The second night...

2025-01-18 Photos CloudLooker9000

Andromeda

The Andromeda Galaxy is one of the main reasons I’ve gotten into astrophotography, and something I CANNOT BELIEVE you can just take a picture of from your yard.

I was astonished to see this image appear. Astonished.

Photo Notes
ISO	800
Exposure	60s
# of Frames	115
Processing	Siril

Some things I learned about Andromeda…

It’s about 2.5 million light years away ¹. Those are some very old photons.
It’s our closest major galactic neighbor²
Andromeda has several satellite galaxies, at least 13, likely more (!)³
…WE have satellite galaxies (I’m not thinking about this yet)⁴
The first picture of Andromeda was taken in 1888.⁵

Orion

After some camera battery bumbling, I spied Orion and aimed the scope that way. Another astonishing discovery followed:

Photo Notes
ISO	800
Exposure	60s
# of Frames	63
Processing	Siril

About Orion:

Roughly 1300 light years away (much closer!)⁶
It’s a stellar nursery, with 700 stars in various stages of formation in the nebula⁷
The first picture of it was taken in 1880.⁸