Thread by @tylerblack32

In the course of the year I've learned a lot about #astrophotography, and there is no greater manifestation of that development than M31, or the Andromeda Galaxy. I'm so proud of this image, it's what I set out to do when I started this whole journey.

Taken: July 27-31, 2021
/1

Last year, I picked up my first attempt of trying to capture andromeda. This is what it looked like. I had to find it in the sky, and without a tracker, shoot it quick enough so it didn't look streaky.

This is one shot, 1.3 seconds at ISO 3200 via Nikon.

8-sep-2020
/2

I then learned about stacking, and was able to work really hard (without a tracker), taking 800 of those pictures to stack, to produce what (at the time) was just incredible to me: a close up of a galaxy from the ground.

10-oct-2020

/3

I was able to get a star-tracker, which allowed me to use less ISO and more exposure time. This led to a substantially better picture, and I was well on my way to figuring out what I needed to do this whole #Astrophotography thing.

21-oct-2020

/4

As I worked on learning how to keep focus, track with a guiding camera/scope, and my post-processing skills, I was able to get more and more out of this galaxy.

23-oct-2020

/5

By November of 2020, I was pushing my Nikon setup + Tamron lens to the limit, but I was also getting excellent results!

6-nov-2020

/6

And now I'm at a point where I can not only get the galaxy, but even zoom into the core and show you the incredible dust trail...

30-Jul-2021

I definitely needed something to get me through the pandemic, and I'm so glad I found something that combined my love of space (galaxies, planets, and nebulae), science (physics of light, stellar compositions), and photography.