Show me the andromda galaxy..

I have a telescope...celestron 13" refracting(multiple eye pieces). Was wondering if anybody out there has the ability to photograph through there telescope and if so, show me a pic. of the andromeda galaxy. I've looked at it through mine and really just want a reference to see different quality through other telescopes...obviously a photo will look better than what I see through my scope...but I want to see size diffs and such.

Thanks
Terry B.

reply to post by riotact1


There are tonnes of photos of M31 available on the web.

It's not a difficult object to photograph. You don't even need a telescope, just a camera that is capable of taking long exposures, and a reasonably fast lens.

I understand that there are a lot of photos on the web. but I thought some ATSers would like to share some photos.

Originally posted by C.H.U.D.
It's not a difficult object to photograph. You don't even need a telescope, just a camera that is capable of taking long exposures, and a reasonably fast lens.

I'd like to strongly disagree with the first sentence. It's quite hard to photograph this object because its light is spread out over an area the size of the moon in the sky, thus you need very long subexposures if you're shooting with any kind of significant focal length. There's also a huge brightness difference between the core and the outer bands so you need lots of dynamic range to keep from overexposing the center (which most photos do) - HDR processing is usually called for. I don't have a decent shot of this galaxy yet because it's so hard to adequately capture enough of its light in a telescope, especially if your scope has a long focal length (which a 13" refractor certainly would). The second sentence I agree with; this is probably the easiest way to do it, provided you mount your camera on your scope while tracking.

[edit on 8-10-2008 by ngchunter]

reply to post by ngchunter


Sure, it's not easy to get a good photo of M31 with the core properly exposed as well as the fainter details, but getting a quick and dirty photo is no problem at all. That's all I was saying. I fully appreciate how hard it is to get a "keeper" of M31.

I have plenty of wide-field photos that were un-tracked where M31 is plainly visible - none were taken with the aim of photographing M31!

[edit on 8-10-2008 by C.H.U.D.]

Originally posted by C.H.U.D.
reply to post by ngchunter

 

Sure, it's not easy to get a good photo of M31 with the core properly exposed as well as the fainter details, but getting a quick and dirty photo is no problem at all. That's all I was saying. I fully appreciate how hard it is to get a "keeper" of M31.

I guess I misunderstood your point. Yes, "faint fuzzy" photos of M31 are pretty easy, I remember doing that with a sony cybershot on a tripod under a mostly-full moon.

Fair enough, I concede the point

Originally posted by riotact1
I have a telescope...celestron 13" refracting(multiple eye pieces).

Are you sure about that? A 13 inch refracting telescope would be huge.

Its most likely a Schmidt-Cassegrain. It is easy to confuse those with a refractor.

reply to post by zombiemann


You would think someone with a 13" scope of any type would know the difference though. Perhaps 13" is the focal length (tube length) of his refractor...

reply to post by ngchunter


True, but with a 13" focal length, the aperture must be extremely tiny. All I know is I am happy with my 6" dobsonian. Personally I prefer to observe Andromeda through binoculars. Its such a wide object that you loose more than you gain with higher magnifications.

Originally posted by zombiemann
Its most likely a Schmidt-Cassegrain. It is easy to confuse those with a refractor.

Uh yeah...you are right. I'm not all that knowledgeable and I bought the telescope many years ago...at the time I bought it I thought it was refractor. Anyway...the purpose of this thread was to see if some ATSers have taken photos of M31.