I love having a go at these 2 galaxies at Astrofest. It's so hard to get a good north horizon and dark skies in SE Qld. I was limited to shooting with the DSLR this year, but still stayed up to have a go at these 2. The fog was a fairly regular occurance this year, so there actually wouldn't have been too many nights for collecting lots of data anyway. I find the relative colour of the 2 interesting. There was a nasty gradient through this image which worsened as fog set in, but I think colours are still reasonably representative.
This is the result of 5x 5mins subs ISO 800 f/3.5 450D + f/1.8 50mm.
(sorry for spamming the forum tonight - have been catching up a bit on processing today )
Should have also said, this is cropped down to about 80% of horizontal and 30% of vertical to emphasise the galaxies.
It's a shot I have always wanted to try, but thought I would have to do a 2 shot mosaic with a 135mm lens.
It's amazing the detail you have captured with the 50mm.
I'm definitely going to give it a try next new moon.
What a great image, and excellent framing. It's great to see them relative to each other like that, I don't recall having ever seen that. Very interesting. Thanks for the view.
Thanks guys (and girl ) . It just isn't Astrofest for me if I don't get a pic of M31 and a gawk at in binocs (and naked eye) Never fails to blow my mind what that "fuzz" represents.
I can't claim to be the first to think of such a framing - do yourself a favour and check out Rogelio's FSQ mosaic of this region. I can't seem to get it up on his website tonight, but I believe this is the image I was thinking of: http://ep.yimg.com/ca/I/skyimage_2174_47852412
I would have shot M31 anyway, but when realised the 50mm would fit in M33 couldn't resist having a go
Thanks guys. I'd never hesitate to recommend a nifty 50 to anyone with a Canon either for astro or general use. Its killer value for money for either (or both!).
Very nice Rob. There seems to be a bit of star elongation in the lower right but that doesn't detract from the overall effect which is most impressive.
Thanks guys
Steve, yes that is the weak spot in my lens, but judicious cropping or mosaic construction usually helps. Very happy with it otherwise and I never really notice that corner with daylight shots (I'm a hack photographer though)
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