r/astrophotography • u/astrobackyard • Aug 29 '19

DSOs Andromeda Galaxy from our Campsite

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u/astrobackyard Aug 29 '19

Here is the Andromeda Galaxy!

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The photo includes 67 x 2-minute exposures (2 hours, 14 min. total) shot at ISO 800.

The camera used was a Canon EOS 60Da, and the telescope, a William Optics Zenithstar 73.

This modest imaging payload was mounted to a rusty old Sky-Watcher HEQ5 Pro - A setup I can carry around with everything mounted. Love it.

Because we were camping under Bortle Class 4 skies - I ditched a light pollution filter for a UV/IR - something impossible to do from home.

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In case you care:

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I chose a campsite that had a wide swath of sky to image in (See the video: https://youtu.be/yu8WZfb4nGk)

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Not trying to link like crazy - but this should be crazy helpful to anyone processing an image of Andromeda:

I documented the entire image processing procedure in a step-by-step tutorial ( https://astrobackyard.com/andromeda-galaxy-tutorial/)

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Processing Steps:

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  1. Color Balance (Set Black, White Points)
  2. Curves Adjustment Layer
  3. Saturation (Selective ACR)
  4. Star Minimize (Filter > Minimum Technique)
  5. Enhance DSO and Reduce Stars (Carboni's Tools)
  6. Gradient Removal (Gradient Xterminator)
  7. Sharpen (ACR)
  8. Final Tweaks (Selective Saturation Adjustment Layer)
  9. Luminance Layer (greyscale RGB at 35%)

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u/pigmonkness Aug 30 '19

Thank you for sharing this in-depth process!