I’ve been so inspired by the incredible images from @Dan_Kearl , @Youssef_Ismail , and @Diane_Miller that I decided to buy a small tracking mount and try my hand at some Deep Sky Objects. This is my second attempt at Andromeda Galaxy, some 2.5 million light years away from us.
This genre takes a lot of practice, with both capture and processing. My equipment is not automated so I am learning to manually polar align, find and compose the target, and how to take all the images. Processing is very challenging…I’ve discovered how sorely lacking my Photoshop skills are.
Andromeda is an easy target to start with. Even though I’m glad to have captured at least this amount of data for an identifiable image, I feel like there’s a lot I left on the table in terms of bringing out its beauty.
Despite the learning curve, it’s all really interesting to learn about, and fun. Thank you Dan, Youssef, and Diane for your inspirational images. I fear that a “black hole” of time and money could be in my future!
Location: Joshua Tree National Park, Bortle 3-4 skies
Specific Feedback Requested
I tried to not blow out the core, but in doing so I feel like I left a lot on the processing table. Your comments are appreciated!
Technical Details
Nikon D500 with 70-200mm f/2.8 lens, at 200mm (= 350mm equivalent)
Equatorial Mount: Sky Watcher Star Adventurer 2i
Lights: 170 @ 30 seconds each (=85 minutes total). 200mm, f/4, ISO 2500
Darks and Flats: 40 frames for each
Bias: 60 frames
Software: Deep Sky Stacker (to combine the images), StarNet (to remove the star field and work solely on the galaxy), and Photoshop.
An excellent Image. Your stars are sharp, color in galaxy is very good, no noise, core is fine, dark sky looks good.
Processing looks perfect to me.
With a D500 and zoom lens I don’t think it could be improved…
Wow! Yes, excellent, both acquisition (with excellent framing) and processing!! The core has a very nice light gradient and the larger stars are pleasingly “fuzzy”. Great detail in the. arms!
Welcome to the bottomless pit! I just decided to replace my tracker. @Dan_Kearl, thanks for the recommendation – The SkyWatcher EQM-35 Pro arrives Monday. With luck from the weather, it will get its first light (not counting a lot of trial runs) with the upcoming lunar eclipse. It will be deep in the earth’s shadow and very dim at totality and being able to get 20-30 seconds of exposure would be so nice. I’m not sure how much atmospheric turbulence will shoot down detail, though. I have the perfect setup from the south corner of the deck, with Polaris and the entire eclipse path visible. If its cloudy Ted will be delighted to have an excuse to fly to some isolated little airport somewhere clear. He’s already thinking of places.
And of course there is a total solar eclipse next April on a path from SW TX to southern IL and on NE. I tracked the last one and was able to do an HDR to get a lot of detail in the corona, which extends far out but gets very dim very fast. Would like to try to do better.
@Dan_Kearl , @Diane_Miller , @David_Bostock , and @Chris_Baird - Thanks so much for your thoughts. Diane, congrats on the new mount. How nice to be able to fly to a dark sky or no clouds location!
Outstanding rendition. I love the soft gradient of light at the core. For some reason I also like that your sky is not stark black as well. It gives the whole image a softer feel.
I am wondering what time you made the photo? Was it early morning, in the 4 to 5 am time frame? I ask because when I photographed it M110, the smaller neighboring galaxy was above and to the left, which is the rising orientation in summer. The orientation you are showing is setting orientation or a midnight winter orientation.
You have inspired me to photograph Andromeda again. Thank you!
@Youssef_Ismail Thank you! I worked hard to keep some core details, and yes I didnt go totally black on the sky.
I’ve seen a few videos where they say this is the “typical” view of the galaxy, the view that is typically depicted. This is a 180 degree rotation, so that is why it looks off from reality. I have no idea why a 180 degree rotation has become the “standard”, and it may not even be a “standard” view for many. But I’ve seen it more than once in videos, so I just went along with it and rotated.
Clear skies on your next Andromeda adventure!
Thanks Mark. I’ve played with my recent image and compared the captured orientation with a 180 degree rotated version. The inverted orientation gives me the sense of the core creating a depression in the galaxy like the core is heavier in a sense. The captured orientation does not exhibit that effect. Very interesting.
Look up meridian flip for a lot of information. For many mounts with larger telescopes, after the tracker crossed the meridian the telescope can collide with the tripod, and to continue imaging it can be a complicated process to re-orient the mount, target and guide star, so some people will just start imaging on the west side of the meridian and their images can be oriented differently.
Any view of space is correct depending on the time of year so Astro photographs are rotated and flipped all the time. There is no wrong orientation.
Andromeda just looks the best in this orientation for most people.
My scopes Meridian flip through the night anytime I image all night as the camera would hit the mount when it passes the meridian.
The images stack in whatever orientation the majority of images are oriented and you can rotate them to whatever you like.
It runs on an Asiair computer ($299) attached on the mount that I run with my iPad or phone. I set up, polar align, go to target, select how many images and what time I want (30-1200 sec. for instance) and go to bed.
Right now I am imaging from 8pm to 6am.
it shoots all night and meridian flips whenever it needs to. I set it to turn off as well when done.
I load the images the next morning to see what I have.
You can view and get the comp you want as well with the Asiair before you start shooting.
That’s impressive.
I’ve been eyeing the AsiAir Plus which is the newer version from the AsiAir Pro…it is supposed to have better WiFi range. I want to get some more of my basic astrophotography work done first before I start upgrading, but man that sounds so nice.
Thanks.
I have 2, they only go about 50 feet, I leave by back door.
An unbelievably inexpensive amazing little unit. They are a loss leader to buy ZWO equipment but worth every penny.
They find and frame the targets, Focus if you get focuser, turn the filter wheel if you shoot mono, shoot the images and cool the camera, run everything from your phone.
If one makes the commitment to get real Astrophotography equipment it is very simplified these days and not that expensive.
A nice mount, astro camera and scope with guidescope with a nice simple refractor telescope and an Asiair to run it all is less than $5000.
Less than a new top mirrorless camera.
Less than a midlevel camera and one good lens.
It’s not a bottomless pit if one just gets the right gear to begin with.
I messed with DSLR equipment and spent money I did not need to. Astro cameras and scopes are very simple to use and the results are night and day compared to regular camera gear.
It’s designed for Astrophotography.
There is no substitute for deep space.
Still in early learning phase while using my setup, but am eyeing Williams / Zwo equipment including that nifty AsiAir Plus, once I’m ready to upgrade.
I’ll send you my gear list for your thoughts on if the gear can achieve my goals of those colorful nebulae.
@Dan_Kearl is right about equipment, but for most beginners there is an upgrading process. Having good information sources is a necessity. Add in the learning curve of the various kinds of software involved.
