Formats Compatibility Chart". www.fastpictureviewer.com.
Rietschin, Axel. "FastPictureViewer Imaging Products". FastPictureViewer Imaging Products by Axel Rietschin Software Developments.
Paul Monckton. "Android 5.0 Camera Tests Show Update Instantly Improves Every Smartphone". Retrieved December 27, 2014.
"Libraw".
"AZImage".
"ImageMagick Image Formats".
"About - LightZone". lightzombie.org.
"Capture One". Archived from the original on 2011-11-14.
"ACDSystems Supported RAW Formats".
ideaMK: DNG Viewer
"List of Supported Cameras (RAW formats) - FastRawViewer". www.fastrawviewer.com.
"Wild Media Server (UPnP, DLNA, HTTP)". www.wildmediaserver.com. Retrieved 2017-09-01.

External links

Adobe: Understanding Raw Files"; background on how camera sensors treat raw files
Open RAW: a working group of photographers, software engineers and other people interested in advocating the open documentation of digital camera raw files
Atkins, Bob: "Raw, JPEG, and TIFF"; common file formats compared.
Coupe, Adam: "The benefits of shooting in RAW"; Article with diagrams explaining raw data and its advantages.
Goldstein, Jim M.: "RAW vs JPEG: Is Shooting RAW Format for Me?"; an editorial.
Basic Photography lesson in Camera Raw A pros and cons approach to the discussion of shooting in Camera Raw
Clevy, Laurent: "Inside the Canon RAW format v2: understanding the .CR2 file format"
Foi, Alessandro: "Signal-dependent noise modeling, estimation, and removal for digital imaging sensors"; with Matlab software and raw-data samples of Canon, Nikon, Fujifilm cameras.
Clevy, Laurent: "Describing the Canon Raw v3 (CR3) file format"

If the proofs agree with the data then one can assume that the data is correct.

Said by the man who has never read the footnotes on a Wilki page.

The answer is simple.

JPEG or RAW has nothing to do with looks, but instead, how the photo will be used.

If you are shooting for the Web or drugstore prints then JPEG is fine.
If you are shooting knowing that the photo will be Post Processed, then RAW is a must because when you save a RAW file all of the Image Data is saved, unlike JPEG which always throws some of that data away.

Google both astrophotography and astrophotographers. You will receive more information that you can absorb in the next year. Also, search using a video camera. Many a good planetary photo was taken using a webcam.

Everything you are looking for can be found here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfb5ObB7SwA

I use the Vixin Polarie that I purchased around 7ears ago
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PO03y-kCRk

The following will explain better than I can why a camera attached to a small telescope makes such a lousy camera platform. It is just nor stable enough. This will happen on all small telescopes do not have a photo quality mount.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTxlZ4k_0yw

Software is the work around.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yUNMnIBOVM

What can be done using a star tracker and a camera.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfb5ObB7SwA

A complete guide
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbo9HIt40DMTlkWpEqZAIEQ

It is the most direct route but in my opinion, not the easiest drive.
The oil field is in full bloom and those 2 lane highways can be extra dangerous with tired tank truck drivers on them. I consider the drive from Tatum to Roswell to be one of the most boring drives in NM, even worse than the drive from Clines Corners to Roswell.

I do not know the person making the drive so I picked the route with the best roads and support in case something breaks, and staying in Van Horn will save him over $50.00 for a nights stay.

All of that coupled with the fact that that the legal speed limit for almost all of I-10 west of San Antonio is 80 mph.

Besides, everyone should experience the view dropping down the mountain looking out to Alamogordo and the Sacramento Mountains.

It is the easiest drive.
How would you go?
I lived in Valentine, TX for almost 20 years and have made the drive many times.

When you live out in the Big Empty a 100 mile drive is considered a trip to the corner drugstore.
Distance is measured in time to, not miles to.

Unless you are into casinos there isn't much to do in Ruidoso or any of the small NM towns. Each one has its own monument to local history, but not much else.

Good day trips would be down the mountain to Alamogordo to see the White Sands and the Holloman AFB.
I can recommend a trip to Roswell to see and photograph the birds and dragonflies at the Bitterroot National Wildlife Refuge and do not miss the Robert Goddard Museum.

If you can squeeze out the time I would go to Carlsbad and spend some time visiting the caverns. This will take you through Cloudcroft and the drive to Carlsbad is a pretty one.

Having lived out in the area for 20 years my wife and I have been to all of these places many times.

Having made the trip west twice in the past year I highly recommend you break the drive into around 500 mile segments. I always pre-book my rooms in advance which can be a big money saver. If you are up for it, try to get to Van Horn on the first day, and then on to Ruidoso via El Paso and Alamogordo on the second day.

Expect $3.00 gasoline and be sure to bring a light jacket for those cold nights.

Be safe and enjoy

Do yourself a big favor and forget the camera and buy a Manfrotto PIXI Mini Tripod kit for 25 dollars at Amazon. It makes a great grip for the phone and works as a tabletop tripod. That with a remote trigger for your phone and you will be set for your trip.
If you must buy a camera I would go with the Lumix ZC-70. It will take 4K video and photos. You can use their 4K Burst Mode to take super sharp photos. I have one and flowers moving in the wind and running critters are no problem now.

Almost forgot
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0169SORBO/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&th=1

Rule 1 - When using film always expose for the shadows,

Rule 2 - When using Chrome and now Digital always expose for the highlights.

OK, same answer, just a different way of saying it.

But,

I turned the snow into zones 9-10 by metering my card, and then because I knew the middle gray point, expose so that the snow would be the tone I wanted it to be.

The Zone System allowed the photographer to pre-visualize the image and expose for it. It saved a ton of time and expensive paper in the darkroom.

Grey cards are for setting the color balance, not the exposure. ASA100@f8x125 second will always give you a good daylight exposure but it will not the correct color balance. A grey card is the best way to do that.

I learned about using grey cards after wasting a 4 hour drive to the mountains to shoot some snow scenes.
I was shooting ASA100 B&W film and used the camera meter. When I made my contact sheet all of the exposures were spot on but the snow was grey instead of white.

When I first started taking pictures, B&W of course, I quickly learned that all white objects would print grey and the way to avoid this was to expose using a grey card, and the snow would be white instead of grey.
I did not care why it worked and that was all I cared about.
Light meters see pure white as 18% of the total signal their sensor sees and will meter an 18% grey card as pure white.