M110 or Andromeda? This is from last night around 8:00pm PST in Southern California. It’s a little North of directly overhead on the Night Sky app. I was searching for the Andromeda...

Craigdca Loc: California

This is from last night around 8:00pm PST in Southern California. It’s a little North of directly overhead on the Night Sky app.

I was searching for the Andromeda galaxy and used my Olympus OM-1 at 421mm equivalent focal length. Can you tell if it’s the Andromeda galaxy or Messier 110?

Thanks for any thoughts you’re giving this.

(Download)

alberio Loc: Casa Grande AZ

Craigdca wrote:

This is from last night around 8:00pm PST in Southern California. It’s a little North of directly overhead on the Night Sky app.

I was searching for the Andromeda galaxy and used my Olympus OM-1 at 421mm equivalent focal length. Can you tell if it’s the Andromeda galaxy or Messier 110?

Thanks for any thoughts you’re giving this.

M110 would not be this bright, so probably M31 core

Craigdca Loc: California

alberio wrote:

M110 would not be this bright, so probably M31 core

I think i over processed it and made it too bright. Here’s the original that looks more accurate.

(Download)

alberio Loc: Casa Grande AZ

I think you'd have a portion of M31 visible if this was M110, especially at 421mm. Also the 2 bright stars in relation to the object suggests it's M31.

Craigdca Loc: California

alberio wrote:

I think you'd have a portion of M31 visible if this was M110, especially at 421mm. Also the 2 bright stars in relation to the object suggests it's M31.

Thanks, Alberio. I was hoping to see M31’s spiral but still excited with my first galaxy capture.

alberio Loc: Casa Grande AZ

Craigdca wrote:

Thanks, Alberio. I was hoping to see M31’s spiral but still excited with my first galaxy capture.

You still did good, keep em coming.

Craigdca Loc: California

alberio wrote:

You still did good, keep em coming.

Well thank you very much!

Ballard Loc: Grass Valley, California

Craigdca wrote:

This is from last night around 8:00pm PST in Southern California. It’s a little North of directly overhead on the Night Sky app.

I was searching for the Andromeda galaxy and used my Olympus OM-1 at 421mm equivalent focal length. Can you tell if it’s the Andromeda galaxy or Messier 110?

Thanks for any thoughts you’re giving this.

Hi Craidca
Definitely M31 if you compare the stars around it to the star charts. You can orient on those 3 brighter stars in the upper right. I got a shot of Andromeda with a full frame camera using a 500mm lens a couple of years ago that can be seen at https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-711069-1.html
The orientation in this image is ~90 degrees tilted to the left from your image with the 3 stars at the top middle of the image.

Craigdca Loc: California

Ballard wrote:

Hi Craidca
Definitely M31 if you compare the stars around it to the star charts. You can orient on those 3 brighter stars in the upper right. I got a shot of Andromeda with a full frame camera using a 500mm lens a couple of years ago that can be seen at https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-711069-1.html
The orientation in this image is ~90 degrees tilted to the left from your image with the 3 stars at the top middle of the image.

Hi Ballard, this is great news! So I actually found and photographed Andromeda on my first attempt! I shoot in raw so I will see if I can bring out the spiral from my 20MP image.

Ballard Loc: Grass Valley, California

Using RAW is the way to go with a DSLR for Deep sky. Before I got a cooled monochromatic camera and filter wheel I used a DSLR in RAW mode also. Here was an old image I took using the DSLR and stacking the RAW images of M31, I have seen learned a lot more on how to process deep sky images and but still learning.

https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-600370-1.html

Craigdca Loc: California

Ballard wrote:

Using RAW is the way to go with a DSLR for Deep sky. Before I got a cooled monochromatic camera and filter wheel I used a DSLR in RAW mode also. Here was an old image I took using the DSLR and stacking the RAW images of M31, I have seen learned a lot more on how to process deep sky images and but still learning.

https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-600370-1.html

Outstanding results! It. Makes sense why I don’t have a spiral in my single 1-second exposure. There’s a lot to learn, and I probably will invest in flash gear before getting a star tracker. Photography is a great field with many areas to explore.