2022-12-22 M31 Andromeda Galaxy

Another attempt at photographing Messier 31, the Andromeda Galaxy, under Bortle class 8 skies.

There are some very slight star-trails due to my slightly-too-long shutter speed, but I think this came out quite a lot better than 2022-10-06, even though both are shot under the same bad city-light conditions.

I think I'm coming to the conclusion that my Takumar 135mm f/2.5 is an overall better lens for shooting M31 than the 300mm f/4. It can expose for relatively much longer, and one can still resolve enough detail in the galaxy structure. Now if only I could get to some properly dark skies with good weather.

Metadata

• Location
  • Name: Bergen, Norway
  • Lat Long: 60.31, 5.27
  • Datetime: December 22nd, ~21:00h
  • Bortle Scale: Class 8
• Gear
  • Camera: Fujifilm X-T1
  • Lens: Pentax Takumar 135mm f/2.5
  • Tracking: None/Tripod
• Exposure
  • Aperture: f/2.5
  • Focal Length: 135mm
  • Shutter Speed: 3/1s
  • ISO: 1600
• Processing
  • Light Frames: 100
  • Raw Conversion: RawTherapee
  • Stacking: DeepSkyStacker
  • Total Exposure: 5min 0s
  • Editor: GIMP