Night Andromeda Galaxy

Andromeda Galaxy · **8 Likes**

This is the image that pretty much made me give up and buy a telescope. You don't have to look all that closely at the star shapes to see the aberrations. 19 exposures of 124 seconds each, stacked in Photoshop. And then some editing :-)

zztopd · 07-29-2018, 11:24 AM - **1 Like**

Now I know for sure that I will get to the nearest galaxy by hitchhiking.

Excellent!

jnd · 07-29-2018, 02:37 PM - **1 Like**

Beautiful. Best I saw was very faint cloud in similar shape but that was due to slow lens, non tracking tripod (and not having Pentax camera with the tracking sensor shift), and a lot of light polution...

pero · 07-29-2018, 02:43 PM

Wow. Just wow...

**fewayne** · 07-29-2018, 02:48 PM - **1 Like**

Thank you. Astrophotographers tend to be technical perfectionists -- after all there's not much posing or creative lighting to do! And so when I see flaws in one of my images, it's hard to appreciate the good bits. I need to learn to do more of that. These objects are just beautiful, although to the naked eye (or even through a quite large telescope) they're just slightly fuzzy patches. So to an even greater extent than most photography, the photographer's vision and technique is what makes the image. There's no pretense of journalistic objectivity!

MatKus · 07-29-2018, 02:48 PM - **1 Like**

That is... something. It's only 500 mm? Wow.

jnd · 07-29-2018, 02:52 PM

Originally posted by fewayne

This is the image that pretty much made me give up and buy a telescope. You don't have to look all that closely at the star shapes to see the aberrations. 19 exposures of 124 seconds each, stacked in Photoshop. And then some editing :-)

BTW, is the lens used Tamron 55BB or which one exactly?

shinigami · 07-29-2018, 05:36 PM

This is one of those photos that don't have to be sharp to impress.

**fewayne** · 07-29-2018, 06:12 PM

Haha, Shinigami, you speak RANK ASTROPHOTOGRAPHY HERESY! But thanks.

I just looked -- my Tammie is indeed the 55BB. I'd had it for maybe 36 hours when I dropped it on a tile floor, so I'll never know how sharp it COULD have been! But it has done some really nice work for me, assuming that I have the time to get it focused exactly right. I'd like to try it out again using my Bahtinov mask for really critical star-focusing sometime. Now that I have a Stellarvue, it's hard to put known-inferior optics on the mount and use up good imaging time, though!

The Andromeda Galaxy is actually huge, covering something like 3 degrees of sky. In fact it's reasonably easy to see with the naked eye if you know where to look and have a modestly dark sky. You won't see this, of course, but especially if you avert your gaze just a smidgen you can definitely pick out a fuzzy patch up there.

I too have at least one image that looks kinda like an oversize core with maybe a little smudgy stuff around it. That was three years and a lot of reading and practice ago. :-)

minhsang · 07-29-2018, 06:39 PM

Impressive... You did a great job.. :-)

BullsOnParade81 · 07-29-2018, 07:29 PM

Wow very nice

alaricxyz · 07-29-2018, 07:57 PM

Inspiring astrophotography work! Thanks for sharing!

awscreo · 07-29-2018, 09:40 PM

Wow! Stunning..

**Videopilot** · 08-05-2018, 08:34 AM

Originally posted by fewayne

This is the image that pretty much made me give up and buy a telescope. You don't have to look all that closely at the star shapes to see the aberrations. 19 exposures of 124 seconds each, stacked in Photoshop. And then some editing :-)

Very impressive!

aitrus3 · 08-08-2018, 08:05 AM

Originally posted by fewayne

This is the image that pretty much made me give up and buy a telescope. You don't have to look all that closely at the star shapes to see the aberrations. 19 exposures of 124 seconds each, stacked in Photoshop. And then some editing :-)

nicely done on an extremely challenging object to edit.

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07-29-2018, 11:24 AM - 1 Like	#2
zztopd Pentaxian Join Date: Oct 2011 Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 956	Now I know for sure that I will get to the nearest galaxy by hitchhiking. Excellent!

07-29-2018, 02:37 PM - 1 Like	#3
jnd Junior Member Join Date: Jun 2018 Location: Prague Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 49	Beautiful. Best I saw was very faint cloud in similar shape but that was due to slow lens, non tracking tripod (and not having Pentax camera with the tracking sensor shift), and a lot of light polution...

07-29-2018, 02:43 PM	#4
pero Senior Member Join Date: May 2011 Location: Malmö, Sweden Photos: Gallery Posts: 128	Wow. Just wow...

07-29-2018, 02:48 PM - 1 Like	#5
fewayne Site Supporter Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Wisconsin Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 115 Original Poster	Thank you. Astrophotographers tend to be technical perfectionists -- after all there's not much posing or creative lighting to do! And so when I see flaws in one of my images, it's hard to appreciate the good bits. I need to learn to do more of that. These objects are just beautiful, although to the naked eye (or even through a quite large telescope) they're just slightly fuzzy patches. So to an even greater extent than most photography, the photographer's vision and technique is what makes the image. There's no pretense of journalistic objectivity!

07-29-2018, 02:48 PM - 1 Like	#6
MatKus Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2017 Posts: 155	That is... something. It's only 500 mm? Wow.

07-29-2018, 02:52 PM	#7
jnd Junior Member Join Date: Jun 2018 Location: Prague Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 49	Originally posted by fewayne This is the image that pretty much made me give up and buy a telescope. You don't have to look all that closely at the star shapes to see the aberrations. 19 exposures of 124 seconds each, stacked in Photoshop. And then some editing :-) BTW, is the lens used Tamron 55BB or which one exactly?

07-29-2018, 05:36 PM	#8
shinigami Junior Member Join Date: Feb 2018 Posts: 40	This is one of those photos that don't have to be sharp to impress.

07-29-2018, 06:12 PM	#9
fewayne Site Supporter Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Wisconsin Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 115 Original Poster	Haha, Shinigami, you speak RANK ASTROPHOTOGRAPHY HERESY! But thanks. I just looked -- my Tammie is indeed the 55BB. I'd had it for maybe 36 hours when I dropped it on a tile floor, so I'll never know how sharp it COULD have been! But it has done some really nice work for me, assuming that I have the time to get it focused exactly right. I'd like to try it out again using my Bahtinov mask for really critical star-focusing sometime. Now that I have a Stellarvue, it's hard to put known-inferior optics on the mount and use up good imaging time, though! The Andromeda Galaxy is actually huge, covering something like 3 degrees of sky. In fact it's reasonably easy to see with the naked eye if you know where to look and have a modestly dark sky. You won't see this, of course, but especially if you avert your gaze just a smidgen you can definitely pick out a fuzzy patch up there. I too have at least one image that looks kinda like an oversize core with maybe a little smudgy stuff around it. That was three years and a lot of reading and practice ago. :-)

07-29-2018, 06:39 PM	#10
minhsang New Member Join Date: May 2018 Posts: 16	Impressive... You did a great job.. :-)

07-29-2018, 07:29 PM	#11
BullsOnParade81 Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2016 Location: Tampa Florida Posts: 287	Wow very nice

07-29-2018, 07:57 PM	#12
alaricxyz Junior Member Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Laoag City Photos: Gallery Posts: 44	Inspiring astrophotography work! Thanks for sharing!

07-29-2018, 09:40 PM	#13
awscreo Veteran Member Join Date: May 2016 Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 2,722	Wow! Stunning..

08-05-2018, 08:34 AM	#14
Videopilot Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: New Jersey Photos: Albums Posts: 481	Originally posted by fewayne This is the image that pretty much made me give up and buy a telescope. You don't have to look all that closely at the star shapes to see the aberrations. 19 exposures of 124 seconds each, stacked in Photoshop. And then some editing :-) Very impressive!

08-08-2018, 08:05 AM	#15
aitrus3 Pentaxian Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Kamloops B.C. Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 1,432	Originally posted by fewayne This is the image that pretty much made me give up and buy a telescope. You don't have to look all that closely at the star shapes to see the aberrations. 19 exposures of 124 seconds each, stacked in Photoshop. And then some editing :-) nicely done on an extremely challenging object to edit.