Shooting Andromeda Galaxy
The Andromeda Galaxy is the only Galaxy outside of our own that can be seen with the Naked Eye from Earth. Shooting the Andromeda Galaxy however, can be slightly tricky if you are planning on recording it as a still image. This still was recorded in as little as 15 seconds with a wide angle lens, although that may seem fast, there is some star trailing already occuring and some quality lost with my fast ISO of 4000. When shooting a celestial body I will run a series of exposures in the field and then when I get home, sort through to try and find the best image. Then I do my color correction based off my favorite frames. When shooting the Andromeda Galaxy I try to find the exposure that keeps the accretion disk bright but while maintaining detail and darkness of the night sky. This is best done far away from light pollution (unlike this photo).
Another option for widefield deep space imaging with your dslr is running it piggy back on a telescope that is aligned and tracking the sky. This will blur your foreground but give you as much time as you would like to collect light from the heavens.
With all Photography, Astrophotography requires a good bit of pre-planning. Scout the night sky when you don’t have a chance to record it. Know the motions of the heavens so that you can predict them and get a perfect shot. Sky and Telescope Magazine has a free page where you can see the current highlights for the night sky.
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How the Andromeda Galaxy reveals itself through standard sized binoculars (say 10x50s). For... Read Full Story » -
M31, The Andromeda Galaxy, the furthest object we can see with our naked eyes, and the closest... Read Full Story » -
M31, The Andromeda Galaxy, the furthest object we can see with our naked eyes, and the closest... Read Full Story » -
How the Andromeda Galaxy reveals itself through standard sized binoculars (say 10x50s). For... Read Full Story »
