M31 (NGC 224), The Andromeda Galaxy,
in Andromeda
| Date | 2004-08-17 |
| Scope |
Nikkor 180 mm telephoto lens, piggybacked on a A-P 1200GTO mount, guided with an ST-4 on a separate guide scope. MaxIm 4.03 control. |
| Exposures |
SBIG ST-10XME camera with CFW-8a filter wheel. Six each of R, G, and B, 2x2 binning, plus six each of clear luminosity frames at 1 minute and 5 minutes, 1x1 binning. 126 minutes total exposure. |
| Processing | Registered in RegiStar, composited, levels, and curves in PhotoShop |
The above is a CCD image; the one below is from film. The Andromeda galaxy is the nearest major galaxy to our own Milky Way galaxy and is "only" about 2.5 million lightyears away (2.9 million according to more recent data). That means that the photons that hit the sensors to make these pictures left their source 2.5-2.9 million years ago! It is about 50% larger than our galaxy and has about 400 billion stars, as opposed to our 300 billion.
The above was my first attempt with Konica Centuria 800 film. It looks like it has considerable potential for astrophotography. Centuria 800 is somewhat grainy, so stacking is necessary, but no Photoshop blurring (or unsharp masking) was used on this image. As it turned out, I shifted to CCD digital imaging in 2002, so further experiments with film were neglected.
| Date | 2001-08-22, 25 |
| Scope | Astro-Physics 130 EDF @ f4.5 on A-P 1200GTO mount, guiding with ST-4 |
| Exposures |
2 Konica Centuria 800 (1- 30 min, 1- 60 min) |
| Processing | Stacked in RegiStar, stretched in PhotoShop |