Photography

moonshinegnomie

(2,916 posts) Tue Oct 8, 2024, 03:47 PM Oct 8

186

M31 the andromeda galaxy,probably my longest exposure ever

Over 14 hours of data using 2 different filters to bring out details

46 replies

= new reply since forum marked as read

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M31 the andromeda galaxy,probably my longest exposure ever (Original Post) moonshinegnomie Oct 8 OP

It's beautiful! Dave Bowman Oct 8 #1

Was this a drive-by shooting? True Dough Oct 8 #2

👍🌞 littlemissmartypants Oct 8 #9

Spectatular! brer cat Oct 8 #3

Great shot, but it needs the "You Are Here" notation for those of us that get lost easily. FSogol Oct 8 #4

Here you go ThoughtCriminal Oct 8 #30

You aren't anywhere in this shot. Foolacious Oct 9 #43

Wow! femmedem Oct 8 #5

it going up on my wall. (once i find room for it ) moonshinegnomie Oct 8 #6

Awesome. And it's getting closer and closer. Marcuse Oct 8 #7

I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for the collision!!! AZ8theist Oct 8 #20

NICE! calimary Oct 8 #8

Amazing' RexLipton Oct 8 #10

i use a zwo am5 mount moonshinegnomie Oct 8 #15

That's some serious hardware! RexLipton Oct 9 #39

I plan on bigger equipment moonshinegnomie Oct 9 #40

Wonderful Nululu Oct 8 #11

The universe is so beautiful. Butterflylady Oct 8 #12

Whoa Seinan Sensei Oct 8 #13

I took a photo of that patch of sky for about 10 seconds. usonian Oct 8 #14

ive automated a lot of the data aquisition moonshinegnomie Oct 8 #17

That's WAY more than I could handle. The 10 seconds and a tiny amount of processing. usonian Oct 8 #19

As posters said above - just BEAUTIFUL! Thanks for sharing. n/t iluvtennis Oct 8 #16

I wonder if there is anyone looking back at us from there Laha Oct 8 #18

It'll take a while before we can hang out. Foolacious Oct 9 #44

Stellar pjyonemura Oct 8 #21

Beautiful photo! samsingh Oct 8 #22

When I was a kid, I used to long to go to those places... Hekate Oct 8 #23

i working on a way moonshinegnomie Oct 8 #28

Incredible work Picaro Oct 8 #24

Spectacular!! majdrfrtim Oct 8 #25

Gorgeous! SheltieLover Oct 8 #26

Reason 5,438,322 as to why I love DU. OAITW r.2.0 Oct 8 #27

WOW! That's amazing! nt Phoenix61 Oct 8 #29

Amazing photo! Clouds Passing Oct 9 #31

Oh my! What a spectacular picture. flying_wahini Oct 9 #32

its naked eye visible in moderatly dark skies moonshinegnomie Oct 9 #38

Is that smudge above the galaxy a satellite galaxy? padfun Oct 9 #33

its a satellite moonshinegnomie Oct 9 #37

So very beautiful. Thank you for sharing. niyad Oct 9 #34

Quite an accomplishment. Well done! . . . . nt Bernardo de La Paz Oct 9 #35

Wow! Thank you for sharing. surfered Oct 9 #36

Such a long exposure, even the Gnome Galaxy is visible in the lower right. Beartracks Oct 9 #41

2.5 million year old light! SpankMe Oct 9 #42

That's beautiful! DemonGoddess Oct 9 #45

Spectacular! Congrats! LymphocyteLover Oct 9 #46

Dave Bowman

(3,596 posts)

1. It's beautiful!

Reply to moonshinegnomie (Original post)

Tue Oct 8, 2024, 03:49 PM

Oct 8

True Dough

(20,243 posts)

2. Was this a drive-by shooting?

Reply to moonshinegnomie (Original post)

Tue Oct 8, 2024, 03:50 PM

Oct 8

It's a little out of the way.

Nicely done!

littlemissmartypants

(25,483 posts)

9. 👍🌞

Reply to True Dough (Reply #2)

Tue Oct 8, 2024, 04:52 PM

Oct 8

brer cat

(26,253 posts)

3. Spectatular!

Reply to moonshinegnomie (Original post)

Tue Oct 8, 2024, 03:51 PM

Oct 8

FSogol

(46,503 posts)

4. Great shot, but it needs the "You Are Here" notation for those of us that get lost easily.

Reply to moonshinegnomie (Original post)

Tue Oct 8, 2024, 03:59 PM

Oct 8

ThoughtCriminal

(14,280 posts)

30. Here you go

Reply to FSogol (Reply #4)

Tue Oct 8, 2024, 11:54 PM

Oct 8

Foolacious

(516 posts)

43. You aren't anywhere in this shot.

Reply to FSogol (Reply #4)

Wed Oct 9, 2024, 12:59 PM

Oct 9

femmedem

(8,444 posts)

5. Wow!

Reply to moonshinegnomie (Original post)

Tue Oct 8, 2024, 04:08 PM

Oct 8

Congratulations! You must be so proud of this image.

moonshinegnomie

(2,916 posts)

6. it going up on my wall. (once i find room for it )

Reply to femmedem (Reply #5)

Tue Oct 8, 2024, 04:13 PM

Oct 8

Marcuse

(8,003 posts)

7. Awesome. And it's getting closer and closer.

Reply to moonshinegnomie (Original post)

Tue Oct 8, 2024, 04:45 PM

Oct 8

AZ8theist

(6,491 posts)

20. I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for the collision!!!

Reply to Marcuse (Reply #7)

Tue Oct 8, 2024, 05:37 PM

Oct 8

calimary

(84,306 posts)

8. NICE!

Reply to moonshinegnomie (Original post)

Tue Oct 8, 2024, 04:49 PM

Oct 8

Really makes you stop and think. And wonder…

RexLipton

(98 posts)

10. Amazing'

Reply to moonshinegnomie (Original post)

Tue Oct 8, 2024, 04:59 PM

Oct 8

Last edited Wed Oct 9, 2024, 11:14 AM - Edit history (1)

Simply amazing!

You must have a very smooth mount!!

moonshinegnomie

(2,916 posts)

15. i use a zwo am5 mount

Reply to RexLipton (Reply #10)

Tue Oct 8, 2024, 05:29 PM

Oct 8

RexLipton

(98 posts)

39. That's some serious hardware!

Reply to moonshinegnomie (Reply #15)

Wed Oct 9, 2024, 10:56 AM

Oct 9

moonshinegnomie

(2,916 posts)

40. I plan on bigger equipment

Reply to RexLipton (Reply #39)

Wed Oct 9, 2024, 12:09 PM

Oct 9

The mount is more important for astrophotography.
Unlike visual work where minor wiggles are ok astrophotography doesn’t really have tolerance for it. I really want a 4-5” refractor around 5-60mm of focal length and fast
Plus a dedicated Astro cam. And better filters and….

Nululu

(943 posts)

11. Wonderful

Reply to moonshinegnomie (Original post)

Tue Oct 8, 2024, 05:10 PM

Oct 8

Amazing work.

Butterflylady

(3,983 posts)

12. The universe is so beautiful.

Reply to moonshinegnomie (Original post)

Tue Oct 8, 2024, 05:16 PM

Oct 8

Seinan Sensei

(697 posts)

13. Whoa

Reply to moonshinegnomie (Original post)

Tue Oct 8, 2024, 05:17 PM

Oct 8

Impressive at every level

usonian

(13,772 posts)

14. I took a photo of that patch of sky for about 10 seconds.

Reply to moonshinegnomie (Original post)

Tue Oct 8, 2024, 05:21 PM

Oct 8

I don’t have the patience.
I considered a career in astronomy.
Decided that getting paid was a better option.

ENJOY. HAVE A BLAST.
Awesome to share these works.
✨🔭

Added a link to my 20mm camera lens photo
https://www.democraticunderground.com/1036136930

moonshinegnomie

(2,916 posts)

17. ive automated a lot of the data aquisition

Reply to usonian (Reply #14)

Tue Oct 8, 2024, 05:32 PM

Oct 8

once i set up i can program a little device i have to take x number of exposures of 5 length. then once it starts shooting i can ignore it until its done x hours later. In the morning I take a series of calibration exposures and then download the whole group onto my computer for processing. thats where the real work is.
stacking all these frames (over 300) took almost 200gb of hard drive space and about 4 hours for my computer to process. then i work on bringing out teh details

usonian

(13,772 posts)

19. That's WAY more than I could handle. The 10 seconds and a tiny amount of processing.

Reply to moonshinegnomie (Reply #17)

Tue Oct 8, 2024, 05:36 PM

Oct 8

But I get a tiny fuzzy patch instead of your great photo.

Fantastic skill and patience.

iluvtennis

(20,847 posts)

16. As posters said above - just BEAUTIFUL! Thanks for sharing. n/t

Reply to moonshinegnomie (Original post)

Tue Oct 8, 2024, 05:31 PM

Oct 8

Laha

(418 posts)

18. I wonder if there is anyone looking back at us from there

Reply to moonshinegnomie (Original post)

Tue Oct 8, 2024, 05:34 PM

Oct 8

I sure hope so, would be fun to meet them

Foolacious

(516 posts)

44. It'll take a while before we can hang out.

Reply to Laha (Reply #18)

Wed Oct 9, 2024, 01:03 PM

Oct 9

The Andromeda Galaxy is 2.5 million light years from us. You could fit about 25 Milky Way galaxies between us and them.

pjyonemura

(9 posts)

21. Stellar

Reply to moonshinegnomie (Original post)

Tue Oct 8, 2024, 05:42 PM

Oct 8

Stellar photo. Thank you for posting it.

samsingh

(17,900 posts)

22. Beautiful photo!

Reply to moonshinegnomie (Original post)

Tue Oct 8, 2024, 05:59 PM

Oct 8

Hekate

(94,623 posts)

23. When I was a kid, I used to long to go to those places...

Reply to moonshinegnomie (Original post)

Tue Oct 8, 2024, 06:17 PM

Oct 8

Thank you

moonshinegnomie

(2,916 posts)

28. i working on a way

Reply to Hekate (Reply #23)

Tue Oct 8, 2024, 06:55 PM

Oct 8

i just have to figure out how to control matter anti matter reactions using dilithium crystals

Picaro

(1,798 posts)

24. Incredible work

Reply to moonshinegnomie (Original post)

Tue Oct 8, 2024, 06:23 PM

Oct 8

Stunning pic.

majdrfrtim

(340 posts)

25. Spectacular!!

Reply to moonshinegnomie (Original post)

Tue Oct 8, 2024, 06:45 PM

Oct 8

What a triumph!!

Thank you for sharing this.

SheltieLover

(59,599 posts)

26. Gorgeous!

Reply to moonshinegnomie (Original post)

Tue Oct 8, 2024, 06:48 PM

Oct 8

TY for sharing with us!

OAITW r.2.0

(28,361 posts)

27. Reason 5,438,322 as to why I love DU.

Reply to moonshinegnomie (Original post)

Tue Oct 8, 2024, 06:54 PM

Oct 8

You get to read great posts like this.

Phoenix61

(17,641 posts)

29. WOW! That's amazing! nt

Reply to moonshinegnomie (Original post)

Tue Oct 8, 2024, 06:57 PM

Oct 8

Clouds Passing

(2,267 posts)

31. Amazing photo!

Reply to moonshinegnomie (Original post)

Wed Oct 9, 2024, 08:39 AM

Oct 9

flying_wahini

(8,006 posts)

32. Oh my! What a spectacular picture.

Reply to moonshinegnomie (Original post)

Wed Oct 9, 2024, 08:48 AM

Oct 9

How dark sky does it need to be to take this?
I know we probably can’t see with the naked eye, can we?

moonshinegnomie

(2,916 posts)

38. its naked eye visible in moderatly dark skies

Reply to flying_wahini (Reply #32)

Wed Oct 9, 2024, 10:11 AM

Oct 9

it will appear as just a smudge though.
as for taking the picture it can be done in pretty light polluted areas. theres a scale that can be used for how dark teh sky is called teh bortle scale. it goes from 1 (darkest skies in the middle of nowhere like big bend national park) to 9 ( a bright urban area like in the downtown area of a major city)
my skies are bortle 7+ mIm in the first suburb north of austin texas and right by the suburbs downtown area