Andromeda Galaxy, Exmoor, 2020

M31

All Andromeda's distant 2,5 million years away photons were collected under the truly dark skies of Exmoor using a reduced fast astrograph FSQ-85ED and a Nikon D810A for 6 hours.

Tech Card

Date / Location

13th, 17th & 18th September 2020, Brayford, North Devon near Exmoor, GMT+0, United Kingdom, TEMP: 16C, Bortle Class 3 ~SGM: 21.73 mag./arc sec2

Equipment

Camera: Nikon D810A

Imaging Telescope: Takahashi FSQ-85ED

Correcting Lens: Takahashi Reducer-QE 0.73x (composite focal length at 328mm and focal ratio at f/3.8)

Mount: iOptron CEM25EC

Image Quality

14 bit RAW (NEF)

Exposure time per image / number of composites and sensitivity

ISO 3200, 96 x 120" subs

ISO 3200, 50 x 180" subs

Total Integration Time

5hrs 42mins

Calibration Frames

25 Darks, 50 Bias, 25 Flats

Software

PixInsight 1.8.5 Core

Lightroom

Photoshop

DEEP SKY

Deep Sky photographs

STARSCAPE

Starscape photographs

SOLAR SYSTEM

Solar system photographs

EVENTS

Various astronomical events photographs