Andromeda Galaxy

[Terry Johnson]

Hello, this is an image of the Andromeda galaxy. It was taken with a very specific camera and gear. The camera is a 6-meg, dual chip, water-cooled camera allowing the user to guide on a star as well as take an image.

The image is a 9 panel mozaic. Each panel required 24 exposures at 15 minutes each for each color R, G, B and one for clear for a total of 96 images per panel, X 9 panels = 864 individual images. The 96 images per panel are are stacked to reduce noise. The final 9 images are stitched together in Photoshop for the final image of the galaxy. The 864 images were taken over a period of one month.

The final image is 15000 X 9000 and prints out quite nicely at 50" X 30". The image has some anomalies as one of the panels had some distortion issues associated with taking the images over a period of a month.

Anyhow, this was another time in my life as I sold the astrophotography gear and bought a sailboat....Terry Johnson

[Dennis Bishop]

It sounds like the effort to generate something like this is mind boggling, but the result is incredibly wonderful. I'm amazed that it's possible to take the shots over a month-long period and come up with something like this. I see some bright stars at fairly regular intervals along curved lines. At first, I thought they might be the same star, but your description of the process made me discount that notion. In any case, this leaves me in awe of what's there and what you did to capture and display it.

[Cheryl Slechta]

Hi, Terry, thanks for sharing this incredible image. The process is mind-boggling as is the result. Interesting trade - gear for a sailboat

[Jackie Schuknecht]

Well I have never heard of a water cooled camera, I imagine this is in part to keep the sensor cool for long exposures. (just a guess) So wow, this is incredible. With so many images how large was the original file. Just stunning. I would have kept the gear with results like this!

[Anita Bower]

Amazingly beautiful image. Even more amazing was the work required to take it. I think sailing might be simpler. I loved reading that your camera was water-cooled. My son has dabbled in overclocking his computer, and toyed with the idea of a water-cooling system.

[Mitch Carucci]

Wow, you must have had real good seeing. Spectacular image! I guess you need the cooled sensor to keep the noise down. Amazing amount of work, but a real triumph.

[Diane Miller]

Absolutely impressive!! Astronomy in its many aspects is a major interest for many people. That's obviously another galaxy below M31. Are the two bright object on its top rim stars in our own galaxy?

I assume you're looking forward to the solar eclipse in 2017. I'm starting to think how best to photograph it and whether I need tracking to shoot a range of exposures to capture all the detail for the corona. I should start a thread, I guess in the Digital Photography forum. Don't think I've seen one yet.

[Paul Lagasi]

Not much more I can add, spectacular image... thank you for sharing.

[Terry Johnson]

[QUOTE=Diane Miller;968376]Absolutely impressive!! Astronomy in its many aspects is a major interest for many people. That's obviously another galaxy below M31. Are the two bright object on its top rim stars in our own galaxy?

The two bright fuzzy objects are two additional galaxies. I would need to look in a table to identify which ones they are.

The astrophotography gear used to capture the images is very expensive. A good scope is $15,000, a good go-to mount is $20,000, the cameras are $6000 to $20000, you need another $10000 in accessories. The guys with the high end systems have between $100,000 and $200,000 in equipment and observatories. There astrophotography equipment is sitting in an observatory in new Mexico and they control the entire system from their home in Massachusetts. They are totally automated systems. I did not have one of those systems...Terry Johnson

[Diane Miller]

Don't see that I will, either! But it must be nice!

I did a quick web search on Andromeda and found several photographs, and I must say yours is better! The center (the much brighter part that we can actually see) was blown out on many that I saw.

[LinzRiverBalmer]

Very well done!!! My Father used to do Astrophotography in about the same essence you did, not on the hundreds of thousands cost wheel, he did the up for nights at a time out in the middle of nowhere grunt work. Finally got to a point where he knew he couldn't create anything more than what others had created and traded in his stuff too.

He still goes out for Comets, Meteor showers, Eclipses, etc but just with his big wig Canon set up that is set up for Video mostly.

Our Galaxy and the unknown are far to vast for my mind, so I don't comprehend most of what you photographed, just know that it is beautiful to look at.