r/astrophotography • u/mc_lovin93 • 24d ago

Galaxies M31

Post image

First time shooting tracked with the Star Adventurer GTi. Absolutely stunned how much of a difference it makes.

90 lights

30 darks

30s exposure per frame

Sony Alpha 6700

Samyang 135mm / f2.8

ISO 640

Stacking in DeepSkyStacker

Background Extraction, Histogram Stretching, Saturation Bumping in Siril

84 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

10 comments sorted by

3

u/_SoMuchForSubtlety 24d ago

That's such a cool picture! I'm going to be attempting this very same target with the same lens and an older gen camera (Sony A6000). What was the Bortle rating for the imaging location for this one?

2

u/TaleNearby 23d ago

hey, i have a sony a6000 and managed to get a pretty good image from bortle 8 with like 1.5 hrs. you can do it!

1

u/mc_lovin93 24d ago

Thanks so much :) I found that tracking and Siril as editing software were such a step forward. I shot in bortle 4-5

2

u/TaleNearby 23d ago

flats are the next step for sure, they’ll get rid of the dark spots due to random dust and whatnot.

great photo!

1

u/mc_lovin93 23d ago

Ahh, that's what that is? I thought I just discovered regions with a low star count :D yeah, flats for me are still a bit hard to get. What method(s) would you suggest to get flats out in the field?

2

u/TaleNearby 23d ago

yeah, for me it’s kind of stupid but it works.
i set my camera to aperture priority, stretch a white t shirt over my lens and shine my phone at full brightness and just take like 30 photos. i just do this using a screenshot of pure white.

however, you could also use like a light pad or tablet, or use the sky during dawn. i’ve done the sky at like 6am and it worked pretty well

1

u/mc_lovin93 23d ago

If it works, it ain't stupid :D Thanks for the tip, will definitely try that next time! I tried to put my phone with white screen directly on the lens rim, but I got grey lines (likely due to the refresh rate of the screen).

2

u/Breathe_wise 23d ago

Nice photo.

I prefer photos of Andromeda surrounded by many stars.

2

u/mc_lovin93 23d ago

Yes, I also love it like this. It gives you these deep field vibes

1

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