Posts tagged 'Andromeda Galaxy'

Observing Report 22nd-23rd August 2014 (Andromeda cover-story)

Posted by on September 2nd 2014 in Observing Reports
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I have a book which was a gift from Chris and the kids a few years ago, a fair while before I bought a decent telescope and started down the slippery slope of astro-kit buying.

I remember looking at the Andromeda Galaxy image on the back cover and thinking "I'll never be able to get images anywhere near as good as that":

 

Title: UNIVERSE
Publisher: Dorling Kindersley Publishers Ltd (6 Oct 2005)
ISBN-10: 1405310715
ISBN-13: 978-1405310710

 

Well...

 

Andromeda Galaxy (M31).
Subs: 35 light @ 300s, darks and bias frames, ISO800.
1000D on the C80ED-R refractor, guided with PHD.

I doubt that it's cover-worthy but I'm chuffed with it anyway.

Another night or two of imaging should provide enough additional data to allow me to reduce the noise and tease out more of the finer details.

Skye at Night

Posted by on September 26th 2012 in Astrostuff, Great Escapes, Summer Holidays
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Some astro pics taken from the cottage's garden on Skye.

No filters, scopes or mounts, just a Nikon D50 with a 35mm prime lens, a fixed tripod, an IR shutter-release and a bit of processing know-how.

Cassiopeia (the big W) to the upper-left, the Andromeda Galaxy (M31) to the lower-right

The Double Cluster and a fair chunk of Perseus.
OCD dot-to-dotters will have noticed that there are some stars that are common to this image and the first one.

Cygnus flying along the Milky Way