Astrophotography – M31 – Andromeda

I’m getting back into astronomy after a very long hiatus. I really want to do some astrophotography, something I didn’t really achieve before.

My previous attempts at imaging the sky though a telescope were with a self-guided Az-El mount crap-scope and a self-made 110 film camera. The results were underwhelming to say the least.

I’ve now got a much nicer telescope – a Skywatcher 102 mm Acromat Refractor on a decent guiding mount – an EQ5 Pro. For a camera I’m using either a Nikon D50 with the IR and Beyer filters removed, or a Nikon D7000 unmodified.

I took a couple of evenings to familiarize myself with the telescope and mount and to get a feel for the night sky again. This Friday was a good clear night, so I thought I’d attach a camera, point the scope at Andromeda and see what happened.

I aimed to collect 150 x 30 sec exposures at ISO 1600. I was relying on the built-in intervalometer in the camera to control the capture, this was my first mistake. I’d not used this feature of the camera before, and I managed to set it up incorrectly. I only managed to collect half the number of images I thought. I also forgot to set the ISO correctly.

I’m also pretty sure the focus wasn’t spot on. It’s hard to see the camera live view when it’s upside down.

Andromeda M31 A pretty poor photo, but my first attempt
Andromeda M31
A pretty poor photo, but my first attempt

The resulting image isn’t great, but it does hint at there being some structure in the fuzzy glow. Ok, some of that is probably JPEG artifacts in the version I’ve embedded here, there’s probably also some banding from the processing.

Things to do for next time:

  • Check the camera settings
  • Check the camera settings
  • Learn to use the intervalometer
  • Focus the scope on a object I can see in the live view more easily.
  • (probably) Use a computer to control the camera so I can sit in the warm with a cup of Tea.

An early awakening

Around 5:30 this morning I was rudely awoken from odd dreams about plastic jewellery by loud voices outside my window.

Looking out, this was the scene that greeted me.

The pipe was happily disgorging hundreds of liters of water per minute, washing away the sub-surface of the road. The water carried the mud and silt around Osborne Square, leaving a nice sticky film everywhere.

Islands on the air 2018

I’m up at the Secret Nuclear Bunker this appeals for the islands on the air radio contest.

I’d hoped to see the Luna eclipse too but the weather wasn’t playing along. The storms passed us by, but the clouds were set for the night.

This is the current view, as we bask in the sun.

Amsterdam

Just off the train from St Pancras. First sight from the station was this wonderful pile of bikes.

Later that evening, sitting by the wheel house of the boat.

25/12

A rather different Christmas this year for me. Rather than wake up in my own bed in my own house as I have for many years, I upped and left for some winter sun on the Costa Blanca.

Having been here for several days so far, I’ve been up the hills (waking paths seem almost non existent, and roads don’t quite meet up), visited Valencia and Alecante. Public transport is very good and reasonably priced. A roundtrip to Valencia taking about 4 hours costing less than 30 euros.

Christmas morning was spent on the beach.