u/Dyynasty

Sands need another reshape but other than that what else?

A year ago, I took on the challenge of photographing the Andromeda Galaxy M31, without a star tracker and in less-than-ideal conditions.

Getting the focus was tough, the manual tracking was a pain, and the astronomical (pun intended) number of light frames choked my memory card 🫠. But as someone who strives for improvement and success, I didn't give up!

On my latest trip to the desert, I applied the lessons I learned, and achieved a result I never thought I'd be able to reach!

A few technical details:

Camera: Sony A7 IV (Stock)

Lens: Tamron 70-300 F4.5-6.3

Star Tracker: Skywatcher Star Adventurer 2i

Extremely dark skies 🌌 (Bortle 4)

A few hours post moonset, tho sadly I was forced to stop taking light frames too early due to astronomical twilight setting in

ISO-3200

Aperture: F6.3

Focal length: 300mm

Integration:

70x30" Light Frames

~20 Dark Frames

~50-60 Bias Frames

~50-60 Flat Frames

Stacked and Processed in Siril with final touches in Photoshop.

Presenting to you the Andromeda Galaxy - M31 (and its tiny neighbors M110, M32) in all its spectacular glory! ✨