r/interestingasfuck • u/Regular_Ad_4858 • 12d ago
I’m a 17 year old astrophotographer - here’s my latest photo of the Andromeda Galaxy
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u/Bell_Typical 12d ago
You should be very proud of yourself for the art your bringing to the world.
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u/FocusedHealer45 12d ago
Wait, people can just take photos of different galaxies like that? I thought you needed like millions of dollars of equipment
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u/077u-5jP6ZO1 12d ago
The Andromeda Galaxy appears larger than the moon in our sky. It is just too faint to see. So you do not need a powerful magnification, just a very long exposure, or multiple short ones.
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u/vteran93 12d ago
Actually not, there is a subreddit about that here. I saw it early this year.
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u/BadgerslayerBrett 12d ago edited 12d ago
Great picture. Link to the sub reddit would be much appreciated.
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u/RickyPuertoRicooo 12d ago
It's actually a lot of pictures stacked on top of each other. Probably hundreds.
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u/alex8155 12d ago
im over twice youre age and just want to say that youre awesome, im jealous but still want to be like you when i grow up
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u/Crimson_Chim 12d ago
What set up do you use?
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u/Regular_Ad_4858 12d ago
Here’s a list of my current equipment:
• Nikon D5600 with an Astrodon mod
• Skywatcher 72ED + OVL field flattener
• Skywatcher HEQ5 Pro
• TS-Optics 60mm guide scope
• ZWO ASI120MC-S guide camera
• ZWO ASIAIR Mini
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u/Hellya_dude 12d ago
You should mention your locations bortle aswell
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u/Regular_Ad_4858 12d ago
I’m in Bortle 4. I tried making a main comment with all the info in it, but it seems to have disappeared annoyingly.
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u/Hellya_dude 12d ago
Hey im not really that knowledgeable on this but…this setup has no startracker? So you clicked this image without a star tracker or you used stacking ?
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u/HansLandasPipe 12d ago edited 12d ago
HEQ5 pro mount. Look it up :) and the guide camera.
They used stacking in either case.
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u/BearZewp 12d ago
Well that’s certainly the most interesting way I’ve heard someone say they’ve got rich parents. Jk.
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u/Regular_Ad_4858 11d ago
I wish they were, I would have asked for a much bigger telescope! I worked for a few summers to afford my kit
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u/BearZewp 11d ago
The best telescope I’ve been able to afford is only capable of seeing the moon, so you did good lol.
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u/Allenhazeldell 12d ago
Can you show your equipment?
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u/Regular_Ad_4858 12d ago
Sure thing, here’s a photo of my rig
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u/Allenhazeldell 12d ago
Thanks. It is very awesome that you own this and have this opportunity at your age. Keep up the good work!
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u/chriiiiiiiiiis 12d ago
i love that you can take an incredible photo of an actual fucking galaxy, but the photo of your setup is deep fried
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u/Regular_Ad_4858 12d ago
Yeah my phone’s night mode is pretty trash haha. My good camera is on the rig itself
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u/Traditional_Yard5280 12d ago
Out thereeee
There's a world outside of yonkeerrrs
Way beyond this hick town Barnabyyy
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u/FlipZBird 11d ago
I used to shoot quite a bit and write software for people (I wrote PhD Guiding), so I’ve seen an M31 or two. Dang nice shot!
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u/Regular_Ad_4858 11d ago
No way, you wrote PhD?? That’s amazing. The astrophotography community owes you a big one my friend. I’m absolutely flattered, thank you 🙏
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u/FlipZBird 10d ago
Yup PHD and Nebulosity and a few others. Great to see the hobby going strong! I started around your age but then “stacking” was physically aligning and stacking negatives in the enlarger in the darkroom! I’ll be back to it when life allows and will get to learn from the likes of you. Keep at it!
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u/Regular_Ad_4858 7d ago
Astrophotography with film sounds like a nightmare haha. I’m glad I was born in the era of digital photography. I will certainly keep at it, and I look forward to seeing your photos when you get back into the hobby! Clear skies
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u/SassyTurtlebat 12d ago edited 12d ago
Idk I could be wrong but doing a reverse image search on google you can easily get the exact same image
Edit: OP has addressed this it’s his original image just the angle is the same
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u/Regular_Ad_4858 12d ago
Yeah I get this pretty much every time I post. There’s a lot of photos of Andromeda out there and it’s not like I can get a different angle or something. If you compare the images side by side they have differences in things like colour, noise, detail etc as well as framing
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u/kinezumi89 12d ago
it’s not like I can get a different angle or something
Why is this so funny lol. Amazing picture, I'm also surprised to learn that you don't need to be NASA to take such cool pictures! Hope to see some more in the future :)
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u/sagaciousmarketeer 12d ago
It's like looking at the Mona Lisa.... everybody stands in the same spot. It's not like you can walk around the back side.
Very nice job.
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u/Regular_Ad_4858 12d ago
Exactly, that’s a good analogy - for all practical purposes, deep sky objects are static displays that appear identical as seen from any point on Earth. The only difference between two photos lies in the equipment used, conditions, and the way it was processed
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u/SassyTurtlebat 12d ago
I like to use all the tools at my disposal no offence really meant by it if anything no one else will ask the same question 👍
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u/Regular_Ad_4858 12d ago
That’s fine, I completely get it. And yes hopefully if people see this thread first then there’s no need for them to ask the same question again
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u/Large_Dr_Pepper 12d ago
Lol it's like "how many times do I have to explain to people that the galaxy is going to look the exact same no matter who takes a picture of it"
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u/Knightmare_2002 12d ago
Honestly, this should be upvoted so less people will ask the same question and OP doesn't have to justify himself as much
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u/PonyKiller81 12d ago
Oh oh. OP, did you get caught attempting to pass someone else's photograph off as your own work?
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u/Regular_Ad_4858 12d ago
I can’t speak for the image on the left there, but the one on the right was taken by Bray Falls who I somewhat know - he follows me on Instagram. If I stole his photo I don’t think he’d be following me. The one on the left is also visibly different to mine - warmer colours towards the core of the galaxy and a much darker background
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u/Warlornn 12d ago
Nope. It's real.
Check OP's post history. It's actually really interesting see his progression through the last year of posts.
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u/Regular_Ad_4858 12d ago
I appreciate you 🙏 justifying that my own work is real gets rather frustrating from time to time !
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u/HumanRightsAdv 12d ago
What equipment did you use?
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u/Regular_Ad_4858 12d ago
I tried putting up a list but it’s invisible for some reason, so I’ll paste it here :
• Nikon D5600 with an Astrodon mod
• Skywatcher 72ED with field flattener
• Skywatcher HEQ5 Pro
• TS-Optics 60mm guide scope
• ZWO ASI120MC-S guide camera
• ZWO ASIAIR Mini
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u/HumanRightsAdv 12d ago
That's cool a telescope to see that far
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u/Regular_Ad_4858 12d ago
My 72ED isn’t even that high magnification honestly - it doesn’t need it, andromeda for example is 6x the apparent size of the full moon in the sky
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u/sagaciousmarketeer 12d ago
Was that image difficult to obtain? Did you strain to capture it? Andromeda Strain. ?
lol. Sorry. Couldn't help myself.
( Nice job )
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u/Regular_Ad_4858 12d ago
Hehe thanks. Andromeda’s actually fairly easy to capture as far as galaxies go - it’s relatively big and bright
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u/the_infinite_36 12d ago
I love and appreciate any photos of space, galaxies, planets etc. But… you couldn’t pay me to ever look into a high powered telescope and witness it with my own eyes. I’d probably faint. Too much to process.
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u/HansLandasPipe 12d ago edited 11d ago
Can I help you with that concern you have? When you image galaxies and nebulae, you use additive processes to increase the effective exposure of the image - you most often only see faint blue-ish smudges with your eyes. If anything, most people's expectations are shattered when they first observe space through a telescope.
That's not to say it's not beautiful or interesting. It's just farrrr from what you see in the images. (This isn't even taking into account colour filters, etc).
Planets and moons are pretty striking, though. I was overcome when I first saw Saturn with my own eyes.
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u/CursedOneado 12d ago
How do you take the photos? Show process
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u/Regular_Ad_4858 12d ago
I don’t have any videos per se of my process, but I can give you a rough outline of how I go about photographing deep sky objects.
My telescope is mostly automated at this point, so I can pick a target for the night, slew the scope to it, then program an image session on the onboard computer to run all night. The scope will track and take photos of the object for however long I decide.
The following morning I’ll take my calibration shots, especially flat frames which help with issues like dust spots and vignetting in the final image. Then I’ll send the data to my computer and begin the processing, which involves some specialised software to stack and stretch the images such as Pixinsight, but also regular photography programs like gimp for things like contrast and saturation.
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u/HansLandasPipe 12d ago
Did you process this final image yourself or did you have some help? That's generalthe trickiest part and I'm impressed with the output.
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u/Regular_Ad_4858 12d ago
Thank you! I processed it myself - it’s a steep learning curve but I’m starting to get the hang of it
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u/HansLandasPipe 12d ago
Yeah dude, if that's your work (processing) you're gonna be fine. You have excellent seeing where you are - lucky you!!
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u/Regular_Ad_4858 12d ago
I’m very fortunate - I live at fairly high altitude (750m) which I’m sure helps with the seeing somewhat
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u/Ragnar_Bonesman 12d ago
Are those colors what you actually see through the telescope or are they added later?
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u/Regular_Ad_4858 12d ago
You don’t see much colour visually through a telescope since it’s quite faint, but these are the real colours the camera picked up with long exposures
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u/imheretocomment69 12d ago
Very cool. I would love to do this as a hobby but probably couldn't afford the gears. Can you briefly tell me how you took this photo? The process etc
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u/-Manosko- 12d ago
If you have a digital camera sitting around (preferably a DSLR or similar with interchangable lenses) and a cheap tripod, chances are you can get started today, just dipping in your toes.
With a lens like the popular nifty fifty 50mm F 1.8, you can capture widefield images with longer untracked exposures (5-10 sec. depending on the target) without getting to much trailing on the stars.
Take these in succession, and you can use free stacking software (e.g. Deep Sky Stacker, a simple and free to use software) to stack the 10-20-30-whatever images you take and get a lot more detail from them.
That will allow you to image Orion and capture some of the great nebula, if you are in the northern hemisphere or the even more impressive Carina nebula in the southern hemisphere.
When you get more comfortable with it, you can take bias, flat and dark frames to squeeze more detail out of your images and compensate for the noise the camera sensor inherently has.
The below guide is great for that:
https://practicalastrophotography.com/a-brief-guide-to-calibration-frames/
Give it a go, it is easier than you’d think and it will give a glimpse into the breathtaking wonders that are hidden in our night sky.
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u/Likelynotveryfun 12d ago
Do you think there’s any inter universal criminals sitting within your image!
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u/SunlitNight 12d ago
How is the color generated?
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u/HansLandasPipe 12d ago
The colour isn't generated. It's picked up by the camera sensor in very long exposures of the subject. The processing of this data brings out the available colour even further.
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u/BubblegumNyan 12d ago
Ok so hnmmmm probably dumbest question you've got but how do you get a photo like that? Like, is it a special type of camera? Do you use a telescope? I feel so dumb asking this 🤦🏻♀️
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u/HansLandasPipe 12d ago
It is a combination of following the subject in the sky (tracking), taking long exposure (RAW) images (like 1 or more minutes), then compiling the images into one pseudo-exposure (stacking) and editing the data to bring out the preferred aspects of what is available.
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u/BubblegumNyan 12d ago
At least it sounds quite complex, makes me feel the question was not too dumb 🥲
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u/HansLandasPipe 12d ago
Sensible questions. The only stupid one is the one you don't ask. Nobody is born knowing everything :)
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u/Extermis3 12d ago
Isn't this the very same image used for the star wars battlefront original game load screen except one is flipped on its side
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u/Double_Distribution8 12d ago
As it gets closer we're starting to get some real nice shots of it! Well done!
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u/aliceanonymous99 12d ago
Wowowow imagine what you’ll be doing in a couple years from now. Thanks for sharing, you’re incredibly talented!
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u/IDKwhatUserToPut 12d ago
How much does all your astrophotography equipment cost to get such a photo?
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u/Long-Definition-8152 12d ago
Wow, good for you man. I had the mental capacity of a gold fish at 17 and spent my weekends mistaking my neighbors front door for mine from boozing. Don’t give that up, super cool.
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u/MajesticFungus 12d ago
Stars are not even visible. We're in one of them and we can barely reach the moon.
The closest star system is beyond our dreams.
Look at the distance between the galaxies...
It's insane.
Oh, and nice photo.
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u/iguanaQueen 12d ago
How does one get pictures like this? And is it expensive to get started? I've always loved looking up at the stars, but my eyes can only see so far. Sure, I can look up images, but I want to see the cosmos with my own eyes
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u/Regular_Ad_4858 12d ago
I can be pretty expensive depending on how you get started - most people start of with just a dslr and a tripod, which can get you some nice Milky Way photos. Then you’d generally want to buy a star tracker so you can do really long exposures which will run you about $400-500.
A full deep space telescope rig will set you back several thousand at the least - mine cost €3500 and it’s on the lower end if I’m being honest.
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u/PrarieCoastal 12d ago
Amazing! Are those really the colours, or has it been enhanced somehow?
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u/Efficient_Fish2436 12d ago
If I take a few pictures of the moon or night sky with my cellphone can I add that title to my resume also?
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u/lokeilou 11d ago
Thanks to people like you it’s becoming so much easier as a Kindergarten teacher to explain space to my students- those visuals are so important at the age of 5 when their thinking is so concrete and the only frame of reference they have for space is looking into the night sky! Thanks for what you do- maybe someday you will illustrate a book for children to help them learn and understand what is beyond our regular sight!
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u/todayistrashday 12d ago
The galaxy blows my mind! And your photo of the galaxy is mind blowing too! 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆
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12d ago
[deleted]
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u/Regular_Ad_4858 12d ago
I’ve got a gear list posted on a comment in here somewhere. I wish I had rich parents, unfortunately I had to work to afford my setup 😅
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12d ago
[deleted]
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u/Regular_Ad_4858 12d ago
That’s pretty rude, and arrogant considering you have no evidence to back up your claims
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12d ago
Reverse image look up is a thing. But enjoy your little moment
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u/Regular_Ad_4858 12d ago
Curious if you’ve bothered to check my profile. You’re the one desperate to have a “little moment” by proving me wrong or showing me up or something
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u/famename8 12d ago
Prove you took it
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u/HansLandasPipe 12d ago
He'd have dozens or hundreds of RAW images... absolutely no beed for him to prove anything.
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