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The Andromeda Galaxy (M31)

This is my first Andromeda Galaxy image of the season and is composed of images gleaned from 3 separate nights.

 

On the first night the clouds did not clear until 2 am; on the second the wind was too high and with gusts all night; on the third night we battled with heavy dew almost immediately and finally fog. From what should have been 9 fabulous hours of great imaging I only managed to salvage 44 shots totalling 2 hours of integration to produce the image above.

 

Technical info:

Camera: D5500 unmodifed

Lens: Nikon 300/4 ED IF

Hoya Intensifier anti-light pollution filter

Exposure: 2-5-minutes for total of 2 hours

Aperture: F5.2 with aperture mask for coma and diffraction spikes

ISO: ISO 400, 800, 1600

Tracking: Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer guided,

Guide scope: Starfield 50mm

Guide camera: Atair GPCAM2 AR130 mono

Software: PHD2, Astro Photography Tool, Deep Sky Stacker, Pixinsight 1.8, and Photshop CS5

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Uploaded on September 14, 2018
Taken on September 14, 2018